The end of the year is a time to reflect on the past. Typically, we look back at the previous twelve months. But the death of Gerald Ford gives us a reason to look back even further – to Vietnam and the pardoning of Richard Nixon. So it was probably appropriate to spend yet another news cycle on Ford's passing – it was the lead story on almost every front page again today. The last week of the year is typically the slowest for news, so that was also a likely reason papers stuck with the Ford story.
Newspapers had plenty of time to put together their Ford packages. Some of them made good use of this time, while others couldn't match the display of papers published 24 hours before – a quick trip to Newseum might have provided them some inspiration. The best of today's lot comes from The Savannah Morning News, which balanced an elegant presentation of the Ford story with the need to display other stories on the page.
Many papers used the same photo as Savannah, including the
Newark Star Ledger, but did not achieve the same thoughtful effect.
The State blew out the Ford story with a beautiful front page, but it seemed like overkill on a three-day old story. This does raise the issue of
leading with yesterday's news.
Savannah was a standout because their front page wasn't merely a poster like The State's front. The Ford package got its due – including a tasteful border treatment – but so did the iTunes story, a local crime story (both very relevant stories) and keys to the inside. None of these elements competed with each other or the Ford centerpiece. Centering the centerpiece lended an appropriate level of formality to the page.
"An accidental president" was a frequently used headline. The most pointed headline was seen on Springfield Journal Register, which went with "A Ford, not a Lincoln." Based on this headline, Grand Rapids has nothing on Springfield.
Room for improvement: Some papers, including The State and the Hartford Courant, had very elegant headline typography. The Morning News' main headline may have looked better if all three words in the headline had not been different sizes, which made the headline seem less formal than it should have been.
• Agree, disagree or have a nomination for the next BFD?
Share the love.
• Here are some recent BFDs.
See them all in the archives.
