Printed news in a digital world

People still want to see big events in papers, even if they know it already

I have not yet received any comments from readers on our print coverage of the shocking events in Washington, D.C., this week, but I did get a few from staff.

The event was the main item on our front page, but it wasn’t as dominant as some would have liked.

Some Spectator journalists wanted something more — bigger headline, bigger photograph — of the attack by supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump on the Capitol, a seminal event to be sure.

Journalists love big stories and big headlines and big pictures. It’s what we signed up for. A generation ago, a Spectator reporter would have been dispatched to Washington for a “local perspective.” (Or perhaps simply to bolster The Spectator brand.)

Ironically, though, the biggest stories do not always generate the biggest headlines, unless they happen suddenly, such as a man on the moon, a terrorist attack, a natural disaster or even a ridiculous Trump tweet.

Things that happen gradually, such as the development of antibiotics, the disenfranchisement of voters, the expansion of social media or a growing pandemic sneak up on us because they are more complex.

It takes time to understand their significance.

Meanwhile, in a digital age, how many print readers (beyond journalists) on Thursday morning had already seen many of the photographs and read many stories and indeed were glued to their televisions more than 12 hours earlier?

Still, there are some people who get all their news from the paper when they wake up in the morning, and for them, The Spectator’s front page may not have conveyed the enormity of the event.

In a digital age, do we still want our printed newspapers to reflect what we already know, reinforce our feelings, or perhaps to give us something we can save for posterity? The for many is yes.

Newspapers have always prioritized the news, telling readers what we think is important, but it is a romantic notion. Readers decide for themselves what to read, and often it is a two-inch brief at the bottom of Page 9 rather than a big headline on Page 1. Others, as I have been reminded all too often, turn directly to the obituaries, the comics or the crossword.

At TheSpec.com, we also rank the news digitally, and are guided often by real-time data about what people are reading. The Washington riot was No. 14 on the list of most-read stories Wednesday at TheSpec.com, behind many local stories, which is what we do best and what our readers want most.

That is not to say the events in Washington were not locally significant.

As we all know by now, we long ago entered a dark era where facts, falsehoods and conspiracy theories are mixed into a toxic brew on various media and brought to a boil by a pandemic, and now dangerously evident on our own streets and public squares.

In the days to come, there will be much to unpack about the chaos on Thursday: the suspiciously tepid response by law enforcement, social and racial inequity, political polarization, the Republican response to Trump, and many other angles.

Those headlines won’t be as big, perhaps, but they may well be more significant.