NewsCut

What front pages reveal about us

The struggles of the newspaper industry have been well -- perhaps too well -- documented in recent years but today's front pages of Minnesota newspapers show how they're trying to adapt to survive in a world of breaking news -- de-emphasize it.

Yesterday's top story -- the shooting at the Holocaust Museum in Washington -- got little front page attention around the state today.

The Pioneer Press and Star Tribune put the story below "the fold." The Pioneer Press emphasized a fine profile of a Vietnam vet with post-traumatic stress syndrome. The shooting played third banana to that and the continuing flap over the St. Croix bridge.

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The Star Tribune headlined the legislative auditor's report on the apparently out-of-control Metro Gang Strike Force and the presidential elections in Iran.

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The Duluth News Tribune played the shooting -- or at least the Minnesota connection -- big.

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The Mankato Free Press found no room at the top of the front page:

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At the bottom of the page, Miss California and the shooting vied for space. Miss California won.

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The St. Cloud Times was one of the few newspapers that gave it top-story attention:

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You are the editor. How would you have placed the story?

Nationally, it wasn't much different. The New York Times played it low-key.

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... which makes Bill Keller's comments in this spoof all the more interesting.

Meanwhile, over at the Huffington Post -- said to be the biggest threat to newspapers -- the story is still playing big with an obvious second-day lede.

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