Friday, February 06, 2009

Westchester: We've finally got our Page 3 girls!

[But it's for charity, so it's legitimate journalism!]

You gotta give The Journal News credit, don't you? The Brits learned long ago that putting a nearly naked woman on an inside page would stoke sales. Now, that's being applied to Gannett papers via Metromix entertainment pages -- and under the guise of charity, to boot!

Earlier: Your most outrageous Metromix photos

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19 comments:

  1. er ... charity? wow! that's ... very generous of them! a segment of the readership must be most grateful. this is outrageous.

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  2. Hooray. I was wondering how long it would be until American newspapers discovered the wonders of the Page 3 girls. By the way, the Page 3 girls I have seen in the London papers are hardly "nearly naked" but actually fully starkers naked. At least the Journal News chose an old-style leopard-skin bikini picture, instead of those California thong bikinis that I am sure Jim can see on left coast beaches.

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  3. Some other British journalistic enterprises we could import: The Wingo, which is a bingo-like contest. Big circulation driver, but not of attractive demographics advertising-wise. They also carry regularly results from the betting pools, and stories that I felt really encouraged gambling with success stories of punters, etc.

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  4. Was there a web gallery to go with it?

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  5. But we all know that the biggest boobs in Westchester are the clueless editors and managers running the place.

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  6. 9:45: Yes, an entire gallery.

    http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage

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  7. It took Westchester a week to get a Bernie Madoff story on Page One, although it was obvious from the start that the blockbuster fraud would provide a rich vein of local angles in its huge circulation area just north of New York City. Just one of the more egregious examples of journalistic negligence there. The Web site carousel once led with a story about a BMW that burned in a garage fire. The list goes on and on.

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  8. The Democrat and Chronicle's Metromix gallery at the recent Lingerie Ball is even classier:

    http://rochester.metromix.com/bars-and-clubs/photogallery/two89-lingerie-ball/930325/content

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  9. This explains what the Journal News was doing with its time when it completely missed the boat on the fact that new Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is from one of its local towns while the NY Times covered it so much it literally listed the school clubs his daughter is involved in.

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  10. Ooh all six of the "hot girls" in Rochester came out. Dude with the nipple flash makes paging through the pictures all worth it.

    Verification word: jugarder. As in, when i see jug, 'arder it gets....

    I'm British already!

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  11. I would gladly accept Page 3 girls in trade for newspapers that ask tough questions of the powerful and otherwise do real journalism. Instead, we've got papers that think they're above the vulgar appeal to the prurient interest of (most) males while practicing limp journalism (or not even real journalism at all). I guess you can tell which of these things I think is truly disgusting.

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  12. hehehe. With the number of perverted older men in management roles at Gannett is this really any surprise to anyone. My female colleagues at a certain Gannett property in Michigan are constantly oogled at by the older, sleazier male managers. At first I didn't believe that it really was happening in such an apparent fashion, but they keep pointing it out everytime a head turns -- literally 180 degrees -- to stare down their boobs and butts. Pathetic. If you ask me, these ladies clearly have a class-action lawsuit.

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  13. The ladies? Try the guys have cause for class-action. Neck strain and disjointed eye movements from trying to take in all that wide Michigan butt.

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  14. What's even worse - and less newsworthy - than the "Page 3" girls is the Who's hottest bachelor or bachelorette Q&A. And people get to vote. Remember, the website has ads for topless bars on some sports blogs. Soon, there will be a dating service on the web page.

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  15. Metromix should never appear on the news carousel. It already has a permanent spot on the web page. There are some days when Westchester will have Metromix in three different spots on the web page without scrolling down. They have to resort to this because their best news people and journalist are gone. Only a few were axed, most left on their own because they were smart.

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  16. Here in Louisville, we get a yearly journalistic treat: The Velocity Sex Issue. The highlight of 2008 was the anonymous lesbian describing a pleasant evening of wine consumption and fisting. What's that smell? Pulitzer? I don't think so.

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  17. I'm not sure what the problem is.

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  18. What kind of wine do you serve at one of those parties? White?

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