Anonymous@2:33 p.m. writes: "Take me now Lord, I have seen it all! Cherry Hill today devoted its center package to a play on the old chocolate Easter bunny cartoon: Eat the ears or eat the butt?"
Courier-Post reporter Steve Wood hopped (ouch!) over to Aunt Charlotte's Candy Shop in Merchantville, N.J., to settle the debate:
Here's the paper's front page:
Got a best -- or worst -- holiday story idea to share? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.
[Image: Newseum]
Courier-Post reporter Steve Wood hopped (ouch!) over to Aunt Charlotte's Candy Shop in Merchantville, N.J., to settle the debate:
Here's the paper's front page:
[Image: Newseum]
Do the bunnies count toward Gannett's diversity goals?
ReplyDeletewhat's with all of that "extra space" between the stories!??! Isn't that a waste?!?! Where are those traditional journalists AND PUBLISHERS with their pica poles!
ReplyDeleteThat just might be the stupidest thing I have ever read.
ReplyDeleteWhat's worse, it isn't even original.... I've seen this same feature - and just as stupid - in other pubs in the past.
Is that really the BEST they can come up with at Easter? Really?
THe courier post has been a mickey mouse operation for quite some time. Now it has graduated to a bugs bunny paper. They have surely lost their collective minds!
ReplyDeleteBad news. The rabbit died.
ReplyDeleteBut seriously, this wrong on so many levels. It's a terrible 1A CP, marginal for the living page but for 1A? The message is that this is the most important thing in your community today. If this is the most important thing in the community, the community is screwed because their watchdogs are asleep at the switch.
And the video? Who the hell edited that. Not only is it a terrible topic but they couldn't even edit it properly to maintain the correct aspect ratio.
But I am sure the suits in Cherry Hill (BTW, are we sure those are choco bunnies and not left over from poop gate) and corporate are high fiving over a package that was 1) cheap and easy, 2) really stupid and 3) cheap and easy. Cheap and easy being the important part of the equation.
Flash from the past: I wonder if this chocolate is made by the same company that made the drops left behind on the floor by the sheep statues in Neuharth's office.
ReplyDeleteThe only word for this is pathetic.
ReplyDeleteWonder if anyone will get one of those Gannett Kings's Rings for that story
ReplyDeleteglad they could make room for the groundbreaking bunny article with those pesky hate crime and budget cut stories in the way.
ReplyDeleteI like Wabbits
ReplyDeleteThe Deal Chicken eats its peeps for breakfast.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of, from the looks of this page, it appears that Cherry Hill has their own Groupon-ish knockoff, too. How many other Gannett sites already have daily deal clones already up and running?
4:27PM, those damn sheep still roam the halls...
ReplyDelete@4:24:
ReplyDeleteLighten up buddy, it seems like someone as uptight as yourself could benefit by such a tounge-in-cheek, lighthearted piece.
"Not only is it a terrible topic but they couldn't even edit it properly to maintain the correct aspect ratio."....
i bet you make the 40-year-old virgin look like Wilt Chamberlain.
4:24 is right. It was dull. And maintaining the correct aspect ratio is such an amateur mistake. Was it really a bother to go back and choose the correct export setting?
ReplyDeleteI thought it was funny and light-hearted.
ReplyDeleteSo which end of a Peep do you eat first? I smell a folo....
ReplyDelete1:33 must be a Gannett suit. Little things like maintaining aspect ratio are what differentiate a professional organization from You Tube. It's inexcusable from a professional organization.
ReplyDeleteI'm all for light hearted stories but not something this cliched and not on 1A. Maybe on the Living Page.
9:22 - Peeps get eaten whole. Just pop the little yellow sugar puffs into my mouth.
Cool! Author the best! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteStaffers in Cherry Hill are being thrown into the fire and forced to do video with very minimal training. They are basically handed a camera and shown how to turn it on, insert a tape, and then sent on their way. My guess is that the producer of this video was never trained on maintaining the correct aspect ratio. The above video is the result of that.
ReplyDeleteI feel for the staffers in Cherry Hill. Staffers, "Content Creators" in Gannett speak, are being thrown into the fire or under the bus almost everywhere. I don't take 4:24's criticism as being directed at the staffers so much as at management who allow this kind of thing to take place. Ultimately we do the best with the tools and training we get. Reporters and photographers can't be blamed if management doesn't care enough about their newspaper to make sure stories are done properly. That's why we have the journalistic rot that has set in company wide.
ReplyDeletePercentage of Americans who are Christians - 78.4%
ReplyDeletePercentage of journalists who attend church or synagogue weekly - 8%
Percent who never attend church - 29%
Percent of American public who believe it's necessary to believe in God to be moral - 58%
Percent of journalists who believe that - 6%
http://pewforum.org/uploadedfiles/Topics/Issues/Politics_and_Elections/120506-bowman-2.pdf
Let's do a centerpiece feature on how to eat a chocolate bunny for Easter weekend!
Gee, I wonder why journalism is going the way of the dinosaur? We so accurately reflect the communities in which we live, after all.
Front pages like that are the reason I am happy to no longer waste my time or money with Gannett products. Amateur on several levels. Sorry, advertisers -- I guess you wasted your money, too.
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't wasted money if you were the mom and pop chocolate shop featured in the story. Makes you wonder...
ReplyDeleteAfter thinking about this for a day I agree with 8:01. It was local, lighthearted and probably boosted single copy sales. (Would like to see the numbers on that). Also it brought home the energy of the holiday for all the people who love chocolate and peeps regardless of whether you believe all the invented religious stuff that goes along with it. I'll take chocolate and peeps any day over that. We have a good local paper and I can attest that a local article featured on A1 will always boost single copy sales and web page views.
ReplyDeleteBoost sales? Doesn't that assume a reader prefers a healthy dose of tra-la-la instead of being informed about what's going on in the world? Despite what all the focus groups say, a newspaper isn't supposed to be a magazine.
ReplyDeleteI'm all for local businesses being supported,though; they are the places I patronize whenever possible. But, ironically, Gannett is hardly "local" when each news operation is a gutted carbon copy of the next.
And never mind the dedication it demonstrates to its localities by throwing substantial numbers of decent, dedicated people onto their state's unemployment rolls -- some programs already bankrupt and borrowing from the federal government. Now that's local!
Then, I admit, I'm Old School. I think in terms of the world being the real community, and expect to see what are essentially promotional pieces, dressed up as what passes for local focus, elsewhere -- not Page 1.
Then again, today's "market" assume that ads have always been on Page 1 as well, when I have seen -- really good content -- drives sales, not advertising.
Or at least it used to. I know, heresy. But Gannett moth-balled that once strong suit for all of its "community" products some time ago. Circulation tanked -- a fact that cannot be wholly disassociated from that dunderheaded, non-journalistic strategy.
For some, quality content -- what appears to Gannett as a concept too abstract to imagine -- is still the standard with which a potential audience will choose (or in Gannett's case, not choose) to read a newspaper, whether in print or online. No matter what percentage of the market this entails, it is still a market lost -- or should I refer to its branding and term it out of "reach" -- even to greedy Gannett.
with all the crime, bad politics and such coming from Cherry Hill, they need a little light-hearted fun for a change!
ReplyDeleteWhat is wrong with you people? Yes, the decision to run a chocolate story bunny on A1 was questionable, but the paper was making an attempt to be a little different for a day. Why knock the paper as a whole – and particularly some very hard working journalists?
ReplyDelete“But I am sure the suits in Cherry Hill (BTW, are we sure those are choco bunnies and not left over from poop gate) and corporate are high fiving over a package that was 1) cheap and easy part of the equation.”
What does cheap and easy have to do with anything? Have you been in a newsroom before? It took the same amount of time and money to take the photos, shoot the video, write the story, write the headlines, design the spread, etc.
“Staffers in Cherry Hill are being thrown into the fire and forced to do video with very minimal training. They are basically handed a camera and shown how to turn it on, insert a tape, and then sent on their way.”
Insert a tape? We still use tapes? Good luck trying to find a spot to fit it in. There goes your credibility. Yes, reporters and photographers are being trained to shoot digital videos. This is very common in newspapers today. But hey, let’s go ahead and rip the person who created the video. How dare they try to do something new to help the organization!
“Reporters and photographers can't be blamed if management doesn't care enough about their newspaper to make sure stories are done properly.”
Management cares. Do you really think they don’t? They make tough choices. Sometimes those choices work, sometimes they don’t. But they do care. A lot of salaries workers – the management – put a lot of extra hours into their job. There are people who regularly work 10, 12, 15 hour days in order to get things done right. Tell them to their face that they don’t care.
“Front pages like that are the reason I am happy to no longer waste my time or money with Gannett products.”
Yet here you are. Trashing a company you don’t waste your time on.
Grow up people. It’s a very tough time to work at a newspaper. We know that. But don’t trash people for trying new things. If you hate your job so much, quit. No one is forcing you to stay there.
Sincerely,
A long time Cherry Hill employee and fan of Steve Wood.
4:45 I came to your post after reading a story about how Syrian exiles are rallying public support for today's slaughter in Syria by using Youtube and other technologies that have come with the Internet age. And then I read about how Cherry Hill had invested all this time and effort in a how to eat a chocolate bunny story. And you have the temerity to ask why posters here are ridiculing Cherry Hill for this story.
ReplyDeleteYou go to lengths to explain how difficult it is to learn this technology. Go to Youtube and see the contributions from Syrian citizen journalists and I think you might catch a glimmer of your opposition. They seem to have mastered this technology very well and quickly, and understand its power in getting their message across.
I welcome these experiments, and hope in the future to see Cherry Hill involved in more serious jornalistic efforts than eating chocolate bunnies.
Once again the "journalists" never disappoint! Lighten up folks, it's a freaking easter bunny story. You all must be tired after falling on your swords. You sound like petulant six year olds.
ReplyDeleteWe shoot digital video using tape. The two are not mutually exclusive terms.
ReplyDeleteThough Mini DV tape is a bit old school, it works fine for the quality we need. Truth be told, our equipment from three years ago still has the rest of the recession to last us - any budget dollars we have for tech go to upgrading machines so we can ship more work off to hubs.
IMO, Cherry Hill needs to enter that chocolate bunny story in next year's Pulitzer Prize contest as a feature nominee.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThe poor reporter in the video looks miserable and embarrassed and knows it's a stupid assignment. I'm sure he won't include it in his portfolio.
ReplyDelete4:54 and others might want to brush up on a dictionary and those ol' reading comprehension skills. If one disagrees with an opinion, I don't understand why the first option of refutation is a personal jab against complete strangers. That's pretty silly logic. Since when is reasoned criticism to be mocked and disparaged? Oh, I forgot. Different takes mean the other person is a jerk, never mind the (usually) clearly cited points at hand. My, that's mature. And sad.
ReplyDeleteThe phrase "all this time and effort" should not be included in any discussion about this piece. It clearly shows that neither was put forth in producing this amateur garbage. It is, however, typical of the crap that appears on company websites in a daily basis. It probably took longer to drive to and from the candy store than it took to shoot it, edit it, write the story and post it. It sure looks iike it.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete@4:54PM: DITTO ON BEING A FAN OF STEVE WOOD!
ReplyDeleteFirst, you can't blame the reporter or the designers for this story, unless they really pushed for it. They have bills to pay. This story paid for some bills.
ReplyDeleteRather, blame the upper management genius who thought that this was a good idea to put on the front page.
what a pathetic newspaper!
ReplyDeleteWas there any racial motive for this newspaper to pick on a chocolate-colored bunny instead of a white chocolate bunny. Given this newspaper is the voice for the privileged white suburbanites, I contend some sensitivity should have been shown when it came to picking the color of the bunny.
ReplyDeleteTo 5:59, what a load of crap. Next thing we'll hear from you is that the Hershey company should produce only white chocolate or only dark chocolate.
ReplyDeleteI've been in that store. White chocolate is sold there.
ReplyDeleteThe candy store in the story is right down the street from the Courier Post. Most likely the story was done to get some advertising dollars from them, and, one of the sales people has a "relationship" with one of the owners as well. Yes, it was a garbage story and certainly not worthy of page one. Typical of that newspaper.
ReplyDelete