Monday, May 02, 2011

Page One | Majority of fronts carry bin Laden news

[Updated at 5:40 p.m. ET to correct Guam entry.]

Among 64 of Gannett's 82 U.S. newspapers in the Newseum's database today, nine don't have any mention of Osama bin Laden's death on their front pages, when many readers are looking for historic editions.

A half-dozen are on the East Coast, where deadlines were the latest. Some share press sites, which points to the downside of consolidation. And one is a full 14 hours ahead of East Coast time: the Pacific Daily News of Guam. And one is a surprise: the Pacific Daily News of Guam, where deadlines were the latest relative to East Coast time.

It's worth noting that some papers may have uploaded early editions to the Newseum's database; later editions may contain the news. That appears to be the case of The Cincinnati Enquirer, which shows a front page on its website with bin Laden's death, and the Poughkeepsie Journal of New York, which published an extra edition this morning.

The nine papers, and their ABC circulations as of Sept. 30:
  • The Daily World in Opelousas, La.: daily: 6,169 Sunday 7,447.
  • The Courier News in Morristown, N.J.: daily 18,392; Sunday, 22,134.
  • The Daily Record in Parsippany, N.J.: daily, 23,054; Sunday, 25,743.
  • The Daily Journal Vineland, N.J.: daily, 13,690; no Sunday edition.
  • The Poughkeepsie Journal in New York: daily, 28,249; Sunday, 38,493.
  • Asheville Citizen-Times of North Carolina: daily, 34,803: Sunday, 52,117.
  • The Cincinnati Enquirer of Ohio: daily, 157,574; Sunday, 255,037.
  • The News Leader in Staunton, Va.: daily, 14,510; Sunday, 16,838.
  • Pacific Daily News in Guam: circulation unavailable.
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.

7 comments:

  1. Poughkeepsie was once a great paper...gone down the tubes. But the editor just got a president's ring!!

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  2. The Enquirer had Osama in the vast majority of its editions, then also put out an extra.

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  3. Morning news shows had a segment where they showed fronts from around the country. The Kentucky Enquirer was among them and I thought that was still a Gannett property with it being a zoned edition.

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  4. A former long-time Gannett editor tells me in an e-mail (and they are absolutely right):

    "This would be a good time to put out a call for shout outs to hard-working journalists who stayed up all night (I saw a tweet from Cincy editor Carolyn W. that her cell alarm went off while she was still at the office -- up all night). I imagine many were called in. There are some good people left at Gannett, whatever you (legitimately) say about the company and its management."

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  5. Unfortunately, the paper shown has it wrong. Not a CIA operation that sent him to Paradise.

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  6. The paper shown has a press deadline of 9:30. The paper shown ran what the AP had at the time. The fact that the paper shown has anything at all on bin Laden is nothing short of a miracle, considering the time of events, the logistics of rerunning a press that is not in-house (nor even in state) and Sunday night staffing.

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  7. Just a production note: Opelousas is one of three Louisiana papers printed on the press in Lafayette in Louisiana. Opelousas is the first to press.

    ReplyDelete

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