Today’s front page
Posted on November 15th, 2007 – 4:09 PMBy Rene Sanchez
Today’s edition is a good example of the goals we have for a weekday front page. Take a look. All of the stories featured there are local without being parochial — and none of them are shallow or silly.
Our showcase story raises important questions about how the state regulates more than 2,000 minivans and passenger vehicles that schools and other groups use to transport students, some of whom are disabled. It’s an aggressive follow-up to a story that we ran Wednesday about how the parents of a child who died in a crash involving one of those vehicles were outraged to learn that the driver had marijuana in his system at the time — and that his driving record may not have been thoroughly checked.
Along with that story, our Washington correspondent Kevin Diaz writes about how $195 million in federal money for replacing the I-35W bridge now appears to be hostage in a larger political fight over pork-barrel spending. And there are smart stories on a startling study about thousands of college students in Minnesota as well as a deep look at an unusual uproar in Scott County that is deeply dividing a community over issues such as religion’s place on a high school campus.
Why did we choose those stories for the front page? The answer is more art than science. No two editors would create the exact same front page. But we believe each of the stories is an example of substantive journalism that’s relevant to readers around the Twin Cities — and can’t easily be found anywhere else.
I understand and respect the skeptical voices saying there are risks to placing too much emphasis on local journalism — because there certainly are. But we have no intention of shutting out the world. Just yesterday, for example, our big-front page story was on the crisis in Pakistan.
But you’ll be seeing many more front pages like the one we published today. Let me know what you think.
Rene Sanchez, Deputy Managing Editor for Content
One response to "Today’s front page"
And *today’s* (Friday’s) front page took another step in the march toward the Star Trib becoming the Twin Cities Advertiser. Granted, the weather strip isn’t a huge loss, though as a bicyclist I do find it handy before setting out. But an ad on the front page?? I know the economics are rough, but that’s no way to keep a customer base. I too, having subscribed the whole 27 years I’ve lived here, am getting closer to dropping the Star Trib in favor of a real newspaper–the NYT.
