You didn’t see it here.
For that, the Times-Dispatch newsroom is grateful.
What you didn’t see was a large shadow of a flying pteranodon superimposed on the T-D’s weather page tables or the New York Stock Exchange listings in the business section.
For those not familiar with pteranodons, they’re the flying reptiles which have key roles in the movie “Jurassic Park III.”
In mid-July, according to The Associated Press, 15 newspapers across the country accepted a new kind of ad promoting the movie. The papers included the Chicago Sun-Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, the Boston Herald, The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Star Tribune of Minneapolis and the Asbury Park Press in New Jersey.
The whole ad simply was an imprint of the winged reptile on top of news columns of agate type, mostly weather or stock quote pages. The image had no explanatory copy, no “advertisement” label, no box rules to signify it as separate from the news columns. Just Big Bird. Er, Large Lizard (winged type).
While not quite subliminal, the ad was intended to arouse the curiosity of the reader or subtly to suggest a trip to see the movie.
Some newspapers declined to accept the ad, the AP said. Senior officers of The Times-Dispatch said the ad wasn’t offered to this newspaper and that it would have been declined.
William H. Millsaps Jr., senior vice president and executive editor of the T-D, said he was absolutely opposed to such advertising overlaying news content.
So why did other newspapers agree to what some called an experiment? The Wall Street Journal pointed out that “today’s newspaper industry, which is being hammered by a severe downturn in ad spending, may be ready to consider bending some of its rules.”
The rules include a ban on blending news and advertising copy. In the T-D, even ads resembling news articles must use typography clearly different from that used in news columns.
The Journal reported that Universal Pictures “paid from about $1,000 to several thousand dollars for the ads.”
Editors concerned about an intrusion on the integrity of the news columns, as well as the credibility of the news report, could ponder a shadowy future.
What might be next? A see-through beer logo superimposed on baseball box scores, or a cemetery gate over the obituaries?
Please — these aren’t suggestions.
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Unfamiliar bylines that have appeared in the T-D during the past several months belonged to the newspaper’s summer interns. The prized jobs are awarded to aspiring journalists who are still students in college or newly graduated.
Each signs on for 10 weeks. The interns gain valuable practical experience (and paychecks, Mom and Dad) and the newspaper gains needed help during the vacation season. Additionally, this and other newspapers can assess possible future full-time staffers.
This summer’s interns, with their assignments in parentheses:
Jeremy Boyd of Winchester, graduate of the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Communication and Arts (graphics); William O. Ciucci of Richmond, senior at Hampden-Sydney College (business news);
Kristin Coronado of Richmond, junior at the College of William and Mary (Flair); Jay Cridlin of Jonesville, senior at Wake Forest University (Metro news and Flair); Christina DeNardo of Williamstown, N.J., graduate of Syracuse University (Metro news and Flair); Joan M. Gaidos of Walkerton, Ph.D. graduate of Virginia Tech (science writing fellow);
Noreen C. Gillespie of Sandy Hook, Conn., senior at Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Ind. (Virginia news); Tim Hogan of Richmond, sophomore at Georgetown University (sports news); and Mary Beth Murtha of Perrysburg, Ohio, graduate of Bowling Green State University (copy desk).
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Between now and Nov. 6, Election Day, this is likely to come up again, so political candidates make a note:
All content of the Richmond Times-Dispatch is copyrighted. Reproduction of any content without permission is a violation of the copyright.
The issue arose last month when an irate subscriber discovered that political fliers had been stuffed into his neighborhood’s newspaper boxes. The fliers reproduced a T-D editorial supporting a candidate.
The subscriber accused the newspaper of distributing the fliers and warned that his dog had a record of biting unwanted solicitors.
He was assured that representatives of the T-D are strictly forbidden to distribute political promotion. Later, he apologized when he discovered the editorial had been copied and distributed by the candidate’s supporters.
As for reproducing and distributing copyrighted articles or illustrations without permission, the newspaper watchdog has a record of biting, too.
