If you were reading newspapers 30, 40 or 50 years ago, you may remember front pages crammed with stories and usually, a single black-and-white photograph. Most newspapers now carry fewer stories on their covers. Today, color photographs are a staple of The San Diego Union-Tribune; graphics, also in color, are used when appropriate to help tell a story.
That wasn’t the picture in 1941, when the Aug. 1 edition of The San Diego Union included 17 front-page articles, one black-and-white photo, an ad for the newspaper’s classified section and an index. On the same date, its afternoon sister paper, then known as the Tribune-Sun, carried 24 front-page stories (some of them one or two paragraphs long); a single photo, also in black and white; an index, and the ad. Newspapers then were a jumble. Now, some of those same stories wouldn’t see print.
The number of stories on the front page dwindled with time. By the 1970s, the number had been cut considerably. On Aug. 1, 1971, a Sunday, the Union carried nine front-page stories. The following day, the Tribune, which did not publish on Sundays, had eight stories.
Even before the merger of the Union and the Tribune on Feb. 2, 1992, the number of front-page stories carried by the two papers had dropped even more. On Aug. 1, 1991, the Union and the Tribune each carried five front-page stories.
Last Wednesday, the front page of what is now The San Diego Union-Tribune carried four stories plus an index. There was one large photograph, two smaller ones with a story and two others with teasers, known in newspaper jargon as refers (pronounced reef-ers). All were in color. On most days, the number of front-page stories ranges between four and six.
Why the change?
Technology. And, a revolution in design that has transformed laying out newspapers from a mathematical puzzle to an artistic exercise. The goal is to present the news in as pleasing and well-packaged way possible and to make the newspaper more accessible to readers.
Bill Gaspard, senior editor for readership, whose expertise includes newspaper design, said the movement that evolved into modern page design started decades ago. Then, 19 years ago, USA Today was launched. “That changed the landscape,” Gaspard said.
With its liberal use of color, photographs and graphics, especially the weather page, USA Today caught the attention of editors and publishers and accelerated changes in newspaper design that, until then, were struggling to happen.
Whereas the goal 60 years ago was to fit stories on the page, the focus now is on helping readers get information. It isn’t that newspapers didn’t concern themselves with that in the past; editors and publishers always worried about having readable type and, some, even a page that looked good. Now, however, the technology is available to make it even better.
Technology helped newspapers make huge leaps in design. “The things that have really changed the [newspaper] world are computers and offset presses,” Gaspard said. Offset printing makes for crisper images and better color than were possible with the old presses that used hot metal.
Decades ago, the work to lay out a newspaper was performed by an editor as one of many duties. He or she tried to make it aesthetically pleasing, but the effort was limited by technology, time and training. Today, the Union-Tribune has 24 page designers who help produce the bulk of approximately 824 news pages a week. Some have traditional journalism backgrounds; others have gone to art schools or have had design training.
“Readership is changing, and we’re all struggling to understand what we can do to retain our current readers and attract new readers,” Gaspard said. Because the newspaper has great competition from other media for time and attention, design is being used to make newspapers more accessible and useful to readers, to make newspapers visually enticing.
Readers who complained last week about the cancellation of conservative syndicated columnist Cal Thomas didn’t know the full story. Robert Scheer, a liberal columnist, also was dropped. The reasons for both were budgetary, said Bill Osborne, senior editor for Opinion. Scheer’s column has appeared only once in the past year; Thomas’ twice.
“We always hate to take strong voices out of the newspaper, but the decision to cancel them was based solely on budgetary concerns and the fact we were not using them enough to justify the contracts,” Osborne said. “It does not in any way signify a change in the political philosophy of the newspaper.”
