Palin for VP: Unexpected Choice

There’s a surprise on today’s front page.

John McCain’s unexpected choice of the Alaska governor as his running mate sent front pages scrambling to answer the question: Who is Sarah Palin?

A relative unknown on the national political scene, Palin needed an introduction. The Los Angeles Times provided a profile, “She’s no good ol’ boy.” The Detroit Free Press noted, “History maker is also hunter, hockey mom.” The St. Petersburg Times bulleted personal information and even explained how to pronounce her last name (PAY-lin).

Palin went to college in Idaho, where the Statesman in Boise printed positive local reaction. In Palin’s home state of Alaska, the news was so big that it filled the Anchorage Daily News.

The Washington Post noted McCain’s historic choice: “Palin First Woman on GOP Ticket.” The Arizona Republic in Phoenix said the choice reinforces McCain’s maverick image.

Some front pages asked why she was chosen and then went on to analyze the pick. “Choice of Palin could be stroke of brilliance or act of desperation,” the San Francisco Chronicle said.

A Great Week for News

Denver newspapers wrapped up a week of non-stop political coverage with convention front pages chronicling Barack Obama's historic acceptance speech. "It was a great week to be doing news!" said Kathy Bogan, presentation director of the Rocky Mountain News. Newseum colleague Sharon Shahid wrote on Newseum.org that Obama fulfilled "a dream that was expressed exactly 45 years ago in an electrifying speech delivered by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as part of the March on Washington."

Photo Choice

Hillary Clinton's appearance before the Democratic National Convention brought almost universal coverage by U.S. front pages. That offered front pages an opportunity after months of printing what some have called consistently and unnecessarily unflattering photos of the New York senator. Indeed, the Post-Tribune in Indiana and The Boston Globe were among newspapers that printed an AP photo of Clinton and her daughter, Chelsea. The Denver Post and the San Mateo Daily Journal, on the other hand, printed photos much like what we saw during the primary.

Conventional Wisdom

The Democratic National Convention is a local story for Denver, and its newspapers are covering the news with convention front pages in addition to their regular front pages. Monday's editions gave hints of what to expect this week.

VP in the Early Morning

It’s hard to keep a secret.

The Obama campaign did an extraordinary job this week keeping tightlipped on Barack Obama’s choice for a vice presidential nominee. That was until early this morning, when word came that the choice was Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware.

The news leaked to the media after midnight on the East Coast. The Associated Press filed a story, quoting a Democratic source. And The News Journal of Wilmington, Del., text-messaged its subscribers and posted the news on its Web site. Because the first deadline for its printed edition had passed, The News Journal’s front page only indicated that the choice might be Biden.

The Obama campaign, which had said it would announce the choice by text-messaging supporters, was left to do text-messaging of its own after 3 a.m. E-mail alerts didn't reach some supporters until the afternoon.

Because of the timing, definitive news on the choice made front-page headlines only in Western time zones. The Los Angeles Times, The Oregonian of Portland, The Salt Lake (Utah) Tribune and The Seattle Times, among others, had the news.

New Sun Rises

A newly redesigned Sun of Baltimore has made its debut. The Tribune newspaper followed in the footsteps of sister newspapers the Orlando Sentinel and South Florida Sun-Sentinel, both of which changed design this summer.

A reader guide said the Baltimore redesign included a four-column layout and more readable (although not larger) type. A new nameplate added "Baltimore" in what the newspaper said was an increased commitment to local news.


New design

Previous design

From History

Today in history: Aug. 21 marks the 40th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, ending the country’s democratic reform movement called the Prague Spring. Hospodarske Noviny and Lidove Noviny in Prague, Czech Republic, mark the anniversary, and Mladá Fronta DNES also in Prague reprints a photo from the time and refers to a special magazine.

Slovakia was once a part of Czechoslovakia, and Alexander Dubcek, who led the Prague Spring, was a Slovak. With those ties, SME in Bratislava also noted the anniversary in photo and text.