Well, the builders had another idea.
“The set is designed to evoke the White House and the Lincoln Memorial, not the Acropolis,” said staging supervisor Bobby Allen.
75,000 people will enjoy the show live, and millions will see it on TV.
Of course, it will not be an Olympic Games extravaganza.
It will be quite a bit cheaper.
And paid for by us, the people who support Obama.
A powerful front page for a great story on the second day after the relaunch.
Sold out yesterday.
Sold out today.
Good journalism sells.
And a very interesting comment from a local journalist and reader:
VALÉRIA IBALO 28/08/2008 13:07:13 Escreveu:
Um jornal que dá orgulho de se ter em nossa cidade. (Proud to have a newspaper like this in our city)
Parece que agora a modernidade chegou em Salvador. (It seems that modernity has arrived in Salvador)
Como jornalista, posso até levar um exemplar pra fora do país, que não terei vergonha, pois é um modelo de mídia moderna. (As a journalist, I now have a newspaper that I will be able to show outside the country with no embarrassment, as it is a model of modern media.)
Adorei. (I love it!)
Flip through today’s full edition here.
Yesterday, the Democratic National Convention nominated by acclamation (promoted by Hillary Clinton) the first African American candidate to President of the United States of America.
I watched the moment live, and the main TV channels did what all of us expected: show the emotional reactions of people inside and outside the convention center.
People crying.
People excited.
People happy.
People proud.
All kinds of people, from all races.
American people witnessing a historical moment.
Well, today, U.S. papers have two kinds of front pages.
For me, the photo and design team of The Virginian-Pilot did the best, and not just because my wife is the DME/Presentation there. They selected a photo that showed the emotion of Moe Spencer, an African American delegate from Washington, crying and being embraced by a white woman.
Talk about symbolism (Hillary embracing Barack?).
This magnificent picture by Justin Sullivan (Getty Images) represents that moment better than the traditional pictures of last night’s speakers (Bill Clinton, John Kerry and Joe Biden).
And the same kind of thinking produced the front pages of The New York Times and the Chicago Sun-Times, showing real emotions, not just well-known politicians posing for the cameras.
But the majority of U.S. newspapers did the opposite, including The Washington Post:
But worse than that, of course, was the “new” Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel that insisted today on banal and trivial journalism by giving the premium front page space to a stupid photo illustration.
This is not journalism.
This is not newspaper design.
This is window decoration.
This, my friends, is lipstick on a pig.
And as we said in the first screen of our INNOVATION presentation at the 2008 WAN Congress, “you don’t put lipstick on a pig when our newspapers need heart surgery.”
You use real pictures.
Real life.
Real people.
Real journalism.
This is what will sell newspapers.
This what will save newspapers!
Early this morning in Salvador (Bahia, Brazil), selling, buying and reading the new CORREIO.
(Thanks to Marcio Costa)
Picture by Matteo Barigozzi at the Malmo railway station (August 26, 2008).
Via National Geographic’s “Your Shot: The Daily Dozen.”
One of these three newspapers in Salvador (Bahia, Brazil) is sold out.
Guess which one …
The new CORREIO is here!
With an exclusive, local front-page story.
Good photos.
Great infographics.
Excellent stories.
Full of ads.
New price.
New masthead.
New motto: WHAT BAHIA WANTS TO KNOW.
New berliner format.
New design.
New pagination.
More color than ever.
A new editorial formula (24 Hours+More+Life+Sports)
And an initial run five times bigger than yesterday.
In the next few hours I will post more pages from the first issue, but you can flip through the 64 pages here.
(Thanks to Eduardo Tessler)
Yesterday night, the whole country was watching Michelle Obama on TV.
It was a terrific show.
What readers want to know today is not more about the speech, but more about the woman, daughter, sister, mother, wife and lawyer …
But the new Baltimore Sun opens its front page with a big picture of a mail box.
And the new Sun-Sentinel does the same with a health story and a big illustration.
Do they still have an art director after the changes?
Do they have a photo editor?
Well, this is the end of these failed re-inventions.
The reality, darling, is that Michelle Obama sells and Ted Kennedy does, too.
They connect with the American public.
So, after widespread TV exposure, the circulation of print newspapers will go wild.
Except in Baltimore and Fort Lauderdale.
Or in Denver, where the local tabloid forgets the convention and goes to Pakistan.
Yes, to Pakistan!
Others did much better, and can expect better sales:
INNOVATION
