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boston university
politics
So You Bought Obama on the Front Page. Now What?
Matt NegrinPosted: Nov 11th 2008 10:39AM
Filed under: US Elections, Politics, Boston University, Media
When was the last time people stood in line outside printing plants to get their hands on a newspaper?The triumphant -- yet expected -- victory of Barack Obama has given newspapers across the country a gigantic spike in circulation sales, at least for one day. After readers lined up outside The Chicago Sun-Times, the paper printed an extra 150,000 copies for sale. The Washington Post printed 600,000 extras. And a man in Bellingham, Wash., bought 10,000 copies of the local paper for himself.
The news is simultaneously gratifying and sobering, at least for journalists. Everyone wants to get their hands on that old-fashioned newspaper, a product that can't even be closely replicated by the Internet, TV, radio, blogs or whatever futuristic media forms will manifest themselves in 10 years.
News industry folks owe some credit to Obama. As pointed out by the Raleigh News & Observer, which sold 21,000 extras of the Obama paper as opposed to 2,500 for Bush's 2004 reelection, Obama's win "was good" for newspapers.
This isn't bias. It's business. And to borrow a phrase from the Illinois senator, perhaps it's a glimmering sparkle of hope.
Will these thousands of people clamoring for the "historic" front page -- with Obama smiling, or looking presidential, or waving -- read what's inside the paper? Will they go back the next day to read more analysis and explanation as to why this election is really important, not just for blacks and minorities but for the world and even you, personally?These newspaper sales are more significant than the Philadelphia Daily News's 286,913 papers sold the day after the Phillies won the World Series. This is an election -- it is not just a celebratory or majestic photo. Readers should care -- and many do -- about the why and the how behind the man who promises change, and not just the front-page photo they can frame and show children years from now that yes, we were alive when it happened.
Nov. 5 was a time when newspapers reaffirmed their commitment to readers. Print rags across the country restarted their presses as readers demanded -- from a media form they have continued to abandon -- hard copies of the first draft of history.
Not once did newspaper publishers deny their customers' requests. So what if you probably won't even read what's inside, or that you won't come back tomorrow to read the reaction stories, and the what-does-it-really-mean
stories? Enjoy your photo of the first black president.You know who didn't have to worry about waiting in line or getting to a newsstand before all the papers sold out? People with subscriptions. In case anyone's forgotten, buying a subscription is paying someone to deliver the news to your doorstep.
But if you don't have one, you're still in luck. Journalism institute Poynter Online -- remember journalism? -- will print all your favorite historic front pages just for you, even those who love to hate the liberal mainstream media.
Finally, as a sign of truly turbulent times for the news, Tribune executive Lee Abrams, a man with no newspaper experience who writes "think" pieces for his underlings on how to do journalism, suggests his papers ride the Obama wave all the way to the inauguration.
"Another thing I saw on CNN was: 'What the Newspapers of the World looked like the morning after'," Abrams writes. "Hey--Isn't that what WE are supposed to do? AND--since WE have the headlines from every election, shouldn't WE be printing those. PLEASE...PLEASE, don't 'send people to the web' for these. PRINT THEM. Flaunt them. They are ours."
Maybe it sounds desperate. But newspapers don't have much to cling to today. And speaking of TV news, the New York Post's Phil Mushnick has accurately pointed out that without newspapers, broadcast news would die swiftly and surely without a source for ideas.
"Most local newscasts have for years taken much or most of their hard news from newspapers," Mushnick writes. "The freshest genuine news that local TV newscasts now provide are weather forecasts, unless you count updates and previews of 'American Idol,' 'Survivor' and 'Dancing With The Stars.'"
So buy your historic Election Day cover. And maybe open it up and see what's inside. You might learn something.
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doodle
5:21PM 5:21PM Nov 11th 2008
I ripped the front of Obama's smiling face off the front cover of my People and threw it in the fire. Same with the 2 sections of the Sunday paper. I am surprised that it even burned.
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Bill Young
10:57PM 10:57PM Nov 13th 2008
I really think that even in this modern age and time some individuals still cling to archaic ignorant ideas and philosphies instead of using logic and common sense. This past election I have heard statements that
wwere so impertinent and atrocious that I could hardly
ffathom reading them. It just seems to me that any
Aamerican, without consideration to ethnicity would wel- come change for the better and a departure from the
pplutocractic form of governance we have endured since
tthe republican party under George Bush pilfered the pprevious two elections
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LindaGov
8:24PM 8:24PM Nov 11th 2008
doodle...what is your problem? Do you think burning a piece of paper will do something, except in your own mind? Grow up andbe real....Maybe we need some younger blood in the white house!
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Noel
11:05AM 11:05AM Nov 12th 2008
Doodle is one of the reasons that this country is morally and financially bankrupt...Doodle is a very spiritually sick individual. Hopefully s/he is old and will be taken to her/his final resting place so that those of us who want happiness and properity and move on and make the world a better place to live in.
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Charlie
2:02PM 2:02PM Nov 17th 2008
You also burned two sections of the Sunday papers... the Funnies and Classified? Because you can't stand Heathcliff and you don't want to read about a used twin-sized mattress for sale?
You're silly!
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Tom
8:11PM 8:11PM Nov 11th 2008
Well, I'm glad we're all being mature about this.
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Anna
9:44PM 9:44PM Nov 11th 2008
I will keep the front page to discuss the importance of Obama with my grandchildren who are too young to understand the signifiance of this election. It will be kept with my newspapers of Kennedy, the first space walk etc.
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M
12:29AM 12:29AM Nov 12th 2008
This guy better deliver after all the BS and fuss. But somehow, I think he will be just a puppet used by the dems to accomplish their agenda. Just the sheer arrogance to think that 2 years in the senate qualifies you to run a country is rather naive. But Joe already warned us he will be in on every meeting, now there's confidence in your guy!!
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doodle
8:15AM 8:15AM Nov 13th 2008
Joe being in every meeting doesn't reassure me....he is even a bigger idiot than Obama. Neither is their own man...just a puppet for Democrats. When they may
USA like Europe maybe people will not want to come here and we can get our country back!
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Noel
11:14AM 11:14AM Nov 12th 2008
Remember Joe said (not warned) that he will be available for meetings...remember he is the VP chosen by Barack. So he will only attend a meeting if he is invited by President Obama. Joe could not run a campaign or get elected he was chosen by Barack.
Bush was President and he was one step removed from an idiot. If he can be a President anyone can, he destroyed our country...the US was not that well respected prior to Bush but after Bush, it was truly hated and mocked. Barack may have been in the senate for 2 years but he graduated from Harvard and was head of Harvard's Law Review (what previous president can say that?) He is smarter than 99.9% of the current old 10th century thinking senators on the Hill most of whom have not gone to college at all. He can think and believe it or not, people in other countries believe and respect education. He and we will get the respect that we deserve when working with other world powers, they will not laugh at us like under previous presidents example Bush! who was perceived as a joke world wide.
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Susan
9:31AM 9:31AM Nov 12th 2008
I didn't even buy a newspaper...it's a "Presidential Election"...and we have one every four years! It's not divine providence or anything! Promises were made by a MAN in this election, not GOD, so let's get on with it... Once we get past the fact that a man of mixed race was elected PRESIDENT, then we can start working toward some resolutions to the problems that we face...
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I LOVE OBAMA
9:15PM 9:15PM Nov 12th 2008
Susan,
In case you weren't aware, HISTORY was made on November 4, 2008. THAT is why it is important. It was NOT just another election. History was made for every man and woman in the world that has ever been told they cannot do something because of the color of their skin, or any other physical attribute that has been deemed negative throughout history. Wake up! Barack Obama is a symbol of hope and prosperity and open mindedness and with him being elected buy the majority of the United States sent a message around the world that we are ready for change, not only here in the USA but around the world. A change for the better, where we recognize people as living, breathing, feeling, human beings and accept them no matter what they LOOK like.
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JoshuaBBoyers
10:44AM 10:44AM Nov 12th 2008
The media had a rejoiceful day because they would have lost alot of credibility, if obama wouldn't have won. The media put all hope into him winning, and would have lost alot. It was just a historical event in history; that was the only reason that I bought a newspaper that day, so that a few years from now I can auction it for 10 times the amount that I purchased it. Obama was a publicity stunt from the start, he was definitely change alright. Obama deserves a chance, I will admit that, but when he starts making change with freedoms that I love and enjoy. I'm moving out of the USA, all you democrats, African-Americans, and Hispanics can have the potential soon to be communist USA. But then only time will tell, maybe he will stick to his words, but then he'll be the first; well, he was the first African-American president, there's a first for everything.
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I LOVE OBAMA
9:19PM 9:19PM Nov 12th 2008
Hey Joshua....you might want to rethink moving out of the USA. If you THINK we're screwed up then try looking into Canada...they accept ALL of their citizens completely and that includes gays. They have socialized medicine. They have a lot of the things that YOU do not want for our country. Think again before you decide to leave. Soon, it will be the same here, which is GREAT in my book. Equal rights for ALL, healthcare for ALL, HOPE for ALL, dignity and respect for ALL...NOT just the white, nor the rich, nor the upper class but for ALL.
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JoshuaBBoyers
10:47AM 10:47AM Nov 12th 2008
The media had a rejoiceful day because they would have lost alot of
credibility, if obama wouldn't have won. The media put all hope into
him winning, and would have lost alot. It was just a historical event
in history; that was the only reason that I bought a newspaper that
day, so that a few years from now I can auction it for 10 times the
amount that I purchased it. Obama was a publicity stunt from the
start, he was definitely change alright. Obama deserves a chance, I
will admit that, but when he starts making change with freedoms that
I love and enjoy. I'm moving out of the USA, all you democrats,
African-Americans, and Hispanics can have the potential soon to be
communist USA. But then only time will tell, maybe he will stick to
his words, but then he'll be the first; well, he was the first
African-American president, there's a first for everything.
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Izzy
2:26PM 2:26PM Nov 12th 2008
I see he has brought back alot of clintons people.
There will be no change for better only for worse.I can just imagine when he met President Bush and heard what is really going on all over the world and he has to deal with that I do not envy him a bit.
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Roger
1:13AM 1:13AM Nov 14th 2008
"who is like unto the Beast..and who is able to wage war with him"?
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Elizabeth
4:31PM 4:31PM Nov 14th 2008
It was an historic election on many levels. Let's give the winners their victory lap, and when the gushing is over, we need to get down to business. I think the populace is generally willing to do this, but Washington is another story. Mr. Obama will be pulled in a thousand different directions by powerful political people who have are not terribly interested in the rest of us. He didnt get my vote, but he'll have my support, but I don't think it's my support he'll need.
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