Are photos in the Post-Dispatch the right size?
The Chicago Tribune has told readers that it will make adjustments in its recent redesign based on feedback it’s getting.
In an article Thursday, the industry journal Editor & Publisher characterized the Tribune’s note to readers this way:
“In an extraordinary mea culpa wrapped around its A-section Thursday, the Chicago Tribune acknowledged that its much-ballyhooed redesign was a flop with many readers.”
The Chicago Tribune denied any mea cupla and said E&P was off-base. The Trib’s editor said:
… We’re proud of the redesigned Chicago Tribune and the value it brings to both our readers and advertisers every day. Our redesign has been a tremendous success.
“We weren’t apologizing. We were thanking readers for their input and assuring them that it mattered. That’s what successful customer-focused businesses do.”
One area of criticism concerned the size of photos.
According to E&P:
“Many readers dislike the Tribune’s new practice of using large front-page photographs. ‘Some people found this disorienting,’ the Tribune said. ‘On top of that, we didn’t get everything right the first time.’ But it said even if that ‘unsettles some readers,’ that big displays of photos would continue.”
“‘Our photojournalists are among the best in the world, and we are displaying their work more prominently,’ the Tribune said. ‘At the same time, size doesn’t always equate with worth. Therefore, we are being more rigorous in editing photos so their use is commensurate with their value.’”
Granted, this is an entirely unscientific survey here. But if you’re a regular reader of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, draw on your recollection of photos in the paper, day in and day out, and let us know:
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Steve Parker is the deputy managing editor for news, and oversees the Post-Dispatch's front page. STLtoday's online news editors are on his newsroom team. Parker has been at the paper since September 1980. 
A photograph should cover only the column inches that your sales department didn’t sell on a given page. Remember its 60/40 at least. Photos are the cheapest was of filling unsold space.
The ideal newspaper would be 100 percent advertising, and nothing else.
I have no peer when it comes to selling. I had never sold newspaper space until I was in Hawaii on A vacation. The Maui News was having their 125th anniversary. Colin Cameron, the owner, wanted to do something special.
On a bet with him, I spent 3 days in the Maui News skimming through past editions. I bet him I could sell 125 pages of advertising for a special section at double the column inch rate. The 125 pages took me 2 days. I sold another 125 pages in 3 more days. I entitled it “Pages from the Past”
They started with a page in 1898 (left) and a full page Advertisement on the right AT DOUBLE THEIR COLUMN INCH RATE.
Have you ever seen a 500 page special edition?
Yes, we all made out like bandits.