Front Pages of Newspapers after the Biden-Palin debate

On to Michigan, South Carolina......

The best front page today, January 11, 2008? The Port Huron Times Herald. Check out the headline Romney's Son Shows Up. And I gotta tell you, the three high school students chatting with Josh Romney look a little skeptical, wouldn't you say?

Many other papers have football on the front page, as we move toward the Super Bowl.

The Day After New Hampshire

What a difference a day makes! Yesterday Barack Obama was a rock star, today he can barely get his face on the front page of any newspaper in the country. Hillary is the face du jour, many papers using the tease WHO'S CRYING NOW? to accompany the picture.

A lot of newspapers chose a similar image to the one that appears on the cover of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, a broadly smiling Hillary Clinton with her arms outstretched, as if embracing the crowd.

But have a look at the cover of USA Today this morning:

In a way this is a much warmer picture of Hillary. Her smile appears really genuine, the photo is closely cropped so she's not seen in relation to a crowd, but the viewer looks only and directly at her face. The image of McCain (to the left of Hillary) shows him waving, in an image that somewhat obscures his face and gives the sense also of a slight pushing away from the viewer.

And the next venue of battle is South Carolina. Have a look at The Herald. Could they have chosen a less flattering photo of Hillary Clinton, while the small picture of Romney looks like he's conceding:

New Hampshire Primary Day

Today is the day New Hampshire goes to the polls for their presidential primary. Lots of interesting newspaper front pages today, but this one stood out for me. It's the Valley News, and it features four full color photos above the fold. The largest one is of Barack Obama, his back to the camera, clearly the crowd is the message here. Look at the crowd. Not only is it pretty darn big, but it's almost exclusively white. The yellow tape between the crowd and the candidate emphasizes the distinction.




Beneath the Obama image is one of Bill Clinton campaigning on behalf of Hillary. Interesting that on a day when one of the big stories was Hillary getting a little emotional, they chose a picture of her husband. Reinforcing the weak woman? (And the darkness behind Bill is in stark contrast to the Obama image above it.)

Now look at the two pictures of the Republicans Romney and McCain. Both are looking down, in closely cropped photos that both telegraph the same message: dejection. My guess is this is a heavily Democratic region!!

January 7, 2008 NY Times

Today's New York Times has two contrasting pictures - the top one is of John McCain "in the round", addressing a crowd, standing in what looks like a miniature boxing ring. The crowd is in very close, the platform is bare except for a white stripe and a cheap bar stool, and McCain stands with his hands in his pockets. What does this say to you? A big crowd, a popular candidate?

Now contrast it with the Clinton picture below. Bill at the lectern, which is colorfully swagged in red, white, and blue, the platform is raised, the candidate's husband looks powerful and in charge.

So now what do you think of the McCain image? Looks shabby, a little dejected, but much more "one of the people", doesn't it? The Clinton image - fascinating because it's BILL and not HILLARY - portrays power, resources, magnetism, color, but also of distance from the people.

Thoughts?

New York Times January 6, 2008

Contrast this front page picture with the one from the New Hampshire paper. The bulk of Richardson (who has his back to the camera) contributes to the whole right side of the image just appearing as a mass of grey suits. Your eye is drawn to the two New Yorkers - Hillary and Giuliani.

January 6, 2008 New York's Newsday

Wow, check out Newsday's front page. Obama tossing daggars at Hillary, who is smiling a bit smugly. It almost looks photoshopped, although I can't prove it.