Dueling Steinbrenner tributes: a 'long-tail' tale
Today's front pages, July 14, 2010.
8:50 am Jul. 14, 20102
Each day, the New York tabloids vie to sell readers at the newsstands on outrageous headlines, dramatic photography, and, occasionally, great reporting. Who is today's winner?
Daily News: 'THE ONE & ONLY" reads the coverline this morning. (We couldn't spare two characters to spell out "AND"?) The inserted commemorative magazine—who's been working on this for the last few years, deep in the West 33rd Street warrens of the News?—and the cover, a vintage portrait of Steinbrenner with his dates and the words "TRIBUTE EDITION" are all you need to know about here. You already know what you'll get inside: Remembrances from baseball stars and Yogi Berra and columns on what Steinbrenner meant for major league baseball and the city. It's good stuff. The kind of stuff that you probably don't recycle in your work-subway-station traschcan, or leave next to the coffee-maker in the breakroom, when you're done with it. And that's the point. The News did well with its special magazine insert about the new Yankee Stadium, too: it's business, and the business, today, is not taking place on the newsstand.
The New York Post: In the case of the Post it's called a Tribute Special, and you can order it like you can order any back issue of the Post, only the newspapers website flogs the opportunity next to every story with the word "Steinbrenner" in it. There are scads of articles in here, and at a high altitude they look like the ones in the News. The point is, if you care for all of this wall-to-wall coverage of the just-deceased Yankees boss, you may as well buy both papers. And both papers know it.
Observations: There can't be much to say about the wood today. But then again, there isn't really a "front" today. Post loyalists will buy the Post, News loyalists will buy the News, Steinbrenner and Yankees freaks will buy both. Good luck guys! And let's check in at the end of the quarter and see how those framed cover prints, special magazine inserts and archive copies have sold. Because, that's the battle today.
Winner: TBD.
Post, hands down, when judging solely by the covers. The ampersand instead of 'and' with a photo of an old decrepit man? Nowhere near as elegant as the Post's pinstripes and studio portrait.
The Post wins. We can't say "TBD" for winner, if the idea is to pick the best cover. The Post is just classier, they respectfully chose a nice photo; the News chose to make Big Stein look old and angry (which, sure, he was, but cmon). Post also has the pinstripes, clean typeface, and Yanks logo.