With all the hand-wringing going on about print journalism, it’s often easy to forget about all that is good in a newspaper.
And today’s front page shows an awesome confluence of great art and great layout that is almost impossible to duplicate on a screen. I had the benefit of being in the budget meeting when we planned our front page, so I wasn’t surprised at the picture of First Pres’ steeple (click on steepleshot) on the front, but it was still very cool to take the paper out of the bag and look at the top half, and then open up the whole front page and see the punchline.
When I was in college, I took a photo course, and the professor helped put together a book of student shots that was called “No Cats, No Steeples,” the idea being that any respectable photographer should steer clear of shooting churches and kitties. I still like that rule, but all rules deserve to be broken for the right photo, and this is it.
All three columns worth. As I’ve noted before, one of our missions is to be entertaining, to surprise and amuse, etc. Most typically, we think of that challenge in terms of stories. But it applies to photos as well.
Your host is Ken Otterbourg, the managing editor at the Winston-Salem Journal. It's a forum to discuss the media, from 
If you’re looking for photos of cats and kittens, check out http://www.cuteoverload.com/ . It’s kind of ridiculous.
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Joe Murphy
Senior Online Content Producer
JournalNow.com
So for those of us who haven’t seen the paper, what is the punchline? The picture is of a man, but I can’t make out what’s in front of him.
The punchline is that the top half of the photo, what we in the newspaper business say is above the fold, gives no indication of what the bottom half delivers.
Well, that’s straightforward and goes a long way towards understanding what it’s about.
Nothing like fumbling around in the dark. I asked my husband to pick up a copy of the paper and he forgot.
And I have no time or inclination to question further or engage in guessing games.
Have a great week.
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