The Los Angeles Times is arguably the most credible news source on the West Coast. Or at least it was.
Recently, it has finally followed the path of other leading newspapers in its move toward “infotainment,” or the simplification of news and use of bright, flashy pictures to draw in a broader audience. Sadly, this makes perfect sense.
Newspapers in the United States are businesses that want to generate as much money as possible. In short, its job is to appeal to as many people as possible and follow the trends in layout. In many other countries, especially in Western Europe, newspapers are seen as extensions of political parties, not independent organizations. This is both beneficial and detrimental to readers.
Readers are able to receive news that is largely unbiased because that’s what appeals to a larger audience. But, what has happened in this case, newspapers need to follow the trends in style. Unfortunately, the L.A. Times has translated this into using shades of green and brown that one only sees under the ugliest, most unfortunate of circumstances.
The new Sunday Edition layout includes brown stripes dividing stories and oddly placed photos that are supposed to lure readers to read inside stories and drop caps (the big letters at the beginning of a story) that are in camouflage-green and in a new font that resembles the New York Times style, all adding up to a strange, gaudy, dizzying hodge-podge that will surly only deter readership.
Other papers also use bright, bold colors to attract the readers’ attention, substituting in-depth coverage for superficial content. The most exemplary of these shallow papers is the USA Today, with a circulation trumping all other newspapers in the United States at over 2.5 million papers circulated daily.
Most front-page stories in the USA Today consist of the most basic facts, telling the readers only what has happened, providing very little background or historical context – just the facts. The facts alone are a great way to get a superficial understanding of what is going on in the world, but it’s merely the tip of the iceberg. In order to have a more complete picture of what is happening, some kind of context needs to be provided.
As of yet, the L.A. Times has retained its thorough coverage, despite the move to a tabloid-like layout.
As with any business, these papers are following the demand and we, the readers, are supplying the drive toward poor content. We buy the newspapers with poor content and silly color schemes while shunning sources of real news coverage and content in part because of our waning interest in current events around the world.
But readers aren’t the only ones to blame. Instead of being true to their professional obligation to inform people, these journalists (and their publishers) are succumbing to group think, acting more like lemmings than independent entities.
The creative aspect of reporting the news is telling people what has happened in an interesting, erudite way. The new style of the L.A. Times, while trying to be more appealing, is totally demeaning to its readers.
