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Lord. China story is a bfd, but giving it a 3-line hed and 2-line dek, which seems really wordy yet confusing btw, they didn't give themselves much room for Trump hed.
It would be interesting—and good for the paper!—if they broke down the decisions and missteps. But they won't.
It would be interesting—and good for the paper!—if they broke down the decisions and missteps. But they won't.
I don't pretend to know the ins and outs of making the print front page on a day of 2+ huge stories but a layout like this one might have been more flexible to the demands of each: 
One could even seen trying for a headline that covers both stories.
Reign of Chaos: Nation Reels From Domestic Terror, Trade Wars.
deks:
Trump Deflects Blame for Massacres to Videogames and Mental Health.
Market Reels as China Retaliates and Pulls Ag Imports.
Reign of Chaos: Nation Reels From Domestic Terror, Trade Wars.
deks:
Trump Deflects Blame for Massacres to Videogames and Mental Health.
Market Reels as China Retaliates and Pulls Ag Imports.
Any as I've said so many times before, the Times' biggest problem is institutional arrogance and an inability to process legitimate criticisms and report back to us—and and to staff!—on what went wrong, what the challenges were, the plan to do better.
Instead of that kind of probative inquiry we get, if anything, some of the thinner skinned staff lashing out or lecturing. Bad headlines are an age-old journalism problem. But it's b/c the bigger failings never get a public airing that the bad heds are such a flashpoint.
If I had to guess...maybe this layout/hed problem was in part because of turf battles between national and business desks? Or because they'd laid out the rest of the front page and were trying to jam the latter story into the space they had?
It would be interesting to know!
It would be interesting to know!
IMO, the best thing the Times could do for itself would to be to hire a public editor team to perform this kind of antibody, and accountability, role.
And yeah, I think this job is more than one person these days.
And yeah, I think this job is more than one person these days.
Anyway the story itself seems fine, pretty feisty for a day-of news story. Not all the points in it can be shoved into a headline. But on this topic, of all topics, you'd think more care would be given to packaging.
