Above The Fold: How The News Played

By: Hillary Profita
Topics: In The News

Determining what is newsworthy enough to put on the front page of a newspaper or lead an evening news broadcast is sometimes not an obvious decision. Yesterday's news that members of the former 9/11 Commission had released a final report blasting Congress and the Bush administration for failing to implement reforms that could protect the country from another terrorist attack offers an interesting glimpse into how one story got top billing from some, but not others.

All three networks featured packages on the news, but NBC's "Nightly News" was the only broadcast to lead with the story. ABC's "World News Tonight" and the CBS "Evening News" led with stories about Saddam Hussein's trial. While The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and USA Today front-paged their articles on the former 9/11 Commission's report, The New York Times -- which so often seems to set the pace for how news plays -- put the story on page A22.

What do you think? How much does placement of this story influence how news audiences react to it? If all three networks carried the story, does it matter where in the broadcast it actually appeared?

UPDATE: Washington Post national political reporter Tom Edsall is puzzled about The New York Times' placement of the 9/11 Commission story, he says in today's online chat, notes Romenesko. Says Edsall, "Insofar as the press drives a story, that will diminish public reaction."

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by prnstar1 December 7, 2005 5:28 PM EST: Bla Bla Bla if you think the news is not worthy of posting things then you will be shot by me from a building with SkySir.; Reply to this comment


by gilbert617-2009 December 6, 2005 5:43 PM EST: Placement is important, but secondary to story selection. It is the decision of what is news worthy that is most important. News stations and papers pick up on eachother's stories and a story will become front page news simply by it's "popularity". This situation is a major issue in our 24 hour news world. The major stations like CNN and FOX have a tremendous amount of air time to fill. And therefore, less than average news stories are plastered across the screen, with a nice ticker tape and some sensational picture. And news companies (or news reading public) have a short attention span. CNN was so genuinely concerned with the plight of the Louisianna poor that once the flood waters receded, so did CNN (and FOX and MSNBC). I guess that problem was taken care of.; Reply to this comment


by loupike December 6, 2005 4:27 PM EST: Yes, I believe that where an item is placed conveys, perhaps implicitly, an indication of how important it is. It expresses the values, perceptions and vested interests of the people who get to decide what makes is newsworthy. Your decisions about where or when to place an item influences us to believe that it is 'really' important or less so. And when all the networks lead with the same item, as they seem to do most of the time, that's a lot like price fixing: a collusion of ideologies.; Reply to this comment


by jaguar0 December 6, 2005 2:14 PM EST: Your assuming, that everybody who watch the nightly news<(old men in nursing home, with oatmeal iv drips), watched every second> Is the viewer, watching the news, while reading the newspaper(remember, the old sixty show, the guy come in after a work day, kiss wife, pat dog, then flick on tv news, while opening newspaper, as he pluck his donkey, down on the easy chair)? The question is, why the 911 commission, took so long to give a finial report?; Reply to this comment