Flickr Image: Laura Burlton

by Stephen Lawrence*
In previous postings, I’ve discussed the disparity between newspapers and their web equivalents.  We’ve learned that one-to-one equivalency rarely occurs and that loss of valuable content accompanies such instances when the digital doesn’t equal the print.  This posting covers some of those examples where printed photos don’t make it to the web.

First, I must note, that while we are supplying the URLs to the online articles, we are unable to reproduce the original printed pages for comparison and posting to Fresh Ideas due to copyright restrictions. (For a more in-depth discussion on copyright, check out this BurrellesLuce white paper.)

If you manage public relations for authors, restaurants or fashion clients I promise you’ll find these examples very interesting:

Book Reviews
One of my guilty pleasures, back in the days when I was a reader (that’s a “fancy” term for someone on our production team who searches for articles relevant to a clients reading instructions), was perusing the book review sections of various newspaper as I read them for our clients.  Shots of the book’s cover running alongside the printed article were always handy in capturing my attention and helped make finding the relevant material all the easier. 

When conducting some quality assurance recently, I was reminded of this and found a few examples where the print and online editions of book review images don’t match up:

• The print edition of the Atlanta Journal Constitution eliminated the position of book editor back in 2007 as part of a restructuring program.  They continue to run a full page of reviews every Sunday.  But, there is no web equivalent.
• The Arizona Republic and Dallas Morning News, among others, provide only a text version of the book review.
• An article on Halloween-themed books featured cover shots of four different titles in USA Today.  Three of them were dropped in the on-line version. 

Food Sections
These pages represent valuable real estate for companies promoting new products. The photos themselves generate brand recognition in a market already bursting with crowded shelves.They don’t always make it to the online edition though.  Here’s one example of some “outta sight peanut sauce” and a drink recipe, credited to a major vodka distributor, both lost the supplied photo of its brand.

Fashion
The Financial Times recently printed its annual How to Spend It edition. This 48-page “luxury lifestyle magazine” contained dozens of high-end gift suggestions along with fashion spreads and photos. On the web, the magazine is presented as a standalone Adobe flash website with loads of original content. It’s a great site. But, it just doesn’t seem to be tagged for brand search words. The challenge for PR is while the flash  image looks good it requires a human search for accuracy

A report on fashion accessories inspired by “New Moon” in the Los Angeles Times actually presents more photos on the website than in print.  But, they’re tagged not by the products names, but by the retailer – a common occurrence in fashion pages – which renders search a bit difficult.

Even seemingly simple transitions can lose content.  The October 28^th edition of USA Today ran a nearly half-page article covering the previous night’s Avon Foundation for Women gala.  USA Today’s website picked up the photo of Reese Witherspoon on the red carpet.  Another photo of Fergie along with Courtney Cox didn’t make it, though.

Conclusion: If you’re not monitoring for both your print and online news clips, you’re missing the big picture – quite literally. Even in cases where the photos make it online, you may not be seeing them because of tagging and lack of metadata. Do you think the difference in the print and web edition is a benefit or a detriment to your client(s)?

*Bio: A native of Mesa, Arizona, I graduated from the University of Arizona with a major in Near Eastern Studies. I began my career with BurrellesLuce in 1997 as a reader. As with most readers, I developed a special relationship with my assigned papers – those small town dailies and weeklies of the same flavor that my family had been employed in for two generations. Currently, I hold the position of quality assurance specialist, troubleshooting daily production issues. Outside interests include woodworking, and keeping my wife and dog happy. Twitter: BurrellesLuce; Facebook: BurrellesLuce

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 25th, 2009 at 10:10 am and is filed under Media Industry, News Coverage, Public Relations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.