San Francisco Panorama

Q: Why broadsheet?
A: We think that the best chance for newspapers’ survival is to do what the internet can’t: namely, use and explore the large-paper format as thoroughly as possible. To that end, we opted for a huge and luxurious broadsheet–15″ x 22″. Then we unleashed artists and designers to show exactly how much the format can do.” -McSweeney’s FAQ on the one-shot San Francisco Panorama project

McSweeney’s, whose lists you should know, is producing a one-time-only 380-page newspaper to be distributed in San Francisco, to McSweeney’s subscribers, and in bookstores across the US. The teaser pages of the San Francisco Panorama are beautiful, and the list of contributors reads as a who’s who of contemporary American writing, design, illustration. The photography is top notch, too. Can’t wait to see one of these in the flesh.

Although, I’ve got to say, it’s been real nice having printed newspapers and magazines on this trip back to the US. I’m not sitting at a computer for all of my news, I can read in the park or on a bus, and all the weird little stories that I didn’t know I was interested in somehow make it into my peripheral news consumption.

(via TheRumpus)

Silicon Alley Insider gathers data on some newspapers who have recently ceased their print publications and moved entirely online.  While some, notably the Kentucky Post and the Seattle PI, have seen sharp increases in online viewership, the picture isn’t as rosy for most online-only newspapers.  A few of the newspapers now boast monthly online readership about the size of our own here at dvafoto, which is both a bad sign for those newspapers and a nice sign for us.  Most interesting, though, is an almost throw-away comment about the Kentucky Post:

A study by Princeton economists says that since the Posts closed, both the number of candidates for city council and local board posts, and the number of people who showed up to vote has dropped. The study also says that the incumbent politicians and board members now have higher chances of staying in office.”

In short, the printed newspaper is an important check on politicians. Not new news, I suppose, but now there’s data to back up the assertion.

Out of Print - Map of closed newspapers by Erica Smith of Paper Cuts

While I’ve known about Paper Cuts for a long time, Out of Print, a map documenting closed American newspapers (or those who’ve just stopped publishing a print edition), is new to me. The format is the same, Erica Smith plots the locations and date of closures on a Google Map of the US. Those black push-pins are not a welcome site.