Newspaper Osmosis

Members of Club dei 27 in Parma, Italy

I first thought I might be imagining things. Was the NYT adopting a front page, below the fold A-Hed-like piece feature for its front page, mimicking the WSJ?

The front page A-Hed piece is a time-honored feature of the WSJ. Its name derives from newspaperspeak about text framed with borders that resemble an A. I couldn't find a formal definition of A-Hed in the OED, but Google tells me it means headline, and is purposely misspelled by the WSJ to distinguish it from a top-of-the fold headline.

The A-Hed piece is so popular with WSJ readers that there is a collection of pieces in a book, Floating Above the Page. Not all that long ago Rupert Murdoch wanted to get rid of it for some reason. The staff revolted, (to say nothing of what the readers might have done) and it has never been discontinued that I know of. It is one of the first things I land on when picking up the WSJ, and it has given me many inspiration for blog postings. 

Lately, and I can't remember when I first started to think that the NYT might be trying out its own version of an A-Hed piece. While not framing it the same way, or stuffing it with sometimes truly groaning dad puns, they have definitely started to do something I haven't seen before.

How else can you explain a recent NYT front page piece, with a photo of a quadruped and the headline: The Mule Was a Menace. But He Wasn't a Mule. I kid you not. This is not a front page story about NATO and the Ukraine. 

Note: Mules and Donkeys are not biologically the same animal. But that's another story.

The NYT pieces (and I don't know what to call them) lack the utter levity and lightness of the WSJ pieces, but clearly someone at the editor's desk is changing something.

I think it was the story about the Verdi Club that got me thinking things might be changing over there on Eighth Avenue.

On November 4 the front page piece went with a headline and photo: To Join This Club a Member Must Die. And You Must Adore Verdi. Not quite the white smoke coming from the Vatican, but close. It was a true WSJ-like  A-Hed piece.

The WSJ has an A-Hed piece nearly every day, always front page and below the fold. The NYT version is not every day. I guess it depends how much other news the NYT needs to give front page status to.

Reading the WSJ can be fun, with its A-hed piece and its "Pepper...And Salt" cartoon on the editorial page. The NYT would seem to be trying to capture some fun of its own. It's not always easy to find fun in the NYT.

But consider some of the following recent front page pieces that have that A-Hed feel to them. This is not your grandfather's NYT.

Ohtani's Ruthian Feats Can't Coax Japanese Yankees Fans to Turn Dodger Blue

Paraguay Adores a Cartoon Mouse Named Mickey. Just Don't Bring Up Disney

Maps Show Landslide Risk in Alaska, but Some Aren't Interested

A Reminder You Can't Light Up Will Now Stay Lit All the Time

Dead Poet Talking: Polish Radio Experiment Bares Pitfalls of AI

Village So Spooky, Even Skeptics get the Jitters

In Tumultuous Times, More Readers Are Reaching  for Magical 'Healing Fiction' 

The paper is becoming fun to read.

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