The front page is the place for significant news of the day. The last two pages of the first section are the places for editorials, letters to the editor and commentary, as you do have them–except occasionally.
The front page of the Jan. 17 edition was a classic exception. I refer to “Bush risks a beating on affirmative action; The president cites principle in the university admissions case, but foes see an issue for 2004,” by your senior correspondent Michael Tackett. His first four paragraphs were not about news. He wrote that President George W. Bush was the beneficiary of “affirmative influence” in being admitted to both college and graduate schools, therefore, he wrote, the president is wrong in opposing “affirmative action.”
Nice phrasing, but not news. According to Tackett, the president’s “affirmative influence” came from the facts that his grandfather had been a trustee of the college and his father was an alumnus. Tackett gave no further evidence of “affirmative influence.” Editors evidently agreed with me and labeled the piece “Analysis.”
A news article appropriate for the front page, on the same subject, was on Page 19 the same day, way in back: “Rice helped shape position on affirmative action.” Condoleezza Rice is a former provost of Stanford University, is black, is now our national security adviser and is quoted as “absolutely opposed to quotas.”
