A Zener diode has a smoother transition from empathy to hatred.
Toronto Star front-page design exacerbated division between readers. Greater care should have been taken
By Bruce Campion-Smith, Public Editor, Aug. 28, 2021
(excerpts)
In trying to give profile to an article about public attitudes to those who are not vaccinated, the Star stumbled badly in a front-page display, prompting a fierce response from readers, more than 4,000 messages and counting as of Saturday afternoon.
The article, which appeared on Page 2, provided the context for those remarks. Standing on their own on the front page of Canada’s largest daily circulation newspaper, the tweets were considered confusing, hurtful and inflammatory to many, many readers.
It wasn’t obvious where the [front page] comments were drawn from. There were no quotation marks to clearly signify that these were the comments of others.
The fact that these were taken from Twitter was only noted in fine print at the bottom of the comments and below the fold of the newspaper, and thus not immediately apparent.
Senior editors were made aware of the readers’ concerns and were quick to acknowledge there was reason to be upset.
“Clumsy, poorly executed and open to misinterpretation,” Star editor Anne Marie Owens said of the design.
The divisive language in the tweets spoke to the tensions highlighted by polling data, Owens said. Yet the front-page layout invited confusion rather than helping make the point.
“It’s hard to distinguish the headline from the highly contentious comments,” she said.
“With any image, there’s a first impression. We know that’s the power of a front-page display but there is a responsibility too. This particular front page didn’t live up to that responsibility and we’re sorry about that. By not being clear, we sowed confusion.”