Teasing Correctly

We’ve been talking in class a lot about other things on a newspaper page other than blocks of text. Generally, I’m interested in photos and how images are incorporated into a story with overheads and cutlines, but my eyes have been distracted by other graphics.

Lately, the Red and Black has been doing something with their nameplate that can either be hit or miss. I’ve noticed the use of teasers in the nameplate of the Red and Black lately and sometimes it’s confusing. In our Harrower textbook, when defining teaser, it says:

“Teasers – these promote the best stories inside the paper (also called promos or skyboxes).”

In the March 5, 2009 issue of the Red and Black, the teaser included little cutouts of flowers and a little blurb about orchids at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, on page three. Well, when you turned to page three, the orchid story was actually part of a larger package promoting things around Athens happening during spring break.

I understand why a teaser was used, but I’m not sure why it was just of the orchids of the Botanical Gardens. If they wanted to promote the package, which made use of a great deal of graphics, why not pull something from that to promote the actual story? I had wondered if there was actually a whole story about orchids, but I turned to the page and saw this:


There was a great opportunity to mimic this recognizable graphic as the teaser, but it wasn't used.

Today’s issue correctly uses a teaser in the nameplate. Today the movie adaptation of the famous Watchmen comic hits theaters and it, especially with the college crowd, will probably be a big hit. The article itself is very interesting and provides a lot of information about the film and the skepticism surrounding it. So on today’s Red and Black nameplate, two characters sit on either side and a correct lead into the story is given. This teaser is far less misleading.

As for whether or not I like the visual of a teaser, I'm undecided. However, if used correctly, teasers are a great tool for pulling a reader into the paper to read other stories that aren't front page material.