The Poynter Institute

'Presdient Obama election 2008: a collection of newspaper front pages selected by the Poynter Institute' is an interesting window into a historic moment in time, when America elected their first black president, and the way the American people responded to it.

The introduction provides a fascinating insight into the role of newspapers as an historical artifact. In an era where most news is being sought online, and most people found out the election result online, the American people responded to the historic election of Barack Obama to the Presidency by going out in droves and buying newspapers. So much so that many newspapers had to run large extra printings to satisfy demand, some papers trebled the price for the day, and other papers are even now being sold at inflated prices in online auctions. It is a curious testament to the psychological place occupied by the physical artifact of the newspaper as proof of the reality of a moment in time. A physical memento which proves that it happened, and you were there. Something which can be kept and shown to future generations.

Almost as fascinating as this phenomenon is the difference between coverage from one paper to another. Each front page is accompanied by the details of where the newspaper is based and a brief explanation to put the content of the page in context. It is immensely useful for those outside the United States that this collection contextualises the approach taken by the different papers, and the insight that this provides into the American socio-political landscape is one of the highlights of this collection.

The inclusion of international newspapers was also important in acknowledging the impact that this election had on the world, in an international climate which was growing uneasy with the effects of the Bush administration on the international landscape. The international community appeared to be equally concerned with the result in terms of demonstrating how America were really coping with the issue of racism, and how America would proceed in response to the growing economic crisis. The international community were represented with 10 papers, ranging from the very minor to the national. As an Australian I was very surprised to see Australian newspapers represented by the almost insignificant Albury-Wodonga 'Border Mail' (with a circulation of 25,000) rather than the national newspaper The Australian, which I assume was to demonstrate the range of newspapers covering the Historic result, from the National papers with high circulation to the lowly local paper. Europe was represented by papers from Austria, Belgium, England, Poland and Spain. Again I was surprised that 'The Daily Telegraph', a tabloid newspaper of dubious quality, was chosen to represent England rather than The Times. It does however feature a very nice political cartoon on the cover based on the electoral result, which was itself worth including. Asia was represented by a Japanese and an Indonesian newspaper, the Jakarta paper playing on Obama's Indonesian connection. The Middle East is represented by an Israeli paper from Tel Aviv and Africa is represented by the Kenyan 'Daily Nation'. South America is represented by the El Colombiano newspaper, and Canada is represented by 'Le journal de Montreal'.

This collection will make an historical artifact itself, capturing the moment when American voters made history by electing their first black president, which will be as useful to those who went out in droves and bought the paper on the 5th of November 2008 as the papers themselves. It will also provide a fabulous resource for school libraries who can use this collection of source documents to support studies of current American politics and society.… (more)

This glossy, pretty collection of newspaper front pages lacks just a few details that would've made it great. First, if they're going to market it as a keepsake, I would like to see it in hardback. Paperback just doesn't say collectible to me. Second, they've included papers from nearly every single state, so why not every one? Excluding nine of fifty states seems a bit negligent. Adding nine more state papers and a few more international papers would've made this collection seem more complete. Finally, there seemed to be a small amount of pixelation/graininess (which most people would not notice and is most likely nitpicking on my part) on the front cover and some interior pages that should have been fixed prior to publication, if possible.

Now for the positive. The size works well. It's neither cumbersomely big, nor too small to make out details. The captions found on every page bring attention to the unique attributes of each cover. The introduction by G. B. Trudeau, creator of Doonesbury, is well-written, classy, and interesting. The concept is excellent and, with a few revisions, this would've been an excellent book.… (more)

Review by Erik Burgeson

President Obama Election 2008: A Collection of Newspaper Front Pages Selected by the Poynter Institute

As I opened the pages of this book, I was brought back to the moment when I was watching MSNBC and Keith Olbermann declared that NBC was calling the election for Barack Obama. Although I had already guessed the outcome, I still felt a penetrating surge of emotion at the announcement. While not the same feeling, I did sense an emotional surge when paging through the headlines and front pages of the newspapers featured in this book. The volume itself does not quite meet the standards I would ascribe to a “coffee table book” which is what this book aspires to be. Having said that, the book presents a great variety of newspapers with various headlines, some inspiring and some less so. Variations on the “Yes, he did” headline are thankfully scarce. The most moving headlines were often from foreign newspapers or the independent (and often free-for-distribution) newspapers. My vote for most original depiction of Obama’s victory is from LEO (p. 29) which features a picture of Obama photo-shopped onto a penny with the headline “Change” superimposed over a pile of coins. My second favorite is from the Williamette Weekly (p. 51) shows the Obama campaign graphic circle with field of red and whites stripes as the O in “O[h], Yeah!” The circle is then dived to look like a pie chart featuring various reasons why voters may have gone for Obama. This headline is best understood by viewing as it is very difficult to adequately describe. This book is definitely a collector’s item, but it may not excite those of you who are not complete political geeks like I am or who do not have the same feelings about this election as other more impassioned voters might.

Erik Burgeson
January 21, 2009… (more)