popular thinking

So Tuesday, April 17, 2007, marked the first paper edition of BostonNOW, the city's latest free daily commuter paper, clearly taking on Boston's Metro, the city's first free daily commuter paper. Let's take a look at how the two papers stacked up today.

BostonNOW
Pages: 24
Cover: Local enterprise story on Logan flight delays
Locally written news stories: Greatest Party preview feature, note from the publisher, business feature on local guy's puzzle store, Logan flight delay story
Wire stories: Turnpike Authority kills Fast Lane contract, state briefs, gas price update, House fights Patrick on anti-smoking funds, More Patrick staff shuffling, Mitt flips view on Hillary's "village" concept, Globe wins Pulitzer, VT shootings, storm, national briefs, Russia wants to extradite tycoon from Britain, Sudan allows UN troops, Iran defies sanctions, world briefs
Special section: N/A
Listings: Free ice cream from Ben & Jerry's today, tells you Harry & the Potters are in town tonight
Op-Ed features: Blog briefs, Alan Dershowitz op-ed (from Christian Science Monitor?), note from editor asking for your blog opinions
Puzzles: Crossword and Sudoku
Horoscope: Paragraphs plus today's birthday
Entertainment section: Preview feature on MFA's "Art in Bloom," interesting newsworthy item on how DVRs and TiVo impact "Lost" more than any other primetime TV show, feature on "Surviving the Nian" at the BCA, review of "The New Brain" at Cambridge YMCA, DVD review of "Red Sox Baby," preview of Champions on Ice at TD Banknorth Garden, Five Questions with Jazz Boston's Jason Palmer
Novelette: Part I of serial fiction page (with note at bottom asking for your 1,500-word entries)
Movie times: Today's listings for Boston and the suburbs
Gossip page: Wire on British Royals, entertainment briefs, local piece questioning BCN Rumble finalists
Lifestyle page: N/A
Sports: Wire on Boston Marathon, brief from Ch. 5 sports guys "Open Mikes",
Back of the book: Outbound page, which includes editor's Top 10 things he likes best about Boston (asking readers to submit their Top 10s), "best" Web diversions, online shopping tips, and a skin-care tip.
Back page: Ad for TJ Maxx.

Boston Metro
Pages: 32
Cover: Localized wire story on Virginia Tech shootings.
Locally written news stories: *Storm, T Riders Union, MIT students react to VT shootings, interview with Webby Awards
Wire stories: Globe wins Pulitzer, more on VT shootings, Wall Street recap
Special section: Education Guide, 12 pages
Listings: If you like Phish, you'd have learned that Page McConnell was in town signing his solo CD debut today. Knew today was Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry's (bad timing for ice cream, though).
Op-Ed features: Caption contest, person on street debate about why fewer young Mass. residents volunteer compared to other states.
Puzzles: Crossword and Sudoku.
Horoscope: One-liners, akin to fortune cookie statements.
Entertainment section: *Preview of Sundance Channel's "The Green," review of "Valhalla" at BCA, interview with Mike White of "Year of the Dog," celebrity column, brief preview of Smoosh concert, DVD reviews.
Lifestyle page: Spa tips, advice column, exercise tip.
Sports section: Parts of three pages, with Red Sox game story and sidebar, sports briefs, wire on Boston Marathon.
Back of the book: Medical research ads.
Back page: Ad for Citizens Bank.
*some Metro bylines may not be from Boston staff

Day One has to go to BostonNOW, but anything else would've been bad news, because the upstart had plenty of time to plan for its launch edition. Let's check back in a week or two, or perhaps a month, to see how the two free commuter papers fare when compared.

On the Web, BostonNOW clearly wins, but that's because the Metro doesn't even try to draw online readers. It's all about picking up the product for them. Which is all well and good, but BostonNOW also has a clear vision for being a new kind of paper, and wants to draw upon local bloggers, and so, well, it has to be viable online as well as in print. An ambitious -- some might say audacious -- proposition. But someone has to try it, right?

Labels: newspapers