THERE WAS SOME chatter in the newsroom about The Denver Post featuring a photo of Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover model Kate Upton (“SI Covergirl Kate Upton,” also “SI Swimsuit Launch Party”) in the Media Center >>Photo Blogs carousel on the website.
I did a very non-scientific survey of the front pages of some newspaper websites across the country to see who else was featuring it:
- New York Times Nada
- Philadelphia Inquirer “Kate Upton, SI cover girl” with head shot in Photo Galleries section (below the “fold”)
- Cleveland Plain-Dealer Nada
- Miami Herald Nada
- Seattle Post-Intelligencer “Model Kate Upton on SI Swimsuit cover” with head shot in Featured Galleries section (above the “fold”)
- San Francisco Chronicle Nada
- Los Angeles Times Nada
- Portland Oregonian Nada
- Houston Chronicle Nada
- San Jose Mercury News Nada
- St. Louis Post-Dispatch “Video: Kate Upton plays coy about Mark Sanchez” with photo of SI cover in Entertainment section (below the “fold”)
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution “Photos: Swimsuit models celebrate ‘SI'” in The Buzz section (above the “fold,” no photo)
- Boston Globe Nada
- Washington Post Nada
- Minneapolis Star Tribune Nada
- Detroit Free Press “With poll: Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover revealed; Michigan-born Kate Upton gets honor” in Most Popular section (below the “fold,” no photo — No. 4, after a story about the Red Wings, of course)
- Arizona Republic Nada
- USA Today “Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue” in “Popular topics in the news” section (bottom of site, no photo)
- Kansas City Star Video still of Kate Upton at the SI launch party in Today in Photos & Video carousel (at the fold)
So, it seemed a natural for a poll …
Feel free to expound on your vote by leaving a comment below.
Really? We are in the middle of contract negotiations, a company makeover, outsourcing concerns, seniority issues etc, and we are talking about a SI issue? That one issue of that magazine is ingrained on cultural society the same way as the Mc-Rib, March Madness Tournament Brackets, and Voting for American Idol. Whether you like it or not, you want to know who is on it, and when you walk through the checkout line at your local grocery store, your going to sneak a peek to see what all the fuss is about anyway. Would this bother us as much if Tebow was on the cover in his swim trunks? If the fact that we are promoting sex and objectifying women is the issue, I see worse things every day on our Denver Daily Deal. There have been countless photo galleries dedicated to Fashion shows, Red Carpet outfits, Bronco/Nugget Dancer and Cheerleaders and they have never seemed to spark any sort of controversy before. The Post does a great job with its photo galleries. They are one of the few sections of the website that warrants my daily attention. I am a firm believer in the old saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words”, and I don’t want to see the diversity of what is offered in that section compromised because of a couple hurt feelings. Now can we get back to talking about relevant issues, like our future with this company?
Harold,
Any day you can talk about McRibs and the SI swimsuit issue in one conversation is quite a day.
You raise some great points. Would anyone bat an eye if Tebow showed up on the home page in his skivvies? I’m sure some would, but I doubt there would be an outrcy (and I’m not implying there’s an outcry here). That said, at least with Tebow there would be a local connection to the story/photo. Regardless, it still seems like it would be somewhat gratuitous.
The really interesting poll would be this same question put to the readers.
Perhaps we should institute an equal-opportunity skin policy: SI swimsuit issue = Chippendales calendar … Denver Broncos cheerleaders calendar = Denver firefighters calendar, which I think has been featured in the past, if memory serves. I wonder which of those would get more clicks?
Let me say here that I, too, love the photo galleries and think the staff does a great job with them.
Here’s the comment I heard that really framed this issue for me: Should we have something on our website that someone wouldn’t want on their computer screen at work, male or female?
We created this site to discuss not only Guild issues, but also journalism issues, and I think this topic is worthy of discussion — thanks for taking part.
As for the contract negotiations, we are certainly taking those very seriously, but the world doesn’t stop turning because we’re in the middle of bargaining.