OCR Reporters 'Face' Their Readers

Image by DannySan via Flickr
The Santa Ana, Calif.-based Orange County Register, a Freedom Communications, Inc. publication, has decided that each staff-bylined story will be accompanied by a head shot of the Register reporter who wrote it.


 The rationale behind the move, according to the daily's editor, is to "promote our talented writing staff." Unfortunately, as with most moves taken by newspapers nowadays, the decision is not journalistic, but based on marketing, specifically, a suggestion from the MORI research firm.

The plan is to have a mug shot of the reporter, free of props, appear next to the byline accompanying the article.  OCR staffers face an uphill battle trying to convince editors that a flask is not a prop, but rather, a necessity.

Register readers will learn soon enough why the ink-stained wretches generating their news opted for print journalism, rather than television reporting (just kidding; "TUOL" knows that everyone in California is good-looking). Wonder if there will be an exception made for cloak-and-dagger investigative reporters, who probably consider their smiling puss a detriment to going undercover.