Earlier this week, a posting already covered some of the main innovations USA Today brought to the market, namely by giving readers news they wanted and by adopting a fresh and colorful design.

“The very first impact it had was that it made every other newspaper in the country look drab and poorly printed,” said newspaper analyst John Morton of Morton Research Inc.

“It triggered a lot of investment in improving print quality and adding color. All of a sudden you had this colorful newspaper next to the hometown newspaper that was drab and muddy-looking.”

When it launched, many newspaper editors complained about USA Today’s lack of in-depth reporting. “It was the first paper that developed reporting based on what readers want,” said Karen Magnuson, president of Associated Press Managing Editors.

What ended happening is that many newspapers followed in that direction. USA Today’s disliked approach turned out to be innovative. “They began the trend toward more coverage and presentation of the news to travelers and commuters who had less time to read way before we focused on them,” said Gilbert Bailon, president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors.

In recent years, USA Today has become newsier. “They developed a strategy to report on the news that the American people felt was important to them. But they have done a balance and are digging deeper,” said Magnuson.

Maybe this is why it regularly leads the US in terms of readership. It has developed and found a balance between pulp and hard news, between the scandalous tabloid and The New York Times, an approach that appeals to the majority of Americans.

Source: Editor & Publisher