Newspapers: July 2010 Archives

Cleveland Newspaper Goes Big When LeBron Leaves

Cleveland Newspaper Goes Big When LeBron Leaves

The news of LeBron James leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers dominated many newspaper front pages on July 9. But the treatment his hometown newspaper, The Plain Dealer, gave to the story stood out.  Designers Michael Tribble and Emmet Smith, directed by David Kordalski, executed a dramatic poster front focused on just one word: "Gone."

Smith describes the thinking behind the design, begun just eight hours before the page went to press, in an interview on Poynter.org: "I was of the thinking that Cleveland would really need to see a straight front with 'HE'S GONE' in 300-point knockout with a picture, but Michael kept pushing me to do something different, less 'boring.' When I brought him that cover, it was half as a joke, not thinking we'd be able to run it. But Michael loved it and was sure it was the right choice."

The Plain Dealer's unusual front struck such a chord with jilted Cavaliers fans that ESPN and the Associated Press wrote stories about it. After the jump, see what The Plain Dealer normally looks like and view other LeBron front pages from around the country.

This post was written by Reed Reibstein.

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