tbt
We love it when those stuffy dailies try to go all hip on us in an effort to reach ¨younger readers¨ with a tabloid style paper that´s supposed to look alternative. Usually it just ends up looking patronizing. The latest case in point is The St. Petersburg Times´ new freebie tbt, which is short for Tampa Bay Times (because everyone knows young people like initials and don´t like capital letters — lol). Editor Anne Glover writes in the premiere issue that tbt doesn´t want to bother young ´uns with serious or long stuff to read, but to be more like a ¨funny friend you like to hang out with when you´re kickin´ back.¨ She also uses other cool phrases like ¨gotcha covered.¨ In a story about the new venture in the Times´ biz section, she´s quoted as saying tbt´s news ¨is delivered in short chunks with colorful photos and no attempt at serious analysis¨ (because everyone knows young people are too stupid to read thoughtful writing and really just look at the pictures anyway). Times Editor Paul Tash is quoted in the story as saying ¨there´s nothing else like it on the market.¨ He´s right about that. Even though tbt is clearly masquerading as an alternative paper, it´s really mostly fluff recycled from the regular paper and packaged with some tired slang. If you guys really want to imitate us, you might try not condescending to young people.
