Was top of Page One the right place for story on plan to overhaul U.S. financial regulatory system?

Our lead story in the Tuesday edition of The Telegraph was an Associated Press story about the Bush administration’s plan to overhaul the financial regulatory system.

At our Monday afternoon news meeting, Telegraph editors had plenty of interesting options for Page One, but the financial story provided what we call a strong “lead’ -- meaning it was important and timely (the plan had just been announced; it was unveiled at a time the nation is grappling with a struggling economy; and it was seen as an ambitious undertaking by an administration near the end of its term).

The question, though, was whether the story would be written in laymen’s language. Would the impact of the proposed move be apparent to the average reader? Put more bluntly, would readers care about this story?

Ok. We had more than one question.

In the end, the story was as I had envisioned: Important, absolutely, but probably not all that engaging for many readers. In other words, it had a narrower appeal than we like for placement on Page One, and seemed a better fit for the Business front.

Meanwhile, failing to make the Page One cut was a fascinating story about the Army allowing married couples in war zones to live together. The story would not have replaced the financial system story as a lead, but it may have appealed to more readers.

Curious how other McClatchy newspapers displayed the financial system story, I looked at a number of front pages, which can be found each day on the McClatchy Web site, mcclatchy.com.

The Raleigh News and Observer ran the story as its lead, while The Charlotte Observer had a bottom-of-the-page photo that referred readers to a story in the business section. So did the Sacramento Bee, which, by the way, put the Army story on Page One. The Myrtle Beach Sun opted for the Army story, too, with no mention of the Bush financial plan on the front. The State in Columbia, S.C., had an above-the-masthead summary key to the financial story.

Doesn’t mean one paper was right and another wrong. There is no science to story placement, and the day’s offering of local news obviously was part of the equation. Just a little insight into our daily deliberations.

While I’m thinking about it, if you go to mcclatchy.com and click on front pages, take a look at the Fort Worth (Texas) Star Telegram and tell me what you think of its Page One approach to the news.