Banner Headlines for Tumultuous Times
Every once in a while, a news headline calls out for big, bold font.
This winter, those headlines kept coming. The news since Election Day has been dominated by the chaos of the presidential transition and the persistence of a devastating pandemic.
There were vaccine rollouts, economic crises, political battles, evictions, reckonings with racism, and congressional elections that made history. On Jan. 6, there was violence at the U.S. Capitol.
How do you mark the most significant events when the news is so relentlessly remarkable? At The New York Times, one way is the make the headlines very large.
A banner headline is typically one that stretches across a newspaper’s front page or website. It uses jumbo letters and bold type to convey the magnitude of a news item, pushing other articles out of its way.
There have been a lot of banner headlines on the front pages of The Times this winter — far more than usual, according to Tom Jolly, the newspaper’s print editor.
“It’s remarkable,” he said. “It’s definitely a reflection of our world, and all the major news events that have made 2020 so memorable — and are making 2021 memorable, too.”
Here are some of the big ones.
On Election Day, the front page of the print newspaper reflected the angst of a nation that knew, even before polling places were closed, that it probably had a fraught few days — or weeks — of vote-counting ahead.
When former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. took the lead in Pennsylvania, the fog of a too-close-to-call election began to lift. He seemed confident about his chances, but President Trump was spreading false claims of rampant voter fraud.
Four days after voting day, The Times called the election. Mr. Biden won, having fulfilled a decades-long ambition in his third bid for the White House. His running mate, Senator Kamala Harris, was the first woman to become vice-president elect.
After Mr. Trump falsely claimed that widespread voter fraud had stolen victory from him, The Times called election officials in every state. They said that there were no irregularities that had affected the outcome of the election.
Mr. Trump fought the results of the election in a state-by-state litigation campaign. When the Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit from Texas in December, it was a decisive blow to the president and his allies.
The United States began a massive coronavirus vaccine rollout in December, and health care workers were among the first to get the shots. They came just as the nation surpassed 300,000 coronavirus deaths, a toll larger than any other country’s.
In January, an audio recording of a telephone call revealed that Mr. Trump had pressured the top elections official in Georgia to “find” votes that would help the president win the state.
Capitol Riot Fallout
From Riot to Impeachment
The riot inside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, followed a rally at which President Trump made an inflammatory speech to his supporters, questioning the results of the election. Here’s a look at what happened and the ongoing fallout:
- As this video shows, poor planning and a restive crowd encouraged by President Trump set the stage for the riot.
- A two hour period was crucial to turning the rally into the riot.
- Several Trump administration officials, including cabinet members Betsy DeVos and Elaine Chao, announced that they were stepping down as a result of the riot.
- Federal prosecutors have charged more than 70 people, including some who appeared in viral photos and videos of the riot. Officials expect to eventually charge hundreds of others.
- The House voted to impeach the president on charges of “inciting an insurrection” that led to the rampage by his supporters.
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