Am I the only person who thought of this classic National Lampoon cover illustration when I heard this news over the weekend: New York Times Co. is Said to Consider Closing The Boston Globe?

As far as bargaining tactics go, this seems like an incredibly high stakes game of “Chicken” from the Times Co.

The Globe last year reported weekday circulation of 324,000, the 14th highest in the country, and Sunday circulation of 504,000, the 11th highest.

Of course, there’s a part of me that wants to say, “Go ahead” and see if the Times is serious about closing the Globe. But that part of me is tempered by the lives that would be impacted by such a move.

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This morning’s Random Idea is called the Unicorn Chaser sidebar.

We’ve all seen the “related content” links that show on a web site’ story page. Here’s one from the New York Times:

So the idea is this: people are always complaining that there’s not enough “good news” being told. What if you created a “related content” box that featured good news as an antidote to the bad news you’re reading currently.

I’m calling it the Unicorn Chaser box in honor of Boing Boing’s original Unicorn Chaser.

For instance, let’s say you were reading an article about how disgusting and unclean doctors’ lab coats are, an article by the Wall Street Journal. (aside: why is this article in the “opinion” section? Does that diminish the factual basis for the article? Shouldn’t it be in the “Health” section?) Obviously, this is the type of article that can put you off your breakfast, especially if you’ve recently been in a doctor’s office. So, to counteract that mental disturbance, In the article sidebar, you’d see something like this:

Click for larger version

Some people will dismiss this with a wave of the haughty hand and a suggestion that it’s somehow beneath journalism to provide links to positive stories. To which I respond: why? If it’s information, why not link to it from disparate places on your web site? Is it a little bit “light”? compared to all the heavy-hitting innovation that’s happening these days? Sure. But why can’t we try some light with the heavy subject matter?

Thoughts?

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