The
Reader's cover this week features an illustration of Barack Obama with the text "Don't Screw This Up." Editor Alison True writes the paper has heard from several callers who told her the paper was "assuming he'll screw up because he's black." True insists this isn't the case, and reiterates a crucial point: "No matter how jubilant some of us may feel about his election, the media's role isn't to cheerlead for elected officials," she writes. "We were addressing Obama as the person -- not the black person -- whom we've handed an important new job and letting him know that even though we put him there, we'll be watching." The
Reader had a companion cover ready to go if McCain won with the text "Please Don't Die." To see these and more
post-election alt-weekly covers, check out AAN's Flickr page. We've also assembled some
pre-election covers.
If your paper published an election-themed cover that isn't there, email it to Jon Whiten at jwhiten (at) aan.org.
