Front-Page Intelligence · 3 May – 2 June
The News Cycle
Every morning, Paperboy reads the front pages of 17 major US and UK newspapers and classifies every story they chose to run. This is what the last 31 days of news attention actually looked like — which topics surged, which faded, and the headlines that drove the peaks.
The River of News
Band thickness = share of front-page real estate that day (a lead story counts 3×, a secondary story 1×). Hover for the daily breakdown · click a band or legend chip to jump to that topic’s arc.
Biggest takeover
Politics
Claimed 64% of all front-page weight on Friday 15 May — “Xi warns Trump against mishandling of Taiwan”
Longest streak
Politics
On the front pages 31 days straight — it never really went away.
Fastest riser
Technology
Up 100% in the second half of the month, driven largely by AI.
Fastest faller
Health
Down 25% in the second half — the agenda moved on.
Topic by Topic
Politics
36.4%▲ Peak Fri 15 May“Xi warns Trump against mishandling of Taiwan”— Arizona Republic, 32 stories that day
Society
15.0%▲ Peak Mon 4 May“Old homes become ‘wellness enclave’”— Arizona Republic, 11 stories that day
Economics
12.6%▲ Peak Wed 13 May“CPS plans to cut teaching staff”— Chicago Tribune, 12 stories that day
War & Conflict
11.0%▲ Peak Tue 5 May“U.S. forces sink six Iranian ships”— Arizona Republic, 13 stories that day
Crime
7.4%▲ Peak Wed 20 May“Fungi could be key to Joshua tree survival”— Los Angeles Times, 7 stories that day
Health
5.4%▲ Peak Tue 5 May“Tribune wins Pulitzer for local reporting”— Chicago Tribune, 5 stories that day
Culture
4.1%▲ Peak Thu 7 May“Brash and uncontainable father of 24-hour news”— Boston Globe, 7 stories that day
Technology
2.8%▲ Peak Tue 19 May“A charged junction of profits, soaring rates”— Boston Globe, 4 stories that day
Sport
2.5%▲ Peak Thu 14 May“World Cup parties on hold as towns stew”— Boston Globe, 5 stories that day
Climate
2.1%▲ Peak Thu 21 May“State’s fire season is pushing into spring”— Los Angeles Times, 2 stories that day