Rag of the Week: Busted
Posted by Ruth on August 29th, 2010
One thing I love about America is newspaper boxes. It’s one of those things — like yellow school buses and Hooters — you see in American movies and TV shows all the time but do a double-take when you see them in real life, like “Oh, they exist!” But almost three months in, seeing a big line of colourful newspaper boxes still makes me grin every time. I guess I’m a news nerd.
Even though most of the boxes actually just contain classified ads and junk, there’s always the promise that you’ll find something interesting and exciting, and I love checking out all the different papers and magazines in each little collection of boxes in case I stumble across a hidden gem.
So I thought I’d start a new series looking at some of the weirder publications I come across in this town. Despite the name, it probably won’t be weekly. Just so you don’t get your expectations up.
This week’s rag actually doesn’t come from a newsbox, but it’s one of my favourite finds so far.
It’s called Busted and its entire raison d’etre is to publish police mug shots. There are versions of the paper in other cities, but this one is the local edition, dedicated solely to pictures of people who have been arrested recently in Portland and Salem (no, not that Salem. It’s the capital city of Oregon, about which I know precisely nothing, except that it’s where the Oregon State Fair is currently being held, where you can see ZZ Top and a 3400-pound pig.)
In the States, all mug shots are in the public domain and some states post them all online. Oregon is one of those states.
According to Busted‘s website, the paper aims to help people protect their community (although it doesn’t really elaborate on how), but let’s be honest: it’s a schadenfreude freak show.
Every edition contains about 20 pages of mugshots, each detailing the name and crime of the offender.
The paper is divided into Portland and Salem area arrests, with several special features scattered throughout. Those include:
Ridin’ Dirty: a full-colour centrefold dedicated to drug-related arrests, including both dealing and possession. Most are for heroin or meth. Despite the smoke and pot-leaf motif, there are only two marijuana-related arrests.
Caught on Camera: profiling a 22-year-old from Salem who was arrested for shoplifting disposable diapers from Safeway after being caught on security camera.
Mug of the Week: profiling a man charged with rape, sodomy, assault, burglary and sexual abuse. I am not sure what criteria is used to determine who wins this title, but I would guess it is the week’s most grievous offence.
Clownin’ and Frownin’: this break-out box appears to be dedicated to the two happiest mugshots and two saddest mugshots of the week. They seem to be around the wrong way, unless the editor is being ironic.
Darwin’s Corner: a breakout box that, I presume, is dedicated to people who don’t look entirely evolved. I think they’re grasping at straws a bit this week.
Seriously?: a half-page feature on a woman who was charged for marrying a man who had been indicted for sexually abusing her seven-year-old daughter two hours earlier. The seven-year-old is depicted as a cartoon silhouette of a child with corn-rows. I am unsure whether this is accurate or an artistic embellishment by the publication.
Beauty versus Beast: a back-page feature highlighting the five most attractive women and five… most “beastly” men, I presume. At first I thought it was the five ugliest men, but the last guy isn’t ugly and there are far uglier men in the rest of the paper. However, the charges are mostly for things like rape and assault. I like the fuzzy handcuffs on the “beauty” half.
Despite a notice offering “cheap” and “effective” advertising, there is only one ad in this edition, for a company that drives you and your car home on Friday and Saturday nights for $15. Given the amount of DUI arrests in the paper, this is probably quite a well-placed ad.
Putting aside issues of ethics or public interest, I have to hand it to the creators of Busted: it’s a very clever idea. All the information and pictures are rights-free and easily available. There are no credits, but I imagine the entire paper is put together by one or two people (the graphic design is fairly… DIY, but would require a basic knowledge of image editing). It is printed in colour, which is obviously costlier than black-and-white, but on thin, cheap newspaper stock. Despite only containing one ad, the $1 cover price probably covers the printing costs quite easily.
Interestingly, the paper runs its distribution as a franchised business. I’m not sure exactly what it involves, but I’d guess it means the company doesn’t have to hire staff in every city in which it has a paper. They could be written and laid out by minimal staff in one location, then printed locally, with the franchisees doing all the pick-up and delivery for a cut of sales. Again: clever.
