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Journalism ... ethics?

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by KyleFranko, Nov 8, 2015.

  1. BDC99

    BDC99 Well-Known Member

    This is spot on. And as MMS said, you did nothing wrong. I would have done it at a different time, but if you choose to put it in the gameday section to get the most eyeballs on it, that's a perfectly good reason. Certainly a worthwhile story. I would just prefer the gameday section be more of a lookahead to the game itself and would run this as a folo or a midweek enterprise story. But you owe the school nothing, and your choice was not wrong.
     
  2. TheSportsPredictor

    TheSportsPredictor Well-Known Member

    Aren't you the bad guy in the new Star Wars?
     
  3. Sounds like you and the staff put a lot of resources into an in-depth enterprise piece. When you have something like that, you run it when it's going to get the most eyeballs. If that's gameday, so be it.

    Also, there's nothing in this situation that even remotely deals with journalism ethics.
     
  4. MNgremlin

    MNgremlin Active Member

    One frustration about the shop I'm at...
     
  5. KVV33

    KVV33 Member

    Write for the job you want, not the one you currently have. (I mean that in terms of ambition, anyway.)
     
  6. Vombatus

    Vombatus Well-Known Member

    What was the Vegas line on the Montana game?
     
  7. Baron Scicluna

    Baron Scicluna Well-Known Member

    ISU doesn't want negativity in the game day sports section? Win some games.
     
    Bronco77 likes this.
  8. Bronco77

    Bronco77 Well-Known Member

    No ethical questions here at all, assuming the stories didn't have plagiarized material, made-up quotes, etc.

    And I've got to agree that if the school and its fans want more positive coverage, the results on the field need to improve. What do they expect you to write in this situation? "The Bengals are winless, but they're trying really, really hard"?
     
  9. JimmyHoward33

    JimmyHoward33 Well-Known Member

    Is this a GameDay section that runs in the newspaper on the day of the game? Or some kind of handout deal at the stadium with sponsors and the like?

    The former is a perfect place for the piece, the latter is a little stickier depending on the details of the deals with the school and advertisers.
     
  10. Bradley Guire

    Bradley Guire Well-Known Member

    What's amazing is how my pals at the ISJ (a sister paper to my paper) put that out, only for ISU to massively blow the Montana game in OT the way it did. That's kismet. o_O
     
  11. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    I applaud you for not settling for "puff pieces" or simple game day matchup stories.

    I think your takeaway from this is that readers have come to expect certain type of content for that game day package from your paper. So if you change that, just be aware that it might be more jarring that day than others.

    Also, I might have labeled it, "How do you fix the Bengals?" and have it focus not just on what's wrong and why but how that can be improved, what steps are being done, what potential is there, etc.
     
    Tweener and jr/shotglass like this.
  12. YorksArcades

    YorksArcades Active Member

    I would have stayed with the game day theme for your GameDay section.

    That being said, once you went this route, you should have gone all the way. The illustration should have been a dumpster fire with a player or two in the flames.

    Pair it with a headline like "Kitty Litter," and the theme is clear.
     
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