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Cubs announce Kendall trade on TV first ...

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by cubman, Jul 17, 2007.

  1. 21

    21 Well-Known Member

    The comments on that blog are none too kind.
     
  2. armageddon

    armageddon Active Member

    Just ONCE I want readers/fans to do our job for a week/month/season or whatever. Not to see how "difficult" it is but merely to understand what we do and the obstacles we often face.

    I'm covering golf this week and before the tourney the topic of my job was brought up by a new neighbor. I hate talking about work because inevitably you wind up pointing out that some of the fans' views aren't close to reality.

    Anyway, the guys loves to golf and asks me: So when you cover the tournament, do you golf along with the players? :mad: ::) :-X
     
  3. Chi City 81

    Chi City 81 Guest

    The worst part is, some of the fanboy loosers' comments are bashing Sully for being critical in the past of the Cubs. I'm with Sully, who took the time to introduce himself to a 22-year-old kid covering his first game at Wrigley. How much would it have hurt to put it over the press-box loudspeaker about the trade? I'm guessing Hendry didn't hang up the phone with Billy Beane and rush to the WCIU booth to make the announcement; I would think it had been at least 15-20 minutes, while they talked to the principles involved and finalized the language for the press release. Instead, he made the print media's job harder than he had to.
     
  4. Elliotte Friedman

    Elliotte Friedman Moderator Staff Member

    Personally, I think a beat reporter only has an issue when he/she has the information, the team denies it and then announces it.

    If no one gets the deal beforehand, why shouldn't the team break it on its own station? A good pr person may let a regular reporter know something is coming, but we're not owed anything more unless we get it ourselves.
     
  5. 21

    21 Well-Known Member

    That may all be true, but then take it up with the people who made the decision...you don't have to run to the fans and whine about it. They don't get it, they don't have to, and it makes the writers sound like babies.

    I can't imagine one single reader/fan thought, 'wow, I can't believe they announced this on TV before I read it in the paper.'
     
  6. shotglass

    shotglass Guest

    And yet, if the steel worker got off his shift, sat down at a bar, complained about his job and we told him it wasn't our problem, we'd get punched in the mouth.
     
  7. Smasher_Sloan

    Smasher_Sloan Active Member

    Sullivan has a legitimate point, but he also has to understand that fans/readers don't really care.

    Bitch to the Cubs and/or MLB, not the public.
     
  8. 21

    21 Well-Known Member

    You cannot be saying it's the same thing, right?

    Sullivan didn't sit down in a bar to make casual conversation about his bad day. He's using his professional platform to complain about it.

    The equivalent would be the steel worker dumping a truckload of steel in the middle of the interstate to make his point.
     
  9. Cosmo

    Cosmo Well-Known Member

    Except whining in your blog is nothing like sitting down on the bar and complaining to the guy next to you downing a lager. Completely different situation. This is the classic "don't tell us how the baby is made, just show us the baby" situation. The fans despise most writers to begin with, so crying about how the Cubs "wronged" the writers is just not smart.
     
  10. shotglass

    shotglass Guest

    Sorry; I disagree with both of you on the degree of difference.
     
  11. broadway joe

    broadway joe Guest

    Since when are organizations obligated to spoon-feed the news to the writers who cover the team? They're free to disseminate information any way they damn well choose, and you certainly can make the case that TV was the most timely and far-reaching way to do it. Sully's a good guy, but he has no business complaining about this one.
     
  12. Smasher_Sloan

    Smasher_Sloan Active Member

    He's not asking to be "spoon-fed" the news, he's objecting to the idea that TV was. All he's asking for is the same release time for all outlets.
     
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