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Gatehouse and the Super Bowl

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Moderator1, Jan 21, 2008.

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  1. Moderator1

    Moderator1 Moderator Staff Member

    Maybe it is just me, I found this tidbit sent via The Pipeline interesting:

    Gatehouse Media, which has five dailies in Massachusetts (Brockton, Quincy, Framingham, Taunton, Fall River), is not sending a single person from the company to the Super Bowl. The first three papers all have beat writers on the team, while the other two participate in the company's sharing agreement, although the papers with their own writers also use the content from the other two. For the entire Super Bowl week, those publications will be using the AP.

    Incidentally, the company sent at least three writers to every round of the Red Sox' playoff run, starting in the ALDS. Just goes to show you the continued, ridiculous cutbacks in our industry.



    Me again - if you cover the Pats, don't you need to go? Is there anything bigger for your readers?
     
    Moderator1, Jan 21, 2008
    #1
  2. wickedwritah

    wickedwritah Guest

    They're not sending Farley, McHugh or Flynn?

    Christ.

    Also factor in that Norwich, Conn., a GateHouse paper, uses the GHNS coverage.

    And there still are pockets of Giants fans in New England, especially in some Connecticut spots that would be served by Norwich.

    They're absolutely screwing over their readers.
     
    wickedwritah, Jan 21, 2008
    #2
  3. Damaramu

    Damaramu Member

    Well.....my company is owned by Gatehouse. I thought Morris and CNHI were bad but I learned an all new form of tightness from Gatehouse.

    They told my boss that I don't need to travel to road games with our main beat. They think just listening to it on the radio and writing a story is sufficient.
     
    Damaramu, Jan 21, 2008
    #3
  4. slappy4428

    slappy4428 Active Member

    good. They can cover jv basketball....


    Seriously, how stupid is that -- although I once had an ME that did that with our now-folded paper and Michigan basketball when they won the national title.
     
    slappy4428, Jan 21, 2008
    #4
  5. wickedwritah

    wickedwritah Guest

    We used to do that with the college paper, cuz we were broke.
     
    wickedwritah, Jan 21, 2008
    #5
  6. wickedwritah

    wickedwritah Guest

    Circulations of GateHouse papers affected by this short-sighted move (I used M-F numbers, since not all of these papers publish weekend editions):

    -- DAILY NEWS, MILFORD (WORCESTER CO.) AVG M (M-F) DLY 8,349
    -- DAILY NEWS TRANSCRIPT, DEDHAM (NORFOLK CO.) AVG M (M-F) DLY 3,808
    -- DAILY NEWS TRIBUNE, WALTHAM (MIDDLESEX CO.) AVG M (M-F) DLY 4,684
    -- ENTERPRISE, BROCKTON (PLYMOUTH CO.) AVG E (M-F) DLY 30,553
    -- GAZETTE, TAUNTON (BRISTOL CO.) M (M-SAT) DLY 9,270
    -- HERALD NEWS, FALL RIVER (BRISTOL CO.) M (M-SAT) DLY 19,226
    -- METROWEST DAILY NEWS, FRAMINGHAM (MIDDLESEX CO.) AVG M (M-F) DLY 22,492
    -- PATRIOT LEDGER, QUINCY (NORFOLK CO.) AVG E (M-F) DLY 51,506
    -- BULLETIN, NORWICH (NEW LONDON CO.) AVG M (M-F) DLY 22,643

    Basically you are telling more than 170,000 readers -- and very few double buys in that group -- to ignore your product for a week.

    Smart move!
     
    wickedwritah, Jan 21, 2008
    #6
  7. Michael_ Gee

    Michael_ Gee Well-Known Member

    Disgraceful and stupid. Cut to the chase Gatehouse. Eliminate editorial. Have moms and dads send in the high school scores, reprint public documents, and take ads.
     
    Michael_ Gee, Jan 21, 2008
    #7
  8. JBHawkEye

    JBHawkEye Well-Known Member

    You could send a couple of writers to do all of the coverage for every paper, and the ad sales you could generate from the coverage would more than pay for their trip.

    This is a historic situation that even the casual reader is interested in reading about.

    Unbelievably short-sighted, but Gatehouse is well-known for its stupid decisions.
     
    JBHawkEye, Jan 21, 2008
    #8
  9. SockPuppet

    SockPuppet Active Member

    My post from the "LA Times editor O'Shea fired" thread:
    "Presidential elections? Aw, screw it, we'll just use wires.''

    "Patriots in the Super Bowl?" Aw screw it, we'll just use wires.''
     
    SockPuppet, Jan 21, 2008
    #9
  10. sporting_guista

    sporting_guista Member

    This is repulsive. Wasn't Farley the pool reporter the last time the Pats went to the Super Bowl? For whatever that's worth, at least it's an indication of a senior writer on your staff covering the biggest sports story of the year and maybe the best team in NFL history? What a joke Gatehouse is. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the sports guys at each of those dailies called in sick Super Bowl Sunday, because you know they're going to have to "listen to it on radio" and write some kind of analysis/column thing.
     
    sporting_guista, Jan 21, 2008
    #10
  11. Stone Cane

    Stone Cane Member

    horrifying
     
    Stone Cane, Jan 21, 2008
    #11
  12. thegrifter

    thegrifter Member

    I also heard there's some major shake-ups going on over there on the senior management level. Even so, to do something as ridiculous as this borders on the insane.
     
    thegrifter, Jan 21, 2008
    #12
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