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Harvey Araton leaves sports

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by 21, Aug 3, 2009.

  1. 21

    21 Well-Known Member

    According to the Observer, Harvey is leaving the Times' sports section to do general features for more ad-productive sections.

    Hearing this was not really by choice, but who knows. The Observer says the change was directed 'by the masthead.'

    Sad to see Harvey leaving sports...a great reporter and great guy.

    http://www.observer.com/2009/media/times-harvey-araton-leaves-sports-desk-new-features-desk
     
  2. cranberry

    cranberry Well-Known Member

    Not his choice. I don't know Harvey at all but I heard about this move about a month ago from one of his colleagues. Interesting the story mentions Vic Zeigal, who was tossed aside by the News around the same time. Vic had a lot of mileage but I remember reading him in the Post as a kid. Plus, anyone mentioned in Ball Four shouldn't be done that way.
     
  3. AD

    AD Active Member

    this is brutal. harvey is, by far, the best thing in that sports section. the end of the big city sports columnist, an american archtype? with this i think we hear that bell tolling....
     
  4. WriteThinking

    WriteThinking Well-Known Member

    This is a bad thing for the sports section, to be sure.

    Could actually turn out to be a good thing for Harvey, though.
     
  5. Mediator

    Mediator Member

    This was totally not his choice and has been in the works since the spring. The Times now has two sports columnists in Vescey and Rhoden. I used to love reading Sports of the Times on the sports front. Usually a considered read. In the days of Tweets perhaps it seemed too ponderous.
     
  6. AD

    AD Active Member

    so in this age where everyone is an opinionator, does that mean that opinion columns have lost/are losing their power?
     
  7. Michael_ Gee

    Michael_ Gee Well-Known Member

    One more step of the Times towards total disaster. I don't know who's running their sports section, but it's a daily cavalcade of stuff American fans don't give a shit about, steroid scandals, the Tour de France, WNBA, etc.
    Sports cost money, money the Times needs to keep losers like Alessandra Stanley employed and the Sulzberger family attached to its self-esteem.
    Harvey is my friend, but he was also surely their best columnist.
    I wouldn't be surprised if they make a run to get Roberts back. She's their style.
     
  8. 21

    21 Well-Known Member

    Weird, I was just typing the same thing, now I have to start over. 8)

    Harvey is a career NY sportswriter, why would you pull his commentary out of your paper, unless the advertisers have completely abandoned your sports section?
     
  9. cranberry

    cranberry Well-Known Member

    I've been saying this for three years. The only thing that separates a journalist and a blogger is reporting. If you want to have value, be a good reporter. People who do the legwork, ask the right questions and have the connections (think Ken Rosenthal or Buster Olney) are the most valuable people in the industry. Columnists are the easiest (and produce the most savings) of job cuts in many cases.

    FYI, I spent $2 on a NYTimes at the train station this morning because I was late and they had run out of the Daily News (50 cents plus 50 cents tip) and I felt like a fool for the purchase. My home subscription is down to just the weekends.
     
  10. funky_mountain

    funky_mountain Active Member

    i will miss harvey's nba/basketball work.

    i'm not trying to be a smart guy but how many days a week does the times' sports pages lead a section? how much advertising does the sports section pull in anyway?

    and michael_gee, i understand what you're saying but hasn't the times' sports section catered to a different audience for the past 20-25 years (and maybe longer) anyway.

    with that said, i enjoy what howard beck does on the nba, pete thamel on colleges, judy battista on the nfl and whatever john branch happens to dig up. i know others enjoy tyler kepner on the yankees and jack curry on baseball (not that i don't, i just don't read their stuff often).

    i'd have to agree that the times is placing less emphasis on sports columns. who replaced roberts? vecsey? berkow?

    ad, a columnist who can report, write and be persuasive is still valuable.
     
  11. Mediator

    Mediator Member

    That's why Ian O'Connor and Harvey are good reads. Unfortunately, there are too many who hold the job and consider the TV set as good a spot to report as attending the event live. Or even worse, young sports writers who aspire to pontificate from the living room and don't see how much work actually goes into a column.
     
  12. Michael_ Gee

    Michael_ Gee Well-Known Member

    There are a lot of talented writers on the Times' sports staff. Their pro football coverage has been excellent for years. But nobody covers the Tour de France as front-page news every day because they have a different set of readers-they do it to put on airs and show how cosmopolitan they are.
     
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