How did THIS make it to print?

Re: Worst story about a death ever?

A little Googling comes up with another version from another paper:

http://www.dailyhome.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Tragedy+on+the+gridiron-+Lincoln+Head+Coach+Keith+Howard+dies+at+season+opener%20&id=3345612&instance=home_lead_story

 

Re: Worst story about a death ever?

No. DJ Howard is African-American. Keith, the coach, was white.

Howard had a daughter and a stepson, but no sons of his own.

Here's a tribute column from the Anniston Star, the closest sizable paper to Lincoln:

http://tinyurl.com/kwobaa

 

Re: Worst story about a death ever?

The Gadsden Times proved its irrelevant with this crap. Common sense would dictate that the stringer would call the desk if something like this happened. And someone should have paid attention to the scanner.

What was the SE thinking on this?

 

Re: Worst story about a death ever?

Wheeee! It's Maliciously Mock A Non-Professional Journalist Stringer For A 19,000-Circulation Paper Day! And His Sports Editor, Too! Because we all know all sports editors at 19,000-circulation papers are in the office on Friday nights and never are out writing. Wheeee! Let's absolutely crush a smalltown paper's staff on a national message board for one bad mistake! What fun! Wheeee!

 

Re: Worst story about a death ever?

just as long as you're ok with it

 

Re: Worst story about a death ever?

After all, it's a journo board. Let's talk about widget production instead.

 

Re: Worst story about a death ever?

I work at a similar-sized paper. A little smaller, actually. And I'd be embarrassed -- that's not even a strong enough word; I'll be damned -- if that story ever ran in our paper.
Assuming a stringer wrote that, it's not their fault. They probably didn't know what to do. That's a tough spot for any reporter, let alone a stringer. Maybe the SE didn't have time to follow up on Friday night. Fine.
At the least -- at the VERY least -- it should have been rewritten as a 5-inch brief. Screw the details of the game. You write that the coach died, what it was believed he died from, and the quote from the Etowah coach. Include at the end that the game continued and Lincoln won 26-7. Then follow up with the full story the next day.

 

Re: Worst story about a death ever?

The paper should be embarrassed, yes. I'm sure the paper is embarrassed, yes.

Should the stringer (probably some millworker or insurance salesman who does this for fun and fifty bucks) be mercilessly mocked on a national message board for it? It's one thing to mock USA Today or the Times or something. Those are big guys. They can handle it. But this is just mean, unnecessary bullshit, I'm sorry.

And for the record, I have never heard of Gadsden, Ala., or anyone who's ever lived/worked/driven through there. But I do know the kind of writer who strings football games for papers of that size. There's a reason they're not pros. They don't deserve this kind of scrutiny, whether they know it's happening or not.

I'm as holier than thou as anybody when it comes to this business and its plummeting standards, but Jesus Christ, get over yourselves. It's a small paper in the middle of nowhere. The paper fucked up. Bad. We know this. Move on.

 

Re: Worst story about a death ever?

Right. But it's long been board policy to not rip on small paper writers. For exactly what Khartoum said...big boys get paid and are known well enough to handle the criticism. Calling out someone at a paper this size used to get a thread deleted.

I don't know why it didn't here, or if the rules are dependent on what day it is, but it's longstanding.

 

Re: Worst story about a death ever?

I'm not mocking the stringer. But if a coach at any of the high schools in my coverage area collapses at the game and dies on the way to the hospital, there would be hell to pay if it wasn't treated like it was a big deal.

Maybe the story misses Saturday's paper, but A1 treatment on Sunday for sure. That blame is laid right at the top of management from the publisher, to the editor and the SE.

 

Re: Worst story about a death ever?

Most people here are giving the stringer a pass, Khartoum. Most of the ridicule has been for the paper and editors.
The fact the reporter had the sense to put it in the lede; get some sort of quote about it; and include a few details about what happened (he collapsed; word spread through the stands late in the game -- which itself would make a decent dramatic lede on a follow-up story; and that he was pronounced dead at the hospital) all indicate someone had some sense of what was important. Stringer or not, it wasn't their first journalism rodeo. So either the writer or the editors should have had the sense to treat it as a straight news story first and a football game story second and write it as such.

 

Re: Worst story about a death ever?

I think the better discussion on this subject centers around what was happening back in the office that night. I'm still struggling to understand how this story slides through, regardless of who wrote it. I know resources at a 19K are slim and/or none, but eyes must have passed over this story.

The obvious decision here is to break out the death from the gamer, somehow, some way. I don't think I'm willing to cut slack on the person(s) responsible for not doing so, regardless of circ size.