"Leon Carter is The Laughing Stock ...........

I was responding to Moddy's point that an editor (Carter) should have said no. I'm saying that the editor has to do what's best for his readers, and what's best for the readers is having the right angle on the column with the highest readership. Whatever Lupica's motives may have been are completely irrelevant to what the editor's decision should be.

 

believe me, frank, there was no "editor's decision" on who writes what. leon was probably asleep while this was goin' on in green bay. lupica makes the call, everyone else adjusts in kind. that's just the way it is.

the way it is sucks and pisses everyone off at the daily news, but such is life.

whether or not lisa was struck from the super bowl list by carter because of one missed deadline is irrelevant, too. forget whether that was the reason. the reality is she was not on the daily news super bowl list when just about the whole effin' staff was. and she did many, many giants columns all season.

unless she comes on here and tells us that's not why she walked, everyone at the news will believe that's the reason. it sucks every which way for everyone except "the little unit."

that's all from me. this post will be locked soon, anyway.

 

What exactly is the point of having a high-profile columnist if he doesn't get to write the column he wants to write?

Now, mind you, my personal belief is that the entire idea of a newspaper column is a relic, a completely outmoded concept in a time when opinion is easy to come by for free almost everywhere on the Internet. I believe newspapers ought to be selling reporting and ought to get out of the opinion game entirely.

But if you are going to pay someone that kind of money to write a column, you have to let him take what he believes is his best shot. Unfair to others? Sure. But you opted for a star system when you started having big-money columnists.

 

kudos to Boom for starting this one. It's as comfy as an old sweater.

 

Yeah, Frank. Because the result isn't available anywhere.

 

That is a really shallow response. There is much more to reporting than giving a score and you certainly know it.

 

Industry is going the other way. Papers would rather pick up a gamer and send a columnist. I see it all the time.
I read one good gamer, I don't need to read anymore. I could read four or five trusted opinions on the game, though.
Or, that's how many are thinking these days.

 

She didn't miss deadline on the Green Bay game, according to people who worked the desk that night. She filed on time but her column and Gary Myers' column would have been much better if Lupica didn't pull his usual stunt.
If you talk to current and former columnists at the News, they all have the same issues with Lupica and how the paper is run. Nobody disputes the lead columnist has the right to pick his/her topic and angle, but the problem is when the columnist won't communicate with others, leading them to scramble at the last minute and write mediocre columns. If I understand correctly, this happens often to Lisa and the other columnists and she finally had enough.
If this is how the section operates especially at big events, the readers suffer.

 

Again, where did I say "gamer?" I said "reporting." That encompasses many kinds of stories. As you well know.

 

I know. Call that an exploratory mission.
See, I'm still a fan of a good takeout column. A reported column.
I abhor reaction columns. And, these days, it's much of we get.

 

Someone sent this to me yesterday. It's an interview Mike Freeman did with biglead.com back in March. There's a funny Lupica anecdote but this is what stood out, considering the events of the past week:

Q: Sportsline writers aside, who are your top 3 reads in sports journalism today?

My top three writers might be considered a little unusual. To me, the clear No. 1 is Michael Wilbon. I judge columnists by talent and work ethic and few columnists in the past 20 years have traveled as much as Mike, written as much as he has and are as talented. The hardest part of this job is getting on planes and trains and Mike has done that consistently. Plus he cranks out great columns. While he is doing more television now he has always been the hardest working columnist I have seen. He does not write
once or twice a week. He does not leave games at halftime or write off the television. He has written three and four times a week consistently for decades. Work ethic counts when you are describing top writers.

Wilbon has also done something only two or three people maybe in the history of our business have accomplished and that is be extremely talented, high profile, and make gobs of money all while not engendering jealously. Dave Anderson and Bill Plaschke are two others. Not many more after that. Actually, none after that. Think about it. How many people of Wilbon?s abilities are normally hated in our business solely because they are talented and are highly successful? Or because they became arrogant jackasses? None of that has happened to Mike and it says a lot about him.

My second favorite is Bob Ryan for a lot of the same reasons. In the past year I have seen Bob Ryan everywhere: big events, small events, on media buses, everywhere. He travels extensively and writes a clever, hard nosed column. Plus, he has prospered in a tough media town.

My third favorite is someone I believe is the most underrated in the country and that?s Lisa Olson from the New York Daily News. She should be the lead columnist at the Daily News. When you read her consistently you see she has tremendous ability. I think that if Lisa were a man, she would be held in much higher regard.

http://thebiglead.com/?p=1926

 

It isn't enough that Loopy gets to make his bed, precisely.

Too many others -- and their work -- suffer.

I have a flash for the News. If Loopy entered into the Rapture tomorrow, the News'
circ would drop minutely -- if at all.