No-hitters and Your Paper

If I ask someone why we do something, and they answer is, "Well, we've always done it this way." That is the wrong answer.

 

Hey, I love a good debate, so I got what I wanted.

Apologies if I jabbed a little too hard, but it did provoke a lot of responses.

I thought it was great to see Buerhle wearing a Virginia Tech cap in the postgame interview without calling attention to it. It was just there, and I kept looking back at it as he talked about how a no-hitter was great, but winning the World Series with his team was better. I'm a Buerhle fan now.

 

If a pitcher from some far-off team throwing a no-hitter in a far-off city makes you rip up your cover and make it your centerpiece, I could argue that YOU have a lousy section. Do you really think that is what is of most interest to your readers? Will that story sell one more paper?
If your section is worth the paper on which it is printed, you should have five other stories in your section every day that are more compelling than that no-hitter and they should be dominating your cover. We had about 10 better stories/packages, and that's why the no-hitter ran well inside the section.

 

That's a LOT more wrong than the other extreme.

Bad, bad argument. If you don't see that the drama associated with a no-hitter dwarfs that of hitting for the cycle ... you're a prisoner of statistics.

That's not perspective. That's sports. Most everything you choose to run in the realm of competition has some element of luck. That is NO determining factor.

 

This thread would have provoked a lot of responses even without those jabs.

 

Wow, congrats on working at the greatest newspaper in the world.

 

Read and weep works at the Hungry Horse News?

 

I was curious about the same thing . . . that Supreme Court story was the biggest of the day. The decision pretty much overturned a precedent that was only a few years old and took the first chip out of one of the most significant cases of our time, Roe v. Wade. I have to think there's more interest in that decision (whichever way you were rooting) than a no-hitter.

 

I believe this is the Supreme Court story to which Mert was referring:

http://www.dailysouthtown.com/sports/349331,dst_preprecruit_419.article

 

I don't think it should go out front at all costs. It does depend what kind of paper you are.

I just don't think a no-hitter or even a perfect game (though this is a much much stronger pull), is automatically newsworthy enough for a local paper to scrap the front. Heck, even if it was no-hitter that got done early. Maybe a front page photo, but a AP gamer on a no-hitter in April?

Photo out front and refer inside is appropiate.

If you are in the midwest, maybe out front is a good choice. But what if your a 40,000 circ in North Carolina? You are supposed to put this out front? Ridiculous.

Didn't make the call, but we know our market, and we ran it inside separately and didn't tack on a roundup.

I just think in this day and age, putting a non-local interest team's no-hitter that is 2,000 miles away is a bad editorial decision for 90 percent of the newspapers in the united states. Maybe big metros can get away with it, but no one else.

On another note: I can't believe some of the arrogance in this thread. Like every newspaper is a national paper that is suppsoed to cover sports without a local angle, or area of interest.

All no-hitters must go out in front? This is how you destroy your market and readership.

To automatically assume that the biggest national story should be the biggest local story is lazy, and shows a profound lack of understanding of your market niche and what you are trying to sell.

Barry Bonds breaks HR record, OUT FRONT. Buherle a no-hitter? Not that big a deal.

A no-hitter is an oddity. Felix Hernandez was more dominant than Buherle in his two starts and pitched better. Does he deserve to go out front?

How many people the next day at the water cooler are going to be chatting about Buherle's HR?

It doesn't warrant the front for most papers.

 

You were fine until that.

It DOES merit the front for most mainstream daily sports sections on a typical news day.

But there are places where it doesn't make the cut.