1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

No news on Obama's win

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by txsportsscribe, Nov 6, 2008.

  1. greenlantern

    greenlantern Guest

    Then why not get a man-on-the street reaction about Obama winning or something? Localizing a presidential election shouldn't be that difficult.
     
  2. J-School Blue

    J-School Blue Member

    I'd think, everywhere, there's at least an interest in seeing how the county/state numbers come out in the presidential election. I'm assuming local results are covered, and its the same poor, sleepless peons at the county counting all the votes. Anyone anywhere can hack out a localized piece on deadline.
     
  3. 2muchcoffeeman

    2muchcoffeeman Well-Known Member

    Yeah, but first you have to accept that your guy got beat.
     
  4. Stitch

    Stitch Active Member

    Where do you draw the line, especially when school board race got a lot of attention? How far should we localize stories when we didn't cover the campaign? In my paper's situation, when we have run national or state stuff, readers get mad since they subscribe to the big city paper too and don't pay for my paper just to get duplicate coverage.
     
  5. Jesus_Muscatel

    Jesus_Muscatel Well-Known Member

    In 1980 I had just started at my first paper, in Texas.

    It was a PM not too far from Houston.

    When Lennon was murdered, the story went inside. One redneck made that call. He was a fucking idiot that day. Still is, no doubt.

    This is so much worse.
     
  6. Angola!

    Angola! Guest

    Well, I guess you could localize it and go see what your town's folks think about the election results (assuming you are an afternoon).

    If you are an AM and it would be tough to localize, well, I still think you go with the huge national news, because it is huge news. I'm guessing not all of your readers get the big city daily.
     
  7. FishHack76

    FishHack76 Active Member

    A paper I know outside of Chicago just teased Obama's election at the top of the page ... No story on the front page, no big picture.

    I don't think this was about race. It was about "local, local, local" ... except I bet it would be nice to get a record day for rack sales or the biggest day in decades.

    I understand the push for local, but you have to know when to bend and break the rules. This was one of those times. At the very least, have a localized story as others have suggested.

    The Terrell Tribune and this paper made really bad business (and suspect editorial) decisions, plain and simple, at a time when papers need money desperately.
     
  8. Stitch

    Stitch Active Member

    Twice-weekly with an 11 a.m. deadline. Reporters paginate. Local races weren't in until midnight. I have to apologize by saying we included the result as part of a graphic on the front.
     
  9. FishHack76

    FishHack76 Active Member

    There's a difference between daily and weekly obviously. I should have mentioned that earlier ... The paper outside of Chicago is a daily. That's no excuse.
     
  10. 1000questions

    1000questions New Member

    Old SNL skit. Smalltown paper editorial board meeting the day after Pearl Harbor is attacked. "It's rainin' bombs in Pearl Harbor!"
     
  11. budcrew08

    budcrew08 Active Member

    Here's another one. A paper in Oklahoma had nothing as well.
    http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/11/10/dnt.ok.no.obama.newspaper.kjrh
     
  12. txsportsscribe

    txsportsscribe Active Member

    at least the oklahoma publisher didn't hide and issue a pansy-ass statement
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page