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Phil Jasner breaks cardinal rule -- does he get away with it?

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by PHINJ, Mar 25, 2008.

  1. broadway joe

    broadway joe Guest

    Bottom line is, neither the game nor Phil's lede was so compelling that it warranted burying the score so far down.
     
  2. Stone Cane

    Stone Cane Member

    jesus, people

    the story is fine

    jasner is the best beat writer in a top-5 market and has been for 20 years
     
  3. Rumpleforeskin

    Rumpleforeskin Active Member

    Isn't it our job as journalists to tell the story behind the game? Chances are, a true fan, or even an occasional fan has already looked at the score on the Internet or watched the game. When they read the game story, they don't want to know how many points AI2 scored, rather, how he scored them and what they meant.

    I know there are regular people (non-team fans) that read the sports pages, but I don't see anything really wrong about burying the score near the middle. Maybe he could have flipped a few grafs and put the score higher, but I find nothing wrong with it.
     
  4. Some Guy

    Some Guy Active Member

    I agree with all of that. Except it would have cost nothing to move the score up a couple of grafs, and at the very least make it the first score you come to.

    But I know how it works. On deadline, you just can't figure out a way to get that score higher. I've been there. And then the next morning, you open the paper and the solution pops you right in the face.

    This isn't a bad story, by any means. I just wish the first score was the final score. And it could have been done.
     
  5. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    Sorry. Didn't realize.

    It's super!!!! Don't change a thing.
     
  6. buckweaver

    buckweaver Active Member

    Ninety-nine percent of the time, I think the final score should be the first score mentioned in the story. That should make me "hardcore" about the rule, but judging by some of the comments here I'm not even close.

    I think the breaking of the rule was OK in this instance, since rules are made to be broken. But as I said earlier, I don't think this was the right context to use that type of writing style, because the game just wasn't that important.

    Not to compare this story to Dan Jenkins' 1971 SI classic about Texas-Oklahoma, but do any of you "hardcore" score-meisters say the same thing about Jenkins not getting the score up higher in that story?
     
  7. broadway joe

    broadway joe Guest

    Can't really compare a newspaper gamer to a story in a weekly magazine. Obviously it's not as important to get to the score quickly in a mag.
     
  8. Dyno

    Dyno Well-Known Member

    I think Phil's been on the beat more than 30 years.
     
  9. PHINJ

    PHINJ Active Member

    I think the whole point of the story is driving home the significance of the game. If it were Game 7 of the Finals, it wouldn't work because it'd be ridiculously overwritten.
     
  10. PHINJ

    PHINJ Active Member

    I'm not convinced the lede works but as someone who cares about the team, I disagree strongly that the game wasn't significant -- it's probably their biggest win in years. Maybe he didn't do a good enough job of conveying that.
     
  11. clintrichardson

    clintrichardson Active Member

    the headline has to be taken into consideration also, and i have to think the headline told the readers who won. that would seem to cover it, no?
     
  12. awriter

    awriter Active Member

    The thing is, he's not writing for Boston or a national audience. He's writing for Philly, and this game might be a huge deal there.
     
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