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Question about "The Vanifesto" and its practicality

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by read my stuff, Feb 16, 2007.

  1. Frank_Ridgeway

    Frank_Ridgeway Well-Known Member

    I'm not disputing that McKenzie improved the section, but those people were not exactly sitting atop a load of turnips before his arrival in 1999. The section had taken a first and a fourth in the APSE writing awards in 1998. It had a long, proud history of excellence. I saw the paper frequently in the 1980s and never would have described it as ho-hum.

    You can bet that the intended purpose of the Vanifesto was for staffers to take it literally. He was very specific about how procedures were to change. I see nothing wrong with people dissecting it. They are not saying McKenzie was full of it, they are trying to apply the specifics to their own situations.
     
  2. shotglass

    shotglass Guest

    I have been consistently amazed by the phone lists of some of our best beat writers. This is not that far from the truth.
     
  3. cranberry

    cranberry Well-Known Member

    It's a stretch. Most players I know change their cell numbers at least once a year. At any given time only about half the numbers in my cell phone are actually correct.
     
  4. Smasher_Sloan

    Smasher_Sloan Active Member

    If you have a lot of "inside" phone numbers for players in this age (especially those on teams you don't cover), you're probably a fist-bumping sycophant. I don't work in TV.
     
  5. fishwrapper

    fishwrapper Active Member

    Well, I've been there before (and with Van).
    So, let me type from experience, not conjecture.
    (And, Frank, thanks for the APSE breakdown, because I know how much merit you put into that contest.)
    Van's messages, and I've seen dozens of them, contain specifics, but were meant as wake-up calls. Van could motivate, either with an email, a look, a squeeze of the shoulder, a bout of anger or a round of drinks.
    A note from him is noticed and commands respect. Whether it is Van, or Dave Smith or Bill Dwyre or George Solomon, you respect their messages and decisions.
     
  6. shotglass

    shotglass Guest

    OK, Smasher. All the good beat writers I work with are fist-bumping sycophants. Thank you.
     
  7. Smasher_Sloan

    Smasher_Sloan Active Member

    I'm sure yours is a dream staff without peer.

    All I'm saying is guys who cover a team well rarely have time to interact with players from other teams, much less develop enough of a relationship that personal phone numbers are exchanged.
     
  8. shockey

    shockey Active Member

    sorry, but i call "bull" on the notion that ANY pro beat writers today have anywhere close to 100 percent of their team's players' phone numbers. no way today. back in the day, players were much more open with their numbers. the nfl team i covered would send their players off each off-season with a list of all the players numbers. getting a player to share it with you was a piece of cake in the '80s/early '90s.

    today? no effin' way.
     
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