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Sandomir: Press Boxes Become an Afterthought...

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Speedway, Jun 11, 2007.

  1. Cousin Jeffrey

    Cousin Jeffrey Active Member

    To be honest, those types of seating arrangements, auxiliary and tv room, by and large, are for extraneous, or out of town, reporters. The guys who really need the good seats are the everyday beat writers and radio folks (the good ones) who need to get details, etc, because a large amount of fans, especially those in attendance who don't have access to announcers, go to them for interpretation. A writer for the NY Daily News probably deserves a good seat to the Yankees, better at least than a small paper somewhere else.
     
  2. shockey

    shockey Active Member

    as a sports reporter since '82, let me say whining over press box or seating locales is awful. let me watch the game, get to the locker rooms, speak to the coaches/managers.... the rest is just bells and whistles.
     
  3. satchmo

    satchmo Member

    The problem isn't that reporters and newspapers are some how cut off from the action, the problem is the mindset of the owners and handlers. For years, owners, etc. begrudgingly allowed reporters the best seats in the house because they needed to coverage to help pimp their product. Now, however, there is an overabundance of coverage and the need for coverage of these teams is less and less relevant to the owners, etc. Professional sports is just a microcosm of society — if newspapers are needed, they are coddled and afforded the best of everything, if they are not, they are relegated to the corner of the building and ignored.
     
  4. boots

    boots New Member

    I sympathize with the owners. Journalists take up valuable space and many along press row don't belong there. It's not uncommon to hear cheering or remarks from people supposedly there to cover an event.
    Personally, as long as I can view the game and do my job without interference from fans, I'm OK.
     
  5. Johnny Dangerously

    Johnny Dangerously Well-Known Member

    [​IMG]

    I highly recommend it (as I will post on the Louisville-Courier-Journal thread too).
     
  6. boots

    boots New Member

    It's a pretty good read.
     
  7. lantaur

    lantaur Well-Known Member

    I'm not sure about baseball, but I know moving off the floor and into the upper reaches of an arena for a basketball game isn't as nice ... sure, you can still cover the game, but you miss out on all the things being said on the court. The sounds of the game can enhance any reporter's job.

    As mentioned above, it should come as no surprise as the press has served its function and now is needed less, while there are opportunites for the almighty buck. Heck, in Michigan Stadium they have fan seats *in* the press box.
     
  8. spaceman

    spaceman Active Member

    glad you finally realize that, boom :)
     
  9. GuessWho

    GuessWho Active Member

    The toothpaste's out of the tube on this one. It ain't ever changing back.

    Thinking off the top of my head, about the only college hoops venue I'm at fairly frequently that has the traditional press row is Allen Fieldhouse at Kansas. In that old building, I don't know where the hell else they'd put us, but I imagine they're looking for places.
     
  10. boots

    boots New Member

    No, he was actually lazy. He thought that his opinions mattered more than the contest.
    With the internet and other news gathering tools, no one cares why the little fella thinks.
     
  11. Mystery_Meat

    Mystery_Meat Guest

    Duke still has the old press row, but like Allen, where the hell else are you going to put them?
     
  12. boots

    boots New Member

    The days of freeloading are ending.
     
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