SIDs should double-check stories and photos

What's wrong about the feature story on North Dakota State beating San Francisco?

http://gobison.com/

I understand it was a road game, but still, don't use old photos for a current story.

 

Not every school has the resources to have a photographer at every game. So are they just supposed to not use a photo at all? It's no different than newspapers using file art.

I'm a sports editor turned SID, so I understand your point. But I have a photographer shoot two soccer games a year and that's all I have to work with for an 18-game season at my DIII school. I try to single out photos where opponents aren't visible for those games against different opponents, but sometimes that just isn't always possible.

 

Do you have nothing better to do with your day than troll the North Dakota State website?

Those web systems require a photo to publish a story. It's unlikely there is an option to publish without a photo. As DrewWilson said, getting fresh art is tough. Getting fresh art from a road game two time zones away would be nearly impossible, if you're NDSU.

 

I can't think of one school that doesn't do this for most smaller sports and road games for basketball occasionally. They're not bound to the same ethical commitments we are, nor should they be. They don't serve the same function.

At one school I covered, another reporter and I would joke that they only had one horizontal volleyball photo available because every time they made volleyball the main image on the site, it was the same photo. For at least two seasons.

I've never been at a newspaper that would use file art for a live game story. That includes my high school and college papers. But the goal of an public relations department is not the same as the goal of a newspaper.

 

This ought to be pretty low on the nit-pick scale.

 

Much like everything on this site.

 

I don't know, what?

 

As long as the cutline isn't misleading or incorrect, I find no problem with this.

 

Yes...no problem with using file art...many places can't have a photog at every event.

 

Exactly. And in this case, it wasn't. It was the equivalent of a newspaper running a mug or cutout of the star of the game.

 

I'd bring up using file art for a gamer, but I'm sure most here are fine using file art for gamers.

 

Most mid and low majors only have freelance photogs who work home games. So what do you do when you're the basketball SID and your Division I low major team has just one home game in the first month of the season? Or opens the season with one of those long tournament appearances? If you're an east coast team and the team's playing a multi-game tournament out west, are you going to pay for lodging, travel, and the resources for a freelance photographer to staff those games?

Hell no.

See, here's the thing. A newspaper likely won't even cover those games. And if they do, they have the option of running the story without art. But most sites now don't give that option. So what's the harm in using a file photo?

I know of very few people who go to the school's athletics page looking for in-depth photos and an in-depth evaluation of the team as it is.