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State of the News Media 2007

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Inky_Wretch, Mar 13, 2007.

  1. Frank_Ridgeway

    Frank_Ridgeway Well-Known Member

    I don't think that's true. Because of suburban sprawl, people are making longer commutes and getting up earlier and earlier, thus going to bed earlier and earlier. Even if they stay up to watch an important game, they likely are off to bed long before any analysis hits the Net.

    I am talking about hardcore sports fans. You appear to be talking about pathological sports fans who are obsessed to the point they are willing to sacrifice sleep. I think there is a huge difference. I think the kind of people you are thinking of compose a very small segment of the hardcore sports audience.
     
  2. PHINJ

    PHINJ Active Member

    I think you are very wrong.

    1. How many big college and NFL games are played that late, anyway?

    2. Watching the game, logging onto the Net, watching SportsCenter and listening to talk radio isn't obsessive, Frank. These industries didn't crop up out of nowhere because there was only a marginal audience for them.

    Where do you think the newspaper readers went?

    There are really only two possibilities:
    A. They stopped caring about sports.
    B. They get their information elsewhere, and the 20-inch gamer isn't so vital to them 12 hours after the fact.
     
  3. Frank_Ridgeway

    Frank_Ridgeway Well-Known Member

    I think they check in the next day at work. I do not think normal, working people stay up all night on the Net.
     
  4. PHINJ

    PHINJ Active Member

    Again, who said anything about all night?

    You watch the game in the afternoon.

    You watch the post-game show.

    You watch 2-3 highlight shows.

    You log onto sportsline or ESPN to check the boxscore.

    You listen to 30 mins of talk radio while driving to and from your friend's house later that night.

    You watch the evening news and get another round of highlights.

    All of this is easily done by a lot more people than you are giving credit for, and they can be tucked away in bed by 11 p.m.
     
  5. Frank_Ridgeway

    Frank_Ridgeway Well-Known Member

    On Saturdays and Sundays. Unless you're living in Guam, you are not watching major sports in the afternoons during the week.
     
  6. PHINJ

    PHINJ Active Member

    Aren't most college and NFL games played on Saturdays and Sundays?

    Even if you're talking about baseball and basketball...well, aren't these sports setting attendance records all the time? And going to pay-per-view? There must be a lot of people not working who are somehow paying for all this.

    Anyway, we're getting sidetracked here.

    What did newspapers do to turn the hardcore fan away? Cut the game stories from 35 inches to 20 inches? Start covering more soccer?

    Or do you think maybe the industry became stagnant and headed straight into irrelevancy when other media came along?
     
  7. buckweaver

    buckweaver Active Member

    Most people, even fans, even serious fans, have lives.

    You seem to think this is normal behavior. It's not.
     
  8. Inky_Wretch

    Inky_Wretch Well-Known Member

    Yes, we are. The main message I got from that report was things aren't as bad in the industry as we sometimes think.
     
  9. PHINJ

    PHINJ Active Member

    People watch them. Then they read about them on the net, watch highlights
    So all of these other media exist and make money because no one uses them?
     
  10. PHINJ

    PHINJ Active Member

    How many people lost jobs in Philadelphia this year?
     
  11. Inky_Wretch

    Inky_Wretch Well-Known Member

    From the study...

     
  12. PHINJ

    PHINJ Active Member

    [/quote]

    So this means the people running newspapers in Philadelphia (which are bleeding circulation and advertising) are making good decisions for their paper and their readers? Because smaller papers in smaller markets are doing the same thing but aren't losing as much?

    I am trying to think of a parallel in the world of TV, radio, but I'm just cracking up at the thought of it. How about if the NHL decided it didn't need all of these fancy new rules and shootouts and all because attendance for high-school hockey is way up?


    It is pretty pathetic when we can report that only losing 10 percent of jobs is reason to be optimistic.
     
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