The local paper needs the football club more than the football club needs the local paper

I understand all that. I mean, I covered beats. But talking here about the relative value of access to other means of information-gathering, and I don't think access is as valuable as it once was, particularly considering that it appears to come with some strings attached nowadays - "follow our rules, give us positive coverage, or else."

 

And to some extent I think I agree with you. The person I think of when this convo comes up is Zach Lowe. Obviously he has a lot of access. But he also writes really interest things about games he clearly wasn't at. I'd rather read him write about a Cavs game he wasn't at then any of the Cavs beat writers. He just knows basketball, and he makes up for his lack of access (in that particular instance) with amazing analytical abilities - he's able to use .gifs and NBA tv to show you WHY things happened, predict what will happen next (lineup or x's and o's changes, etc.) and leave you a lot better informed about the team and the game than you were. So, in my mind, that's what excellent no-access writing looks like.

But, he's still at his best when he combines that analytical ability with his ability to develop sources (X player can't stay in front of wings, GMs around the league say they've been actively shopping for a wing near the deadline. Look for them to go hard after players X and Y). He also uses players and coaches really well to augment his own x's and o's knowledge.

So...I think, access matters because there's a pinnacle you can never reach without it. BUT, a really good writer can do better without access than many writers do with access.

 

This has come up again with a different club, this time Blackpool. (Considering the state that club is in, the owner should have bigger fish to fry.) At any rate, it's funny the smoking gun came via the minutes of a meeting.

Newspaper's access to Blackpool FC cut for commercial reasons - Journalism News from HoldtheFrontPage