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TJ Simers slams rival paper

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Almost_Famous, Aug 8, 2006.

  1. Frank_Ridgeway

    Frank_Ridgeway Well-Known Member

    We keep hearing that the answer is to give readers what they can't get elsewhere. Well, the trivial shit is cheap and easy to do. Theoretically, a talented blogger could duplicate what Simers does with a staff of just himself -- and in smaller markets, there may not be that much of a difference between the newspaper's imitation Simers and the blogger's knockoff Simers act. But a blogger and even the major sports Web sites cannot match the local paper on aggressive coverage of the local pro team, and neither can TV or radio because we can afford to devote more resources to it. This is what we ought to be spending our resources on because this is the one area where we cannot be beat.
     
  2. SF_Express

    SF_Express Active Member

    Well, Frank, at least you've crystalized our disagreement on this down to one salient point.

    I say what Simers does ISN'T easy, that he's unique to himself and that indeed, if it WERE easy, a lot more people would be doing it.

    And I think even though you don't like him, you have to at least admit there's a certain degree of difficulty in doing what he does and then getting right back in those people's faces day after day.
     
  3. SCEditor

    SCEditor Active Member

    When I worked in Virginia, I used to write a column once a week. It was a notes-type humor column, and it took me all week to write it. While I like to think I'm normally a humorous guy, it was difficult to trot out 20 inches of funny about sports. One day, I had a guy call in the office to tell me he enjoyed my column (I had taken a week off because of a big football special section). The guy told me when he read my stuff it reminded him of Jim Murray. I laughed. Then I politely said, "Thank you, but I assure you I'm not good enough to carry Jim Murray's typewriter. Thanks for reading." It's not easy writing funny stuff. I tried to do it for a column once a week. And I don't think it was particularly funny. But to do it four times a week, that shows me how gifted Simers really is. He can write, and he can report. And I like his style, I like his column. We'll all have to agree to disagree.

    And Frank, we all know there's no such thing as a talented blogger.   ;D

    Edited to fix Eddie Murray and Jim Murray. Both talented, but in much different fields.
     
  4. Frank_Ridgeway

    Frank_Ridgeway Well-Known Member


    What Simers does is easy, but doing it as well as he does is not easy. As I tried to express in my last post, smaller newspapers in South Carolina or wherever see a Page 2 clone as a draw for readers and decide to give a Simers wannabe a spot, and the local Bozo's shtick is no better than the local blogger's. Then what? Then we have eaten a good chunk of space in a tight section that not only does us no good but prevents us from devoting more space to coverage we could dominate. As SCeditor notes, more newspapers are going to this. Their Simers is not going to be as effective as the real one.
     
  5. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    Nothing about what Simers does is easy... Easy is going to a game and writing a column... Having to find an off-beat column to write four times a week is extremely difficult...
     
  6. SCEditor

    SCEditor Active Member

    Page 2 doesn't have to be just humor. Or if it is, it doesn't have to be local. What one paper does is run a feature column from an outside columnist, a lot of times a humor guy. For example, on The State's Page 2, Norman Chad is typically a fixture. Mike Bianchi will also make appearances. They're not hiring a local yokel to do it, because the area isn't big enough for that. But they are trying to infuse their section with something more than gamer, preview, practice notes and features. They're trying to bring humor. But they'll also run a serious columnist. They'll include local notes. It'll also include TV times, radio times, etc... It's more of a quick hits page than anything. But some of them do bring the funny. And I don't think there's anything wrong with trying to branch out. Now, more than ever, that is something we need to do.
     
  7. Frank_Ridgeway

    Frank_Ridgeway Well-Known Member

    We've seen attempts at this at Pittsburgh and the Chicago Tribune, although in the latter case they were trying to duplicate talk radio (Lord, help us all). It was crud.
     
  8. dooley_womack1

    dooley_womack1 Well-Known Member

    Page 2 is usually the default way a new sports editor tries to make his first mark on the section. The problem is, unless the section has a lot of space, you're devoting a lot of space to formatting and making it difficult to present your good reads well, with good design. Design is one thing papers have over the Internet; we can use big pictures and can arrange them better than can be done on the Net.
     
  9. SCEditor

    SCEditor Active Member

    Design is bad, dooley. See Dyepack's rant above.
     
  10. SCEditor

    SCEditor Active Member

    I wasn't aware of that. I was just using my fine state (until we secede from the Union again) as a reference.
     
  11. DyePack

    DyePack New Member

    I really don't know what is so difficult to comprehend about that. You must be one of those many in the newsroom who want to make changes as long as the precious four hours a night per person on design is preserved.

    I'll go really slowly: Newspapers claim they don't have enough resources to fill open positions, etc. That means fewer people to do the same amount of work. If you are going to spend four hours a night on design, then that leaves four hours a night to devote to editing, finding stories, checking facts, finding and sizing photos, picking one's ass, posting here, etc.
     
  12. SCEditor

    SCEditor Active Member

    Since you went slowly, I read it slowly. Just for you. Presentation is a vital part of a newspaper. It helps a reader decide what they're going to read. Having a well-design paper is much like writing a good lead. You have to draw the reader in first, before anything else.

    Granted I haven't worked at a lot of newspapers (three dailies, one twice), but every newspaper I've been in has been run by editors who are design-oriented. And you know the funny thing about it? It's the design staff that has always been understaffed. Designing, editing, checking facts, sizing photos are all part of it.

    Let's save time Dyepack. Since a lot of games end in the final minutes and most studies show us that readers like more featurized gamers rather than play-by-play, how 'bout you just show up at halftime. Don't even worry about the first half. You can spend those two hours helping me pick my ass.

    I like how you make so many assumptions about me. I'm the guy that wants to spend four hours doing design. I'm the Associate Editor at a niche paper, where I assure you my designing far extends past eight hours a day. Of course, my writing responsibilities extend past the eight hours a day sometimes, too. In fact, come to think of it, I haven't been at any newspaper where I'm fortunate just to work eight hours a day.

    You like to post in general terms. Here's one for you. You're an idiot. Please, read that slowly and repeat as many times as necessary until it sinks in.
     
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