What should we do? Very serious question..

Dallas Morning News is slashing jobs and coverage. The LA Times just said it won't be covering road hockey games.

Are we standing in the middle of the Titanic and trying to convince ourselves that it's just a little water and everything we'll be okay? It's only a matter of time before these cutbacks hit all of us square in the face. Newspapers appear totally uninterested in doing anything different in terms of content? More "blogging" isn't going to save our industry.

Is it time to jump for a lifeboat?

 

you could always go to law school

 

Jason, there's already a discussion on this one thread above (now below) yours.

 

This tells me there are very few true "national" sports sections left. I remember when most people in baseball cities would send a reporter to the World Series, no matter who was playing in it. I wonder how many do now? How many papers not in Florida and Texas staffed the NBA Finals? It's getting harder and harder to justify sending a local writer to cover a national event, even at the big papers.

 

No, I think Jason (and I don't presume to speak for him here) is saying LOCAL coverage is being scaled back.
I understand the premise behind Jason's question, but I think the key is adaptation.
Are papers going electronic? Probably not for a while, but by the same token, since a majority of folks get there info on-line rather than a hard copy of the paper, what do you do?
Do the sites charge? Even if maybe 35-50 cents per day to keep up the revenue streams?
I don't think we're headed to Titanic territory, but the iceberg is in sight if papers don't adapt and do it now.

 

We ignore sports that aren't mainstream.

It's been debated before, but UFC draws the 18-to-34 male market. So, why would newspapers not cover it? It's that segment of the population that will buy the newspapers in the next 20 years.

I think we need to start adding analysis into sections. Let's say the Yankees beat the Royals 12-1. It's not enough anymore to write 16 inches of "The small market Royals got smoked by the Yankees, 12-1, at Yankee Stadium yesterday." It's time we go into the game and say, "The Royals lost because of X Y and Z."

Readers know the score when they pick up the paper. They've seen it on-line or watched the game. They don't need a recap. They need more.  

 

It's a time of volatile change, which can be difficult. Such times present challenges and opportunities.
Anybody who's been thinking it's 'just a little water' has been kidding himself/herself.
On the other hand, there's no need for a Chicken Little reaction.
We just have to realize that the industry is changing, and we have to be prepared and willing to deal with that.

 

Serious question: Why would they?

Game ends at midnight, either after most papers' first-edition deadlines or close enough that there will be no quotes. It's pack journalism for any quotes you do get.

We sent a half-dozen writers and three photographers to the NBA Finals, and everything for first edition was still sent at the gun, without any quotes.

So what on earth would a Philadelphia Inquirer reader get from an Inquirer staffer going to these games?

And what does the Inquirer get out of it?

Seriously, other than "it looks good to have 'our' guy there," the negatives seem to seriously outweigh the positives.

 

Some random thoughts...

I get the LAT and NYT on weekends. A rep from the NYT called me today, offering to give me eight weeks of daily delivery for the price of the Sunday paper. I declined, as I read it online. I'm guessing they're trying to get their circ numbers up.

RE: LAT
They don't print all the stock market quotes the way they used to. They didn't send anyone to cover the Tour d'France this year- Diane Pucin blogged from it last year. Sure, there's no Lance-esque story this year, but still...I hope the sports department at the LAT really enjoys the shiny new plasma tvs going up in their section.

RE: the future
It'd be sooo much cheaper (and profitable) to go strictly online, using a subscription fee basis for readership. It'll happen. Just not yet.

 

Guys....

Not covering the local NHL team on the road is SO overdue.