Any of you ever dealt with this before?

[PalmettoStatesport]

My editor gets a call this morning ripping me and the sports to shreds. OK, not a huge deal as it is something that happens in this business. The kicker, however, was when I got called into the editor's office. Apparently the lady who called this morning wanted to inform us that the picture we ran of a runner at a cross country meet was from 5 days ago and not the event that happened two days ago. All you can see in the picture is the runner. The cutline reads Joe Somebody has run well all season long. At the Podunk ****ing High School Invitational, Somebody finished second, his best finish of the year. Now, I didn't see the problem in the picture or cutline, but my editor told me that I have mislead the public.
Also, I got told today that coaches around here are not used to my style. I took the job six months ago and do interviews with coaches where I ask for their thoughts, etc. on the last opponent played and the future, along with the other interview questions.
Have any of you ever dealt with crap like this before?

 

[MGoBlue]

Welcome to sports and dealing with the public.

 

[wickedwritah]

Dust off your resume and start applying. Stat.

Maybe you could've applied a "STAFF FILE PHOTO" to the cutline, or at least said, "Joan Jones, seen here in a meet earlier this week ... "

But heavy-handed stuff like this? Never good.

 

[pressmurphy]

Pull the rip cord and bail out ASAP. I can handle working for someone who's clueless and I can handle working for someone who's spineless. Working for someone who's both is where I draw the line.

 

[Cansportschick]

My publishing boss has dealt with this sort of complaint of a picture he used for my story. He put one that was on file for basketball and idiot did not realize that the picture he used was really old. All the players in the photo left the team due to graduation. Therefore, he had to apologize for his own mistake, even though the complaintant thought it was me who took the photo.

However, he hasn't learned from his mistake. He still does it, and it really does hurt the credibility of a publication when this sort of thing happens.

If it was a profile or a player, coach, then it's fine to use a photo from before, but not a game day photo from five days ago. If you have to use it, as wicked said put down STAFF FILE PHOTO or a subtext explaining that a photo could not be taken at the time of the event so you used the most recent one you had.

 

[Ace]

It's common to use a file photo to illustrate a feature on a player. If you are doing basically a gamer and use a file photo, though, you should explain it somehow.

However, if you go into explanations about how you couldn't shoot fresh art of someone or something, you won't have any room for anything else in the paper.

I don't understand about the "style." Are the coaches used to just getting what they want in the paper with little editing? Are they expecting more homerism? Are your questions too challenging? Are you being grating or acting like sports where you came from were so much better?

It's common for fans, coaches to ***** about the new guy/gal -- you don't know as much, don't love Podunk High, don't know all the skeletons buried in Podunk Stadium -- so just keep your eyes and ears open.

 

[slappy4428]

If it isn't of that event, the photo needs to be labeled FILE or the cutline needs to explain "shown here against Westdale High"...
I dont think you need to do both if the photo has never run, but I think you do need to show it wasn't of that meet.

 

[User 4755]

Pull the rip cord and bail out ASAP. I can handle working for someone who's clueless and I can handle working for someone who's spineless. Working for someone who's both is where I draw the line.

+1. A spineless dog-and-pony show like that one drove me out of the business three years ago for two years.

Do agree with others who say you should use "file photo," etc., though.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

I don't understand about the "style." Are the coaches used to just getting what they want in the paper with little editing? Are they expecting more homerism? Are your questions too challenging? Are you being grating or acting like sports where you came from were so much better?

I don't understand that part of it either. What don't they like about you? The way you do interviews? Give us more info.

 

[wickedwritah]

Best feeling I ever got in this business was when an editor took my side while a parent was being irrational.

I had erred judgment-wise, but it wasn't a massive deal (i.e. not libelous). The parent decided to go ape **** on me, but my boss got my back.

After he ripped the screaming mom a new one, he calmly talked to me, told me what I did wrong (and what I knew I had done wrong) and that was the end of it.

Much better working for those types than the spineless jellyfish.

 

[PalmettoStatesport]

I don't understand that part of it either. What don't they like about you? The way you do interviews? Give us more info.
[/quote]

That's just it, I have no idea what they don't like. I've asked for examples from my editor and coaches and have gotten NOTHING.

 

[Ace]

You know how to make the coaches love you? If a coach asks you to cover an event, and you can, he'll love you forever.

It works especially well if a coach is begging you to cover a cross country meet, say, and you act like you have a ton of crap going on (even if you were planning to cover it anyway) and make the supreme effort to show up and say hi to the coach.

He'll love you forever.

 

[PalmettoStatesport]

Ace that stuff is great, here's the thing though it is a one-man ****ing operation here. My Saturdays have had 8 different sporting events on them. I try like hell to hit all of them to at least show up and take a few pictures and be seen, but was unable on this day.
And anyway, I'm not in this job to be loved.

 

[pressmurphy]

Ace that stuff is great, here's the thing though it is a one-man ****ing operation here. My Saturdays have had 8 different sporting events on them. I try like hell to hit all of them to at least show up and take a few pictures and be seen, but was unable on this day.
And anyway, I'm not in this job to be loved.

None of us is in this line of work to be loved. We're in it for varying reasons, No. 1 being that the eagle ****s every Thursday and allows us to pay our bills.

But Ace's advice is accurate. Being seen making an effort to cover their schools and their sports gives you currency with coaches. It's what makes them more inclined to phone in their results to you at 6:30 p.m. instead of 10 minutes before deadline, and it's what motivates them to call you with the occasional news tip that they might otherwise direct toward a competitor.

Stuff like that adds up and helps make year 2 on the beat way easier than year 1.

 

[zeke12]

The problem isn't any of the stuff you mentioned, which is little stuff that can always be worked out and improved upon in the future.

The problem is that your editor doesn't have your back.

Get that resume updated and start looking around.

Good luck.