Does USA Today try anymore?

[playthrough]

USA Today has run those random 5-to-7 inch stories on the front for years. I always thought there was some kind of mandate for number of heds on the front. Of course, along with the mandate of an airline story on 1A and/or Money every day.

 

[BrianGriffin]

The Gannett-influenced consultant a paper I worked for hired suggested the five-eight inch outside story teasing a more complete inside story, as opposed to jumping.

I wonder if there was an inside story with this one.

 

[jojoblack]

Playthrough is correct. Those kind of stories have been a staple of USAT's Sports front forever. The theory was to have something other than a game story to rep the sport on 1C and key to the coverage inside. The process often degraded to seriously weak efforts to be more global in league coverage and serious stretching for "trends."

Nothing to see here, folks. Move on.

 

[Blitz]

I looked at some Tiger threads but figured, since this is a journo topic, that this thread might be the best place.

In the Atlanta aeroport this (Monday) morning, I saw in the USA Today "Sports on TV" column the headline:

Ex-coach calls Woods sex addict

The story, actually just a snippet as it was part of a roundup of little stories, actually came from Golf Week as Jim Gray asked Hank Haney about Tiger Woods never actually admitting he was in a rehab.
Haney's one quote was: "Well, the only thing I knew about was his, you know, treatment for sex addiction."

This is yellow, in my opinion, to lead off the column with that headline when you have little or nothing to actually report.

Anybody see this?

 

[DanOregon]

When I saw the post on the website saying Kobe has chance to become "best ever" with a win, it made me want to puke. It reminded me of the Peyton best ever stories leading up to the Super Bowl, followed by the Peyton can't win the big one stories within days.
Has someone outlawed perspective when it comes to journalism?

 

[Drip]

They have stopped trying at USAYesterday.

 

[Ben_Hecht]

When I saw the post on the website saying Kobe has chance to become "best ever" with a win, it made me want to puke. It reminded me of the Peyton best ever stories leading up to the Super Bowl, followed by the Peyton can't win the big one stories within days.
Has someone outlawed perspective when it comes to journalism?

New is ALWAYS best. Ask the WWL.

 

[Ben_Hecht]

It's great that USA Today has big sections and all, but it sounds like they pitched a story idea on the front page and didn't bother to write the story. It's like a blog posting. Does anyone with the Angels or the Mets have anything to say about how they've handled their situations? Does a third-party baseball person have any insight (The Angels GM is the best in baseball at evaluating talent, or something)?

It's Gannett doing something that doesn't require manpower...hmmm, setting the bar for the whole organization, are they?

The sections aren't as big as they used to be. The newshole has
clearly shrunk, and not just by a little.

 

[Small Town Guy]

When I saw the post on the website saying Kobe has chance to become "best ever" with a win, it made me want to puke. It reminded me of the Peyton best ever stories leading up to the Super Bowl, followed by the Peyton can't win the big one stories within days.
Has someone outlawed perspective when it comes to journalism?

If they did outlaw it, it was happening back in 1991 as well. As a Lakers fan, I can still vividly remember the USA Today poll during the 1991 Finals. It was either right after Game 5 or even before that game, and they had a poll asking if a victory meant Michael Jordan was the best ever. Hey, at least Kobe would have five rings. This was Jordan's first, and a guy he went against in those finals had a decent resume.

So sports, and everything else, has definitely been Shanoffisized the last few years - Best. Team. Ever., etc. - but it's not necessarily a new thing, especially for USA Today.

 

[BTExpress]

Heard somewhere in 1919 . . .

"I think they're the best, Hughie. The best ever."

"Time will tell, Ring. Time will tell."

At least one sportswriter had perspective.

 

[Suicide Squeezer]

When I saw the post on the website saying Kobe has chance to become "best ever" with a win, it made me want to puke. It reminded me of the Peyton best ever stories leading up to the Super Bowl, followed by the Peyton can't win the big one stories within days.
Has someone outlawed perspective when it comes to journalism?

New is ALWAYS best. Ask the WWL.

I'm not sure if it's funny, lazy or just plain sad, but - along the lines with this thread - ESPN.com used the AP NBA Lottery story instead of having somebody, anybody for Christ's sake, cover the damn event and write something up.

 

[Suicide Squeezer]

Here's the link:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/draft2010/news/story?id=5199693

 

[imjustagirl]

When I saw the post on the website saying Kobe has chance to become "best ever" with a win, it made me want to puke. It reminded me of the Peyton best ever stories leading up to the Super Bowl, followed by the Peyton can't win the big one stories within days.
Has someone outlawed perspective when it comes to journalism?

New is ALWAYS best. Ask the WWL.

I'm not sure if it's funny, lazy or just plain sad, but - along the lines with this thread - ESPN.com used the AP NBA Lottery story instead of having somebody, anybody for Christ's sake, cover the damn event and write something up.

ESPN generally uses AP for event coverage, and uses its writers to do analysis/feature pieces. Happens with bowl games, Super Bowl, etc.

 

[podunk press]

Andy Katz would have been there, but he was sitting next to John Wall.

I think ESPN.com did fine.

Is the USA Today still trying? Yes. If you knew how many hours their best people were currently working, you wouldn't be asking this.

Not every story needs to have athlete quotes. They are mostly cliche-dripping lines of bull**** anyway. I'm sure David Wright/Mike Pelfrey could have mentioned how the Mets will take it one day at a time going forward, but how's that helping the story?

 

[Drip]

Andy Katz would have been there, but he was sitting next to John Wall.

I think ESPN.com did fine.

Is the USA Today still trying? Yes. If you knew how many hours their best people were currently working, you wouldn't be asking this.

Not every story needs to have athlete quotes. They are mostly cliche-dripping lines of bull**** anyway. I'm sure David Wright/Mike Pelfrey could have mentioned how the Mets will take it one day at a time going forward, but how's that helping the story?

It's more machine now.