Louisiana-Monroe football beat writer's beef with Kentucky press box/journos

[Central-KY-Kid]

http://www.nationofblue.com/2014/10/ulm-writer-didnt-enjoy-her-time-at-commonwealth-stadium/#.VDtkORawRUR

http://www.thenewsstar.com/story/tabbys-tidbits/2014/10/11/ulm-lost-but-the-real-losers-were-in-the-press-box/17138475/
Headline: ULM lost, but the real losers were in the press box
" Maybe it’s because I am an LSU alumna and there’s some respect there, or maybe it’s because the Tigers are used to winning and the media is used to covering a winning team. No matter the reason though, the mood stayed the same in the press box even after LSU pulled away from ULM in the second half for a 31-0 win.
As for Kentucky, the behavior of the journalists would lead onlookers to believe the Wildcats are on their way to a National Championship after beating South Carolina last week — let’s take the time to point out the Gamecocks are also 3-3 and out of the Top 25.
I assumed the gentleman next to me was a faux pas journalist — you know the type, the “writer” with a free URL who has a fulltime job but still covers the home team on the side because deep down he really is a fan and wants a free pass into the game and to rub elbows with the players and coaches after the game.
After the fifth outburst of laughter once another ULM player went down, my mouth could not refrain any longer and I asked who he worked for. Come to find out, he actually is a full-time journalist in sheep’s clothing and sadly so were the others around him who yelled across the press box to question ULM’s play calling and moaning about why the Warhawks couldn’t have been Kentucky’s homecoming opponent or a 7 p.m. kickoff since it was so easy to write once the butt kicking started."

 

[PioneerVoice]

Any idea who the journalists might be? Are these Herald-Leader folks?

 

[Steak Snabler]

Here's a tidbit for you, Tabby ... readers don't give a **** about this sort of thing. Complain to the SID, complain to your editor, complain on the SPJ/APSE website, but don't complain in print.

 

[mediaguy]

Think she mean a faux journalist, not a faux pas journalist.

 

[RustyHampton]

If that also appeared in print, that's the worst waste I've ever seen of what I was always told by Gannett suits is precious newsprint. I would have spiked that in a heart beat and told her to write about the game or team. A good beat writer can always generate a boat load of notes, even from a blowout loss. Not one of her readers gives a crap about this. She's paid to report about the team, not her own job. Wow.

 

[vandelayindustries]

I agree that readers don't care about this stuff. I'm more concerned that she used "have went." Do schools still teach conjugation?

 

[Flip Wilson]

Agreed that readers don't really care about this stuff at all. And if you click through a couple of the links, she's posted pictures of herself with a ULM player and with Les Miles (whom she calls "a friend"). She doesn't have much room to criticize others' professionalism.

 

[Alma]

Here's a tidbit for you, Tabby ... readers don't give a **** about this sort of thing.

How do we know that? These are the same readers that watch the stupidest, pettiest reality TV shows known to mankind.

I'd never write the above stuff, in part because I'm not that naive. But how do we know readers don't like it?

 

[TarHeelMan]

Nobody cares about what she wrote that cares about ULM football. With that said, not surprised there are some cheerleaders who cover a team. There are at every school!

 

[nubyjas_wilborn]

A story like this is another reminder of how much copy editors are needed. I'm sure a decent editor wouldn't have let this post go up and if they did it wouldn't have had all the glaring errors in it. But, this woman has a job covering a D1 football team and will probably move up in the next couple of years so I guess it'll be okay for her.

 

[SnarkShark]

I've encountered my fair share of cheerleader reporters.

I've been tempted to call them out on Twitter or through other venues. I never have, because I try to make a habit of thinking before I say/write something publicly. A good editor would have and should have shut this nonsense down.

 

[joe king]

Think she mean a faux journalist, not a faux pas journalist.

Wow, what a faux pas.

 

[Riddick]

Do they even have an SE in Monroe? I'm asking in all seriousness, because they didn't for the longest time.

 

[wheels89]

It got worse near the bottom when she took a swipe at the Herald-Leader UK writer.
The X-Ray image of the writer's mugshot is pretty bad too. Then again this is Gannett and their Newsrooms of the Future we are talking about.

 

[JayFarrar]

Here's a tidbit for you, Tabby ... readers don't give a **** about this sort of thing.

How do we know that? These are the same readers that watch the stupidest, pettiest reality TV shows known to mankind.

I'd never write the above stuff, in part because I'm not that naive. But how do we know readers don't like it?

We don't and I'd argue that at least some readers do.

Just like some readers care about bylines and other readers care about all the other things newspaper types are convinced they don't care about.

A lot of what she wrote sounds like things I've heard over the years. And the vigorous pushback from the UK writers sounds like it might not have been the best night to be in the pressbox

 

[black dude with pompano]

Tabby criticizing others for homerism is pretty rich.

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

What a joke. No decent editor would have run one word of that drivel.

Nobody outside of the business gives half a **** about this. I was at a SEC game where a longtime, legendary, beloved SID broke a table when he slammed a printer onto a table as his team was getting upset. We all were out that night laughing our asses off about it, but the notion to write about it wouldn't have occurred to anyone.

There are unprofessional people in press boxes all the time. Sometimes they're people who shouldn't be there, and sometimes it's a beat writer who, for whatever reason reacts a way they shouldn't.

I covered a AFC Championship game about 15 years ago and as the game was over, an older writer was dancing in the back of the press box like he had just won the lottery. He did not cover either team and when someone asked why he was reacting the way he was, he said, "Predicted the Super Bowl matchup in August. It's fun to be right."

 

[BurnsWhenIPee]

Going beyond the "readers don't care" issue, which I agree with completely - if I was her boss, I'd be pretty pissed that after spending the money to send her to Lexington for the game, she doesn't have anything better to trot out (even for a blog entry) than how unprofessional some people were in the press box.

If that's the depth of coverage she's bringing to the table, she doesn't belong in any "Newsroom of the Future"

 

[SnarkShark]

Going beyond the "readers don't care" issue, which I agree with completely - if I was her boss, I'd be pretty pissed that after spending the money to send her to Lexington for the game, she doesn't have anything better to trot out (even for a blog entry) than how unprofessional some people were in the press box.

If that's the depth of coverage she's bringing to the table, she doesn't belong in any "Newsroom of the Future"

To play devil's advocate here... What if this was her boss' idea? I can see a ****ty click-bait editor suggesting something like this... Writer complains about the press box atmosphere and ****ty editor says "write a column about it, stir some **** up."

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

When I first saw the link, I was worried she was harrassed.

Anybody who has spent any amount of time in the business has seen someone do something stupid. Get over it.