Should I write it or not?

[chazp]

I'm thinking of writing a column about a local player who was left off the All-state volleyball team by our state's largest newspaper. She wasn't even named HM.Her ace total this year was the 6th highest in state history and her assist total this season was 8th highest in state history. Everyone in our area was shocked by the omission, including her coach. The girl is a junior and is hearing from several colleges in and outside of the state, so she's one of the better players in the state in the opinion of college coaches.
My question is, would it be un-cool or in bad taste to write a column stating her omission from the All-state team is wrong, considering it would be questioning the choices made by a different paper?

 

[spnited]

don't do it

 

[2underpar]

don't go there. ever.

 

[ADifferentOkie]

I agree. I do most of the All-Area selection for our paper, so I've dealt with that. But I'd never write anything about one of the metros' All-State teams. To me, you should just avoid criticizing other papers in print unless there is a VERY good reason to do so. This doesn't approach that threshold for me.
I would write it if a deserving player was left off the coaches' all-state team, however.

 

[slappy4428]

Do we really need two "Homerism is a cancer to our industry" threads?

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

My opinion is that when newspaper A criticizes newspaper B, it legitimizes newspaper B in the minds of newspaper A's readers. Who elected newspaper B as the selector of All-State teams and the ranking of teams within the state? No one did, newspaper B appointed itself. And there is no reason why other newspapers in the state have to honor newspaper B's selections by mentioning them at all, ever. You can do your own rankings and All-State selections if you want.

 

[Gomer]

I'd have to agree, this is a bad idea. If you somehow think the athlete deserves more recognition, why not just do a straight feature on her? If you've already given proper coverage, reporting on what the competition is doing is pure bush-league.

 

[friend of the friendless]

Mr P,

If thisperceived slight is all that's interesting about her, I wouldn't write about her at all. Find another storyline, with her or, if need be, with someone else.

YHS, etc

 

[Cadet]

I've learned that the Big Metro Paper in my area makes itself look stupid all on its own... it doesn't need my help. People realize this.

 

[buckweaver]

I'm pretty sure we've got a consensus here, but I'll chime in anyway.

NEVER acknowledge a market competitor in print -- ever. Not even if they beat you. Just say "according to published reports" or use some other designator as attribution, assuming you can get the information yourself in an ethical manner (i.e. don't steal it outright from them, copy/paste from their site, etc.) ... The better choice would be to use your own story, of course.

Anyway, back to the point: never acknowledge another paper in print. Not in this situation. Not ever. Create your own damn all-area/all-state/all-anything team.

 

[Cadet]

I'm pretty sure we've got a consensus here, but I'll chime in anyway.

NEVER acknowledge a market competitor in print -- ever. Not even if they beat you. Just say "according to published reports" or use some other designator as attribution, assuming you can get the information yourself in an ethical manner (i.e. don't steal it outright from them, copy/paste from their site, etc.) ... The better choice would be to use your own story, of course.

Anyway, back to the point: never acknowledge another paper in print. Not in this situation. Not ever. Create your own damn all-area/all-state/all-anything team.

This was my reasoning with football team rankings this year. In my state we don't have an official poll (like a coaches poll conducted by the state association), but Big Metro Paper issues metro-heavy state rankings. People in Podunk would get upset that I wouldn't acknowledge Podunk High as No. 7 Podunk High in my coverage or make a big deal when they moved up in the rankings.

My explanation: That's Big Metro's rankings. I don't give a damn what Big Metro does. If we wanted, we could to the Podunk Press rankings, but we don't see enough games to accurately do that. But I'm sure as hell not going to cite Big Metro's rankings.

 

[novelist_wannabe]

Perhaps the big paper should be taken to task for this, but a column in your paper isn't the appropriate way to do it. A letter from the coach to the other paper is better, I think, but you really shouldn't be involved in that.

 

[Ace]

The only way I would consider writing about it if this is an AP all-state team or coaches all-state team that is published first by this big paper. Some states are like that.

If it's an AP team, might be worth a note looking into how the voting is done and to make sure that your paper has a say next time. In fact, if the team was handled that way, you may be partly to blame.

If it's a coaches' team, they may have some strange rules that prevent a coach from nominating a player if he is not in the association or something. If that was the case, it would be worth writing about to point out the unfair nature of the selection process.

If it is just big Metro paper picking a team, then it's not worth worrying about. You should do your own area teams or whathaveyou.

 

[Bob Cook]

I'm thinking of writing a column about a local player who was left off the All-state volleyball team by our state's largest newspaper. She wasn't even named HM.Her ace total this year was the 6th highest in state history and her assist total this season was 8th highest in state history. Everyone in our area was shocked by the omission, including her coach. The girl is a junior and is hearing from several colleges in and outside of the state, so she's one of the better players in the state in the opinion of college coaches.
My question is, would it be un-cool or in bad taste to write a column stating her omission from the All-state team is wrong, considering it would be questioning the choices made by a different paper?

It sounds like, even without the snub, you have a lot of interesting grist for a piece right there. If you feel compelled to mention the All-State snub, you can bring it up in the context of how little it really matters. I mean, if she's getting college bites already, why does it even matter whether she's All-City, All-County, All-State or All-Gym? There might be some interesting things you and your readers might learn about how college coaches find talent. And the upside is, maybe you can tell whomever complains that your lack of coverage of little Johnny is preventing him from a scholarship that coaches are going to know about little Johnny whether you shoot it from the rooftops or bury it in your desk drawer.

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

You could contact some other papers in your state and see if they want to get together to pick all-state teams and do rankings. Then you'd have selections that are more official than Big Paper's.

 

[MGoBlue]

It's high school sports! Who cares besides mommy, daddy and grandma (grandpa doesn't, because he's watching his favorite college and pro teams).

God, I don't miss preps.

 

[EStreetJoe]

It's high school sports! Who cares besides mommy, daddy and grandma (grandpa doesn't, because he's watching his favorite college and pro teams).

God, I don't miss preps.

Who cares besides mommy, daddy, grandma, and siblings? Lots of people.
The coach cares because the coach wants the kid to get recognition. Parents of other kids on the team care because if the stud on the team got overlooked for an All-State award by Big City Metro then their kids could get overlooked by Big City Metro for All County or All League awards and thus lose a college scholarship as a result. Other kids on the team care because they want to support their teammate.
It's a bad sign if you get zero calls/letters about an All-Star team, it means that nobody read it. Someone will always be complaining you left someone off first team or you named someone honorable mention that should have been second team or you cost a kid a scholarship by not naming him/her at all.

 

[Gold]

I would say the story isn't worth writing. For one thing, volleyball season has passed so it really isn't current. If the player makes an impression and does well in college, than it might be worthwhile.

I would not agree with a hard-and-fast rule about never being critical or acknowledgement of another newspaper in print. There is a certain amount of respect and understanding that is should be given to the fact that it is more difficult to pick an all-state team than an all-area team, but to completely ignore the fact that there are other papers simply isn't honest or credible to your readers. That, to my mind, was never realistic and is even less so with sports talk radio and the Internet. The paper you work for isn't the only newspaper in your area, state, region, or nation.

If you wouldn't acknowledge another paper, than no journalist should ever appear on a panel show with people from other newspapers.

 

[happygirl]

I'm pretty sure we've got a consensus here, but I'll chime in anyway.

NEVER acknowledge a market competitor in print -- ever. Not even if they beat you. Just say "according to published reports" or use some other designator as attribution, assuming you can get the information yourself in an ethical manner (i.e. don't steal it outright from them, copy/paste from their site, etc.) ... The better choice would be to use your own story, of course.

Anyway, back to the point: never acknowledge another paper in print. Not in this situation. Not ever. Create your own damn all-area/all-state/all-anything team.

We have a writer who constantly bases his stories on published info and reports from other media outlets--and he clearly identifies them. Ticks me off to no end. Makes it look like we're some half-assed shopper that's not capable of creating our own work. Come up with something original, don't legitimize other outlets, don't give them credit, don't acknowledge them. That applies to high schools or pros. If I were in your shoes, I'd write about that player giving it your own slant, with no mention of any other outlet.

 

[fishwrapper]

I throw this out there:
How many families buy multiple newspapers anymore?
I'm not opposed to writing about a perceived wrong....
But, The audience for this has to be minuscule. You would be writing for the volleyball team (, their parents) and yourself.