Special note from The Advocate

[Devin]

Is this fair to a school like Southern?

Reduced Southern coverage

Southern has chosen to limit access of its football team to three players until at least Oct. 5.

Because of this policy, The Advocate will provide only minimal coverage of Southern’s football team.

Last week, Southern linebacker Anthony Balancier was quoted by WAFB-TV, Ch. 9, as saying Northwestern State was “horrible.” Northwestern State players and coaches acknowledged they used that statement as motivation while blasting Southern 55-14 in Natchitoches on Saturday.

Southern has subsequently reduced access to its players to all media and suspended Balancier for the first quarter of the Prairie View game Saturday night.

http://theadvocate.com/sports/southern/7033064-123/special-note-from-the-advocate

 

[LongTimeListener]

Southern, you can do that do.

South Carolina, not so much.

I imagine Southern will go back to normal within two days.

 

[Steak Snabler]

SWAC football players talking smack is hilarious. When's the last time a SWAC team beat another Division I team outside their own conference?

 

[BrianGriffin]

As mentioned in another, the SWAC is the worst conference in Division I.

The Advocate might (should?) find that this policy makes sense on a permanent basis. Add an extra guy on the LSU beat. After all, they need another body to chase after the Les Miles-Oklahoma State scandal...

 

[BurnsWhenIPee]

Love the cluelessness and sense of self-entitlement in the story comments.

"LSU limits player access all the time. What's the difference?"

Good point. There's no difference at all between Southern and LSU. None at all ...

 

[Versatile]

Southern, you can do that do.

South Carolina, not so much.

You have it backward. Southern needs the exposure from the media. The news media need to cover South Carolina.

 

[LongTimeListener]

Southern, you can do that do.

South Carolina, not so much.

You have it backward. Southern needs the exposure from the media. The news media need to cover South Carolina.

Right. My "you"in this case is the newspaper. A paper can big-time Southern. A paper cannot big-time South Carolina.

 

[Versatile]

Then yes, you're right.

 

[Scoop returns]

Actually, The Advocate needs to cover Southern because it is in the newspaper's backyard. So what Southern may make it difficult to cover but figure it out. Some high schools do the same thing. This is a training ground for some young hungry reporter. Go dig for the news and the access the school is not giving you.

 

[SnarkShark]

The Advocate is throwing a hissy fit and giving up. Lame. Sack up and do some reporting.

 

[writestuff1]

Southern is stupid for doing that because it needs all the pub it can get. On the flip side, however, The Advocate would not flex its muscle in such a fashion if it were LSU. Granted, the programs are not nearly on par with one another, but they both are in Baton Rouge. If LSU were to completely cut off Les Miles and the players in light of the Oklahoma State situation, there is no way The Advocate would cut back on LSU coverage. Southern is short-sighted but The Advocate is picking on the little guy to make a point.

 

[jr/shotglass]

The Advocate is throwing a hissy fit and giving up. Lame. Sack up and do some reporting.

That's how I look at it.

Some journalists and companies need this stamped on their collective foreheads: It's not about you.

 

[BrianGriffin]

Actually, The Advocate needs to cover Southern because it is in the newspaper's backyard. So what Southern may make it difficult to cover but figure it out. Some high schools do the same thing. This is a training ground for some young hungry reporter. Go dig for the news and the access the school is not giving you.

Devil's in the details here. The Advocate has always covered Southern in more detail than most would say is warranted in that market.

When the Advocate says it's only going to provide minimal coverage, it might still be providing more coverage than, say, the Times-Picayune provides of the University of New Orleans.

 

[Here me roar]

The paper is right. I bet the coach relents after this weekend.

 

[boundforboston]

The Advocate is throwing a hissy fit and giving up. Lame. Sack up and do some reporting.

That's how I look at it.

Some journalists and companies need this stamped on their collective foreheads: It's not about you.

Sometimes you can lose a battle but win a war. The program apparently wants The State-like coverage. Show them that you're not going to settle for selective reporting, which doesn't serve your readers well, and that you want the same access to sources, which serves your readers better.

 

[BillyT]

In my opinion, the paper is wrong.

If a team merits coverage, you do the best you possibly cannot no matter what the school does.

 

[JayFarrar]

In my opinion, the paper is wrong.

If a team merits coverage, you do the best you possibly cannot no matter what the school does.

I used to think that but in my old age I've reversed course.

Cooperation is part of what merits coverage. Coach wants to be a ****? **** 'em.

I'm not saying drop them but provide the basics and call it a day. In that market, I'd be surprised if Southern even cracks the top 10 in terms of importance to readers.

No one is going to sad there if they get a 10 inch gamer instead of a 20 inch gamer and a notebook in the Sunday paper.

Why papers put up with the bull**** is amazing to me, Just about everywhere has a pretty full calendar and if you're not wanted, move on to something else.

 

[BrianGriffin]

Jay, if that's the case, why would you cover them extensively at all?

If part of the Advocate's rationale is that SU does not warrant the coverage it gets, then it owed no explanation. It should have just reduced coverage and made that the policy going forward.

 

[JayFarrar]

Habit?
Sense of obligation? White guilt? Someone saying, "this is our hometown team and we need to cover them as well as we can because if we don't, no one will." And the wise old heads all nodded yes.

In the times before they expanded into New Orleans, that was fine, but now they have a larger readership and a finite amount of staff and space.

Spend your resources on where you're appreciated.

 

[BrianGriffin]

Then don't offer an explanation. Just cover it to the level you think it should be covered.

You don't put a notice to readers that you don't run bowling scores because nobody at the bowling centers email them to you in the format you want them. Because the truth is, you don't run the bowling scores because nobody reads the ****. Doesn't help that the bowling centers fax you scores instead of emailing them in a ready-to-publish format, but that's not really the reason you don't run them. If you got 30k page views a day on your bowling scores, you'd be handing that fax over to an intern, telling him to type the crap in.