Sports or news?

[housejd]

So, the prsesident of the university I attend spoke on campus tonight about gambling in sports and how it affects college athletics. I say this is a story for sports to cover.

However, I was not notified of it. As sports editor of my college newspaper, I feel a bit slighted when I find out at the afternoon budget meeting this story is happening and a news reporter is handling it because "it's the university president." I let it slide though because a reporter was already out and there was not much to do then. Anyway, I had my own section to worry about at that time.

I saw the story, and I know sports could have handled it better. I want to approach the news side tomorrow to ask why we weren't notified. How do I approach that without sounding condescending?

 

[mike311gd]

Get used to it.

 

[Tom Petty]

you might be best served to give this whole renfro trauma a day to blow over and then approach them on thursday. really dude, use some common sense during these sad times.

 

[wickedwritah]

It's totally a news story.

The mistake news side made was not flagging you on it. Consider it your first lesson in departments not speaking to each other; you'll see it repeated many times during the course of your brief journalism career.

 

[Mystery_Meat]

So, the prsesident of the university I attend spoke on campus tonight about gambling in sports and how it affects college athletics. I say this is a story for sports to cover.

However, I was not notified of it. As sports editor of my college newspaper, I feel a bit slighted when I find out at the afternoon budget meeting this story is happening and a news reporter is handling it because "it's the university president." I let it slide though because a reporter was already out and there was not much to do then. Anyway, I had my own section to worry about at that time.

I saw the story, and I know sports could have handled it better. I want to approach the news side tomorrow to ask why we weren't notified. How do I approach that without sounding condescending?

Go to your common supervisor (I assume a managing/executive editor is in charge of the section heads). Make your point that since the topic is rooted in sports, the story should have been written by and run in sports. Make sure to coach your argument in terms about story quality; don't make this about a real estate fight between you and news, even though at some level it is. Point out that there should be clearer lines of communication between section heads, and that if something could use the expertiese of another section, by all means they should know about it too (point out that the news editor probably wouldn't care for a non-sports story being covered in the sports section).

And yeah, get used to it. My last stop where I was an SE, I saw news writers cover sports stories and run them in news, and my first clue was when I proofed a random inside news page and saw something that needed to be in sports. I had to go to my ME and get the point across that there's a reason it's called the sports section, not the sloppy seconds from news section.

 

[STLIrish]

Really, there's no reason you couldn't both cover it. Not the speech itself, that's water under the bridge, and, who cares anyway, but the issue, which is indeed a big one.
Figure out some angles about gambling and college sports that are more interesting than a speechifying president, pitch them to whoever you need to pitch them to, assign a good reporter from news and from sports, and go after them. Hopefully you'll wind up with good enterprise, maybe even a series, with the different sources and perspective that come from covering both angles.
We've got enough problems in this business without fighting turf wars. (don't mean to take it out on you, house, this is just a pet peeve of the situation at my place).

 

[wickedwritah]

We've got enough problems in this business without fighting turf wars. (don't mean to take it out on you, house, this is just a pet peeve of the situation at my place).

I wonder if they did this on the Titanic. Did the band argue with those piling people into the lifeboats?

 

[mike311gd]

We've got enough problems in this business without fighting turf wars. (don't mean to take it out on you, house, this is just a pet peeve of the situation at my place).

I wonder if they did this on the Titanic. Did the band argue with those piling people into the lifeboats?

Nope. They just played until they died. Just like the true heroes of this world. We all know who they are. ...

 

[Mystery_Meat]

We've got enough problems in this business without fighting turf wars. (don't mean to take it out on you, house, this is just a pet peeve of the situation at my place).

Agree with you about the rest, but I think turf wars sometimes are important enough to fight. In this case (based on the admittedly incomplete story we've been presented), we have a news editor who made a unilateral coverage decision without giving a) thought or b) notice to how it impacts the rest of the paper, in this case sports. What if said NE decides to write a story about a basketball player with some interesting off-court hook, arguing that the hook is what made it not a sports story? You don't want to light up the sky over a slight, but if it's the beginning of a trend, best to cut that **** out now.

 

[slappy4428]

It should be in Page 1 or Metro, depending on what else was going on that day. Could it have been written better by a sportswriter, who understands the subject matter? Probably, butr without seeing it, who knows.
But many news departments feel that only they can write news, forgetting that a sports writer's best asset is versatility.

 

[Mystery_Meat]

It should be in Page 1 or Metro, depending on what else was going on that day. Could it have been written better by a sportswriter, who understands the subject matter? Probably, butr without seeing it, who knows.
But many news departments feel that only they can write news, forgetting that a sports writer's best asset is versatility.

The other thing to consider is where would the readers who would read it expect to find it? (it's not the most clean of sentences, but I'm coming down off of deadline high, so screw it). I turn to sports to read about sports. If a story that might impact/interest me was put on the bottom half of B5, I'm possibly going to miss it. That happened a lot at my last stop.

 

[lone star scribe]

The best approach to this story is let the news side cover the speech, and you run a related story in sports developed from your contacts -- athletes and the no-cheating talks they get, temptations to bet, etc. Then your whole newspaper benefits and shares in the coverage. Don't let it become a turf war. Look at the bigger picture. The average reader doesn't care what page it's on, only that it's there.

 

[housejd]

Thanks to those who offered advice. I appreciate the insight. And wicked, not sure what you meant by "brief journalism career" as I certainly expect to be working in this field for a very long time. I'm at four years thus far.

I've worked in both news and sports collegiately and professionally, and I'm just saying this is a story I would have assigned to a sportswriter. Mostly because he or she would have understood the situation better and written a more complete story. I wholeheartedly believe in assigned stories to the best fit reporter, and the fact sports wasn't even considered, I felt, was a slight to us.

Feel free to mock me for asking for some insight, as I feel some of you had. Just be glad to know there's young people out there willing to learn and ask for guidance at times. We're going be the ones that eventually replace you, so I see no reason for cynical jabs at young reporters trying to learn.

 

[deskslave]

Thanks to those who offered advice. I appreciate the insight. And wicked, not sure what you meant by "brief journalism career" as I certainly expect to be working in this field for a very long time. I'm at four years thus far.

If this place imparts no other wisdom, it's that your journalism career is unlikely to be long. Tides are a-changin'. And, yeah, you'll probably replace us at some point. You'll be cheaper. And in 10 years, some young stud will replace you.

Of course, Brad Renfro got out of journalism, and look where he ended up.

As for the story, I'd have covered it with a sports reporter, then decided where it would be best played.

 

[wickedwritah]

housejd, the slam wasn't meant at you. It was meant at the business. You'll probably get laid off by 30, walk away and won't look back.

 

[SixToe]

Consider it your first lesson in departments not speaking to each other; you'll see it repeated many times during the course of your brief journalism career.

Excellent advice, and truthful.

Your news editor should have communicated with you about the meeting and asked for your input, no matter which section ended up with the story.

Lack of communication in an industry based on communication is a major problem in many organizations.

 

[bdh02]

Seems like something that's best covered by a sportswriter and then put in the news section.

 

[fishwrapper]

I've never had News swoop in and cover a sports story "their" way.

 

[expendable]

In my shop people are trying to pawn stuff off onto sports. This morning I had to explain that just because ESPN carries the National Spelling Bee, a local bee is not a sports event. :

 

[Tom Petty]

In my shop people are trying to pawn stuff off onto sports. This morning I had to explain that just because ESPN carries the National Spelling Bee, a local bee is not a sports event. :

have you ever bothered explaining what the E in ESPN stands for?