The line looks blurry

[MightyMouse]

OK, so I need some perspective here.

The editor came to me today and told me that we were going to run a 4-page wrap for one of the local college hockey teams -- call it Team A. Content-wise it's 50-50 between ads and editorial. That's not necessarily a problem.

Enter the gray area:

We have three other area colleges/universities with ice hockey teams. When I asked, I was told that we cannot include any of those teams in the wrap, because Team A "is sponsoring it."

Team A's coach has the pub's ear, and talked him into doing this. Regarding the ad content, Team A isn't buying all of the ad space. I don't think it's buying any. The team is "sponsoring" the section.

As for editorial, we are supposed to provide that content.

Which leads me to what I see as a danger area: Are we basing an editorial decision on who's paying our bills? Honestly, I feel dirty just thinking about it. We're selling sponsorship to our sports section?!

I'll admit, I'm not the most objective person where Team A is concerned (there's a lot of history there that I don't want to get into), which is part of the reason I'm posting this.

Is this business as usual? Am I naive to hope that we should dictate our own coverage, and not base those decisions on who pays us the most?

Yeah, those are loaded questions, but that's why I'm here -- Perspective.

 

[mrbigles01]

I feel dirty reading this. I would be as shocked as you if this came to me at my job. Perhaps my lack of experience (only about 3 years) makes me as naive as you, but my gut reaction is that the whole thing is just wrong.

 

[JimmyHoward33]

I guess it depends on how it was sold to the ad buyers. If its sold as "our college hockey tab" then its kind of misleading. If it was presented as "want some space in our Team A tab" then its fine.

Depends on the demo too. If you're in Boston and you're writing about just BC while ignoring BU its a different animal than being in say Minnesota and doing a tab on the Gophers while ignoring a couple local D3s.

 

[Matt Stephens]

You could stick it to the man by writing a column in the tab ripping the college. And a full blown enterprise piece exposing how dirty the program is.

Maybe not the best idea for your paper, but I'd sure applaud you.

In seriousness, do you mind if I ask if you feel like your job could be at stake if you stood by principles your editor doesn't seem to care about?

 

[MightyMouse]

You could stick it to the man by writing a column in the tab ripping the college. And a full blown enterprise piece exposing how dirty the program is.

Maybe not the best idea for your paper, but I'd sure applaud you.

In seriousness, do you mind if I ask if you feel like your job could be at stake if you stood by principles your editor doesn't seem to care about?

Because it's coming from the publisher, I think a principled stand would leave me with just my principles, and, unfortunately, those don't pay the rent.

I have every intention of voicing my misgivings to the editor in our weekly 1-on-1 meeting, but at the end of the day, I don't see any way that this doesn't happen.

 

[MightyMouse]

I guess it depends on how it was sold to the ad buyers. If its sold as "our college hockey tab" then its kind of misleading. If it was presented as "want some space in our Team A tab" then its fine.

Depends on the demo too. If you're in Boston and you're writing about just BC while ignoring BU its a different animal than being in say Minnesota and doing a tab on the Gophers while ignoring a couple local D3s.

Yeah, I'm not sure how they're selling the ads. As for the demo, it's D-III hockey all around. Team A is a little more local than the others, but all are well within our circulation.

I know the other schools are going to call and ask why we're giving all that press to Team A. I don't like the idea of telling them that if they are willing to pony up, we can do the same thing for them.

 

[nck228]

I have to agree with everyone else's sentiment about it feeling wrong/dirty. If they want to promote themselves in the newspaper, they can buy regular ad space just like everyone else.

And good luck explaining the all-out Team A coverage to the other teams and those readers who follow those teams... I'd brace for a few angry calls from people arguing that "you are all Team A homers and always have been!" (I'm not saying you guys are by any means, but that's how it's going to look in the eyes of the reader)

EDIT: After reading your last two posts, MightyMouse, I feel even stronger about it being completely wrong. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if Team A asks the publisher to send them a copy of the wrap before it runs so they can approve it.

 

[dirtybird]

How does a team "Sponsor" something without buying ads?

 

[Cubbiebum]

Yeah I wouldn't write **** for that section. I would refuse to put my name on it. As I view it that is all I have. I have my name and I will protect its reputation no matter what.

Under no circumstances is the content of the paper changed due to ads or sponsorships. That's a stance I will always stand with.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

I'd advise the publisher that you are going to send all of the complaint calls of "Why isn't Team B and Team C getting any coverage?" to him.

It probably wouldn't work, but it'd at least give him some pause and maybe make him re-think a few things.

Or, if nothing else, see if you can get him to allow you to put "Advertising supplement" at the top of each page of the wrap, so others know that it is a paid-for sheets, not news coverage.

 

[Point of Order]

Yeah, interesting. That makes you an ad writer I guess.

 

[Stitch]

I'm surprised a section on a crappy D-III program would bring in ad revenue.

 

[Shoeless Joe]

I'm surprised anyone is green enough to think this doesn't happen all the time. Sometimes you have to take one for the team. What you don't have to do is take it up the ass. If someone calls in and complains, just say "I agree with you, but it wasn't my decision. I was doing what I was told. Let me direct your call to (somewhere up the line)."

I do agree with not putting you name on it. Use From Staff Reports or whatever.

We laugh at our news department all the time. When gas prices spike and they want a photo, guess what, it's of a station that doesn't advertise. When they do a story that gas prices have really dropped, you can bet it's a photo of an advertiser's sign. For the annual Black Friday obligatory photo of people lined up outside a story, you can guarantee it's going to be of a store that advertises.

 

[Ace]

I would try to get more information on what the deal is and how the ads are being sold and then go to the other three schools to see if they want to do the same thing.

If you're gonna work in advertising, might as well go all the way. Make sure you get a commission.

 

[JimmyHoward33]

If you regularly cover say 3 schools and only one is getting this treatment then its dirty. Puts you in a lousy spot with your relationships with the other two schools. Yuck.

 

[WriteThinking]

What Team A's coach did was suggest a tab idea -- apparently not a bad one for your area.

What your publisher should have done is expanded on that and made it a hockey tab, not a Team A tab.

Team A's coach just found a way to put his team out in front of others in terms of coverage and publicity.

 

[Bristol Whipped]

The coach of Team A seems to be the smartest guy in the room.

 

[BrianGriffin]

Does Team A get a disproportional amount of the readership? In my market, there's a BCS team in the heart of our circulation and three smaller Division I programs -- one small FBS and two FCS schools -- in our circulation.

I see the metrics every day and the BCS school gets about 4x the readership of the other three schools combined. On Saturdays, if all four were at home on the same day, the attendance at the BCS school's game would more than double the other three teams combined.

Given that, I would have no problem whatsoever with a wraparound that was completely about the BCS school. It gets the readers and gets the ads. The coverage of the other three can go in the regular section.

Having said that, our gameday section includes all the schools in our circulation ... I'm just saying I'd have no problem if the other schools were kicked out of the gameday section and into the regular section. Our tab also includes everybody, but by everybody I mean pro, college and preps.

 

[Ace]

The coach of Team A seems to be the smartest guy in the room.

I think Bristol's got this boiled down pretty accurately.

 

[lone star scribe]

I'm surprised anyone is green enough to think this doesn't happen all the time. Sometimes you have to take one for the team. What you don't have to do is take it up the ass. If someone calls in and complains, just say "I agree with you, but it wasn't my decision. I was doing what I was told. Let me direct your call to (somewhere up the line)."

I do agree with not putting you name on it. Use From Staff Reports or whatever.

We laugh at our news department all the time. When gas prices spike and they want a photo, guess what, it's of a station that doesn't advertise. When they do a story that gas prices have really dropped, you can bet it's a photo of an advertiser's sign. For the annual Black Friday obligatory photo of people lined up outside a story, you can guarantee it's going to be of a store that advertises.

DO NOT tell a reader you agree with his complaint. Just forward it up the line to someone in charge. When your bosses get tired of fielding the complaints, they'll change the policy. Or not. But you don't set policy, so you don't what to get in the middle of that argument.