"We don't cover you because you don't generate page views"

[daytonadan1983]

This is what one of the local sportswriters said was the primary reason very few of all local college basketball games anymore.

So, how am I supposed to accept this, especially after the local shop.goes all out on the NAIA championship game here and local reaction to the Dolphins making the playoffs?

Listen, I get it that staffs and stringer budgets are shot...heck, when the Cleveland Plain Dealer didn't staff our game with Cleveland State at the Q, it was an indication that the issue may just be beyond the red line, but I'm remaining strong that my players deserve the coverage. And that's why my student writers are cranking out optionals after each game for our web site.

What say you.

 

[RickStain]

Start your own newspaper, prove him wrong, drive them out of business.

 

[TyWebb]

The readers decide who deserves coverage, not the SIDs.

 

[jr/shotglass]

My old paper used that reasoning to pretty much cut out all small-college sports coverage. (And our closest D-I is a good 75 minutes away, so ...)

And, dan, it's harsh, but never use the reason that the athletes deserve the coverage. That will get you nowhere with bottom-line decision-makers. Swimming parents have been using that to no avail for decades.

 

[MisterCreosote]

"You need to write things even if no one reads them" doesn't seem like a winning argument to me.

 

[dixiehack]

Did they give y'all pretty good play during football, or are you being shut out across the board?

 

[daytonadan1983]

Did they give y'all pretty good play during football, or are you being shut out across the board?

Decent by today's standards, not like the good old days of lead,sidebar,notes and fall stats. Road games, AP.

 

[SFIND]

heck, when the Cleveland Plain Dealer didn't staff our game with Cleveland State at the Q, it was an indication that the issue may just be beyond the red line, but I'm remaining strong that my players deserve the coverage. And that's why my student writers are cranking out optionals after each game for our web site.

Heck, I could have told you they wouldn't; Cleveland State is barely a blip on the radar there.

I can't quite figure out from your first sentence, are you complaining they don't run your releases or that they don't staff many games?

I'm sure this probably nothing new to you and most others reading this, but the days of having "well-rounded" sports sections with good coverage of minor sports are gone. Most editors in today's climate aren't going to waste the few hours of the few writers they have and do things like put them on the prep girls beat, send them do to a feature on the college's rowing team, do a feature on the local guy who hiked the Appalachian trail, etc. They don't have the reporters or the hours to do it, and they have bosses breathing down their backs about metrics.

If the reporter is telling you that your articles don't get read online, I'm sure the paper has the metrics to back it up and he isn't bull****ting you. Coming back with "You can't seriously tell me anyone gives a **** about the NAIA championship?" isn't going to change their metrics or their minds.

Also, be happy your players aren't getting into trouble, because that could draw page views and give your school more coverage than it could dream.

 

[JC]

Why exactly do they deserve coverageÉ

 

[daytonadan1983]

Heck, I could have told you they wouldn't; Cleveland State is barely a blip on the radar there.

I can't quite figure out from your first sentence, are you complaining they don't run your releases or that they don't staff many games?

I'm sure this probably nothing new to you and most others reading this, but the days of having "well-rounded" sports sections with good coverage of minor sports are gone. Most editors in today's climate aren't going to waste the few hours of the few writers they have and do things like put them on the prep girls beat, send them do to a feature on the college's rowing team, do a feature on the local guy who hiked the Appalachian trail, etc. They don't have the reporters or the hours to do it, and they have bosses breathing down their backs about metrics.

If the reporter is telling you that your articles don't get read online, I'm sure the paper has the metrics to back it up and he isn't bull****ting you. Coming back with "You can't seriously tell me anyone gives a **** about the NAIA championship?" isn't going to change their metrics or their minds.

Also, be happy your players aren't getting into trouble, because that could draw page views and give your school more coverage than it could dream.

They run the releases. From that end, I'm good.

My question has been answered. Thank you.

 

[Doc Holliday]

It's obvious you completely do not understand the newspaper business to even ask such a question. Yeah, like we're going to send writers to a place nobody is reading. That makes real ****ing sense.

 

[HanSenSE]

And as we all know, Cleveland State was on NCAA probation at the time

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Maybe, instead of trying to get them to cover your games, try to find some features that the paper would be interested in writing about. You have a lot of athletes. Some of them must have some sort of compelling story that readers would find interesting, beyond the stats and numbers.

 

[jr/shotglass]

It's obvious you completely do not understand the newspaper business to even ask such a question. Yeah, like we're going to send writers to a place nobody is reading. That makes real ****ing sense.

I wouldn't be too outraged by the thought, Doc. You know, newspapers did once cover their community as a matter of record. In fact, it seemed to work out pretty well for a long time.

I don't think it's outlandish to wish that bean-counters didn't make the editorial decisions.

 

[Southwinds]

I empathize with Dan here. I wish newspapers were still the all-encompassing things they once were. When I took over as an SE, I tried to make sure all the colleges in our area were given their proper respect. It became impossible.

A lot of that is staff sizes, but much of it is the fact that we now have metrics to see what people do and don't read - and, sadly, there's no point in sending people to routinely cover something that few readers are interested in.

(I've also wondered how long it would take for metros to use that same logic to kill off preps coverage. That's another topic, though.)

 

[I Should Coco]

(I've also wondered how long it would take for metros to use that same logic to kill off preps coverage.)

That's next ... especially in mid- to metro-sized dailies.

 

[silvercharm]

Maybe, instead of trying to get them to cover your games, try to find some features that the paper would be interested in writing about. You have a lot of athletes. Some of them must have some sort of compelling story that readers would find interesting, beyond the stats and numbers.

This. I can't tell you how many times I've called or emailed a D-II, D-III and NAIA SID practically begging for a good feature idea on one of their athletes, only to get, a) nothing, or b) Johnny Jumpshot is third in the league in scoring this season.

 

[Cosmo]

(I've also wondered how long it would take for metros to use that same logic to kill off preps coverage. That's another topic, though.)

Gamer coverage in the regular season for anything other than football or boys basketball is a waste of resources, IN MOST CASES. Before shotty jumps on me and tells me girls basketball may be the most popular sport in some places, that's great. If that's the case, run with it. But in my experiences, the only sports that drew any interest outside of the non-parent crowd in the regular season were the big two. Playoffs are obviously a different story. If there's a giant wrestling invitational in town on a Saturday, that's different story. But we wasted so much time at girls basketball games played in front of 20 people that it was ridiculous.

 

[jr/shotglass]

I wouldn't presume to jump on you for that.

 

[daytonadan1983]

Doc Holiday, all I know is that back in the day when I was on the other side, I'd get 2 or 3 college hoops games a week in January and February and all the home games of all the local colleges were staffed by the local shop. Times were good.

When I was a one man shop at a paper in Texas, I covered a game 4 or 5 nights a week. And that included soccer and volleyball.

I've pitched some basketball related features and have had good response. What doesn't get picked up -- screw it, we do it ourselves.

I get the fact that local shops need to place high school coverage over college coverage. I actually support it. But I also believe a local shop should be committed to its local teams.

Maybe I'm just too demanding. Maybe I'm just like my father, too bold, Maybe I'm just like my mother, she's never satisfied. Might as well end this self-inflicted ass kicking with some Prince...