Kudos for a not-so-pleasant story?

We always get letters/e-mails/phone calls thanking us when we write that feature about superstar Johnnie who broke the Podunk Conference East Division's scoring record for players shorter than 6-foot-2. That's just the nature of this business.

Has anyone ever gotten praise from a party involved in a difficult story, though? Maybe an athletic director saying, "I don't like the topic, but you were fair." Mind you, that isn't the reason that we get into this business. But stuff like this is real praise, not the cookies Johnnie's mom sends over after your glowing coverage of her son's 25-point, 15-rebound performance.

 

Wrote a story last year about a coach's not-so-subtle ability to seemingly have his name mentioned for every college basketball opening. He's caught quite a bit of grief for it in the past.
So after one of his brief flirtations with another school, my boss had me do a wrap-up about all the schools he's been mentioned with. Came out like 20-something different programs in less than 7 years.
I ran into said coach at a baseball game a day or two later.

ME: "What did you think?"
COACH: "Well, I can't say I really liked it, but I understand why you wrote it."
ME: "Was any of it not factual?"
COACH: "Well, you missed two schools."

He immediately started laughing, and not surprisingly, I've never had a problem with that coach.

 

Surprsingly, you are much more likely to get a compliment on a negative/sensitive story than on a fluffy feature.

On the fluffer, you're gonna get the, "Why didn't you mention her teammate/cousin/stepbrother, etc."

 

Obviously a lot of it depends on your beat. If you're an pro/major college beater, you're more likely to get a range of feedback from fans. If you're a high school beater, 95-99 percent of your feedback will be from coaches or parents who either liked, disliked or are requesting/demanding a story.