Lee joins the cutback club

Why are you trying to justify taking talented sports writers and making them write corona? First of all, newsside should have plenty of reporters. If not it's not sports' fault. It's just another excuse to mess with the toy department, which has never been the toy department. I'm not saying corona coverage is busywork, I'm saying the assistance sportswriters will give newsside will be collecting a bunch of no comments after spending all day on the phone trying to reach somebody at the hospital. Seems to be a lot of pro-management takes on here.

 

I'm always polite, respectful to others and have never suggested I know it all or are even correct. I'm thinking it's that old adage of hating on the person who might have a differing opinion. Didn't your mama tell you if everybody had the same opinion the world would be a dull place? Of course the world as we know it may be changed forever because of virus.

 

There’s no sports to cover. Nobody’s reading the “talented senior’s final season ends with a whimper” or “what athletes are doing during the closures” stories. It’s either switch over to news — which people are reading — or take long-term furloughs.

 

Nobody's reading? Sure. I believe the figures, yeah I do. You think those pageview figures aren't corrupt as well in a corrupt business that we are in? One of our reporters wrote a sports story that was not seemingly important. She got a fact wrong about an area college MIDWAY through the story. The newspaper and individual writer were FLOODED with complaints til the mistake got changed online, Yes during corona. YES people are reading sports; yes people are starved for sports coverage.
Don't believe everything the suits tell you. Most of it is well planned out from the top. Think it isn't easier to lay off half the sports staff now and save some news jobs? You act as if this business has a history of admirable honest decisions the past 15 years. Ha. This is a very good excuse for corporate to do some staff reduction.

 

Out of the stupid stuff you've posted, this is the stupidest.

At my shop and the shop of every reporter I've talked to, pageview and other web analytics come straight from the CMS or a service like Google analytics. Every reporter has direct access to them -- meaning the "suits" can't "corrupt" them.

 

Because I was once involved in implementing one of those web page engagement dashboards, I know how the pageview and page time engagement figures are compiled, and I dare say rather better than you know them thank ya very much. I suspect you’ve never gotten shoulder deep in that stuff. Nobody’s faking the online numbers, just like nobody’s trying to “nudge nudge, wink wink” their way through work restrictions during furlough weeks.

A handful of phone calls about one story does not mean people are reading lots of sports stories and want lots of soft features. Phone complaints aren’t a good measurement. Page engagement time and sharing stats on a web dashboard are much better measurements.

There are plenty of good coronavirus stories to be had right now, especially about the plight that medical workers face as the case and death counts spiral upward. Those are the kind of features that the best sports writers can do better than anyone else in the newsroom. You should go do some of those stories.

Sports will be there after this winds down. But right now hearts and minds are somewhere else, and we owe it to our readers to find the stories that are out there — even if they’re not sports.

 

Correct. WTF are these papers making their coverage free for? Sympathy subscriptions? Not hardly.

 

You're the one downgrading the sports department to the "Toy Department." I'm suggesting they go cover something of vital importance to the community. You're suggesting all they will be able to do is call a hospital and get a "no comment." And I mean, honestly, "Newsside should have plenty of reporters"? Really? Is this 1985?

There are no sports right now and there is only one story anyone cares about -- and that story has thousands of potential angles in any town. If a sportswriter can't be trusted to find one of those stories that sportswriter should not be in the business.

The sports people I have worked with in my career have been highly capable and flexible. I work with a group right now that has done nothing but coronavirus-related stories in a market with all four pro sports, and they've done stellar work. It appears the sports people you have (allegedly) been around are completely useless.

 

A copy of my post from the hiatus topic on Monday.

 

This is just not so. There is a market for sports stories right now and letting The Athletic write them and the college Websites write them and letting ESPN.com, CBSsports.com and NBCsports.com among others write them is a good way to make sports in newspapers irrelevant forever. Say what you want, but yes I think that is the goal, for newspapers to slash sports. This is a prime opportunity to have newspapers drop sports as an important part of the organization. It's a good way to drop some sports bodies and make staff reduction quite easy this time around. I'm not complaining. I'm just saying this virus gives all newspapers easy cuts to make in the eyes of the suits. It's simple to say: "There are no sports going on. Get rid of some of those sports writers now!"

 

To your first sentence: Wrong. People do care to read sports stories right now. Now, news people who don't like sports, never liked sports and think the only coverage is game coverage ... of course they don't care about sports right now. They don't care about sports, truly care about them ... ever.
Your second sentence should be changed to "If a sportswriter can't be trusted to find one of those stories ABOUT SPORTS and/or SPORTS PERSONALITIES of interest during this time, that sportswriter should not be in the business."
We agree on the fact sportswriters can write news stories. No kidding. Sportswriters are brilliant and much better writers than news writers because they have always told the stories simply, directly, in words that relate to the common reader. Concise, not boring, easily understood copy. That's what sportswriters provide. Of course they are valuable and capable of writing stories for all departments.
The Athletic and other organizations have to be loving newspapers giving up on sports during corona.

 

Yeah, I think we've reached the end of the line here. I have limited interest in having a discussion with someone so doggedly determined to pretend to be an idiot on a message board.

You're wrong. A long list of people who actually work in the business have pointed out to you how laughably wrong you are. You are determined to stick to the same line of silliness. You do you, fake dude. If sports departments follow your line of thinking they will be eliminated and they will deserve it.