Louisiana-Monroe football beat writer's beef with Kentucky press box/journos

http://www.nationofblue.com/2014/10/ulm-writer-didnt-enjoy-her-time-at-commonwealth-stadium/#.VDtkORawRUR

http://www.thenewsstar.com/story/tabbys-tidbits/2014/10/11/ulm-lost-but-the-real-losers-were-in-the-press-box/17138475/
Headline: ULM lost, but the real losers were in the press box
" Maybe it’s because I am an LSU alumna and there’s some respect there, or maybe it’s because the Tigers are used to winning and the media is used to covering a winning team. No matter the reason though, the mood stayed the same in the press box even after LSU pulled away from ULM in the second half for a 31-0 win.
As for Kentucky, the behavior of the journalists would lead onlookers to believe the Wildcats are on their way to a National Championship after beating South Carolina last week — let’s take the time to point out the Gamecocks are also 3-3 and out of the Top 25.
I assumed the gentleman next to me was a faux pas journalist — you know the type, the “writer” with a free URL who has a fulltime job but still covers the home team on the side because deep down he really is a fan and wants a free pass into the game and to rub elbows with the players and coaches after the game.
After the fifth outburst of laughter once another ULM player went down, my mouth could not refrain any longer and I asked who he worked for. Come to find out, he actually is a full-time journalist in sheep’s clothing and sadly so were the others around him who yelled across the press box to question ULM’s play calling and moaning about why the Warhawks couldn’t have been Kentucky’s homecoming opponent or a 7 p.m. kickoff since it was so easy to write once the butt kicking started."

 

Any idea who the journalists might be? Are these Herald-Leader folks?

 

Here's a tidbit for you, Tabby ... readers don't give a shit about this sort of thing. Complain to the SID, complain to your editor, complain on the SPJ/APSE website, but don't complain in print.

 

Think she mean a faux journalist, not a faux pas journalist.

 

If that also appeared in print, that's the worst waste I've ever seen of what I was always told by Gannett suits is precious newsprint. I would have spiked that in a heart beat and told her to write about the game or team. A good beat writer can always generate a boat load of notes, even from a blowout loss. Not one of her readers gives a crap about this. She's paid to report about the team, not her own job. Wow.

 

I agree that readers don't care about this stuff. I'm more concerned that she used "have went." Do schools still teach conjugation?

 

Agreed that readers don't really care about this stuff at all. And if you click through a couple of the links, she's posted pictures of herself with a ULM player and with Les Miles (whom she calls "a friend"). She doesn't have much room to criticize others' professionalism.

 

How do we know that? These are the same readers that watch the stupidest, pettiest reality TV shows known to mankind.

I'd never write the above stuff, in part because I'm not that naive. But how do we know readers don't like it?

 

Nobody cares about what she wrote that cares about ULM football. With that said, not surprised there are some cheerleaders who cover a team. There are at every school!

 

A story like this is another reminder of how much copy editors are needed. I'm sure a decent editor wouldn't have let this post go up and if they did it wouldn't have had all the glaring errors in it. But, this woman has a job covering a D1 football team and will probably move up in the next couple of years so I guess it'll be okay for her.

 

I've encountered my fair share of cheerleader reporters.

I've been tempted to call them out on Twitter or through other venues. I never have, because I try to make a habit of thinking before I say/write something publicly. A good editor would have and should have shut this nonsense down.

 

Wow, what a faux pas.