Rivals site screws up?

the facts as I know them....

- kansas state rivals site powercat.com reports that gary patterson (tcu coach) has signed as head coach
- 30 min later, powercat site headline says that agent called, denies report
- powercat site removes original story
- bigpurplenation (tcu site) says no contact has been made; confirmed by multiple sources
- patterson calls into dallas radio station screaming bloody murder, says it's untrue, according to dallas newspaper
- local kc paper gets quotes from ad and agent, who both adamantly deny report
- ksu fanbase goes crazy (in progress) while tcu fanbase (!) holds out hope
- meanwhile, story is still removed and apparently the site admin has apologized

here's my question - is it unethical to remove the original story? if the sources were solid, and the story was published, shouldn't it remain on the site? otherwise, doesn't that suggest that it wasn't a solid story?

has it become "standard procedure" for websites to remove "retracted" stories? seems this wouldn't fly in print.

more info here: http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/63370/

 

Bear shits in woods, film at 11.

 

It probably wouldn't make the paper product if it was flimsy, but I could definitely see it hitting the newspaper's web site. In the new form of newspapers, the push to get everything out first, I'm sure there is stuff like this going onto reputable newspaper's web sites that are wrong.

 

is there a way to remove a story from 200,000 papers that have already been delivered?

 

I will say this, and it's probably a terrible accusation to make: With these guys, I'm not surprised.

They had a list up the other day of the top contenders for the job, and the "top contenders" were a bunch of guys from every corner of the country who really had no motivation or reason to accept that Kansas State job (Bret Bielema, Turner Gill, Jim Grobe, Randy Edsall, etc.) It was a very haphazard presentation and I was surprised that they had the willpower/knowledge/understanding that throwing such a list out there, while complete speculation, was even the right thing to do.

 

I think a lot of people -- at papers, rivals, scout, ESPN -- often misconstrue "top contenders" for "fans wish list."

Turner Gill was my first intuition for that gig, too, but I also didn't slap it around a pay or newspaper site.

That's a confusion that I've seen happen a bunch. Often times, the school can't work out a deal with one of the "prime candidates" because the candidate realizes he can often do better. Then, because ADs are looking for fresh blood, whathaveyou, it's someone no one would have expected.

I guess I've blasted PowerWildcatAggievilleWhatever enough for one day.

 

Look ... this site I'm sure could care less about the screw up.
This is not like real journalism, a real newspaper. Their whole goal is to get hits. They got a TON of hits today, probably new members. They are wrong, they remove the story ... GONE. The readers of those sites do not care about the mistake. However if a newspaper made that mistake, different story. These internet websites have it made.
My god, who cares if they got it wrong. They are laughing all the way to the bank. They remove the story, vamoose, write another one and go on to the next day.
Gotta love this new "journalism."
Congratulations to powercat. They got what they wanted. Interest and hits. Who the fuck cares if they are wrong?? They don't.

 

I wrote something very similar to this today elsewhere. You're dead on.
A buddy of mine recently went through negotiations with a fan-driven site, and generating clicks was easily the most important part of the contract.

 

You always say that, and I always turn the news on at 11 p.m. Yet I never see that story. Why, BYH? Why?

 

Yes, I think this is an important discussion. Those Websites ... wow. What a great job it'd be. Think about how DUMB this blunder was. Kansas State fan Website thinks that with 3 games left in a HUGE season for TCU that TCU's coach has accepted the Kansas State job??? Until TCU choked to Utah TCU had BCS bowl hopes. And the coach this week is finalizing a deal with his alma mater, Kansas State?? Who was this Internet guy's sources? And he goes with it without getting a comment from KSU AD or the agent of the coach?? A newspaper would be fried over this. But the Internet site puts story up at 2 p.m. at 4 p.m. there's a new story up there. The original story?? Gone. But who cares. They got the hits. They probably will get new subscribers.
The newspaper reporter would be mocked and probably fired or disciplined as well as whomever let him run a story with sources.
BTW ... the word "sources" has been HORRIBLE for reputable sports sections. How many reporters make up the fact a Source said something.
I want an internet job ... NOW. How easy.

 

The sad thing is the guy that runs that site used to be the SE at a pretty decent mid-sized paper.

 

I wouldn't doubt if the story is true, but it leaked so early that everyone's forced to backtrack and perhaps move in another direction. The timing of this news certainly damages the hell out of Patterson's reputation. This is purely a guess, but perhaps K-State and Patterson agreed not to talk to anyone else because of such strong mutual interest, and get serious about this as soon as TCU's season is over. Then, the jabber at K-State told a reporter.

The K-State Rivals guy is one of the legitimate Rivals guys out there. He broke the Bill Snyder retiring story a few years ago as well as some other stories. He's been wrong at times, but many big-time reporters have too. I highly doubt he completely swung and missed on this one.

We'll see. Either way, I'm sure this Rivals guy isn't sleeping well.