Should I write it or not?

I'm thinking of writing a column about a local player who was left off the All-state volleyball team by our state's largest newspaper. She wasn't even named HM.Her ace total this year was the 6th highest in state history and her assist total this season was 8th highest in state history. Everyone in our area was shocked by the omission, including her coach. The girl is a junior and is hearing from several colleges in and outside of the state, so she's one of the better players in the state in the opinion of college coaches.
My question is, would it be un-cool or in bad taste to write a column stating her omission from the All-state team is wrong, considering it would be questioning the choices made by a different paper?

 

don't do it

 

don't go there. ever.

 

I agree. I do most of the All-Area selection for our paper, so I've dealt with that. But I'd never write anything about one of the metros' All-State teams. To me, you should just avoid criticizing other papers in print unless there is a VERY good reason to do so. This doesn't approach that threshold for me.
I would write it if a deserving player was left off the coaches' all-state team, however.

 

Do we really need two "Homerism is a cancer to our industry" threads?

 

My opinion is that when newspaper A criticizes newspaper B, it legitimizes newspaper B in the minds of newspaper A's readers. Who elected newspaper B as the selector of All-State teams and the ranking of teams within the state? No one did, newspaper B appointed itself. And there is no reason why other newspapers in the state have to honor newspaper B's selections by mentioning them at all, ever. You can do your own rankings and All-State selections if you want.

 

I'd have to agree, this is a bad idea. If you somehow think the athlete deserves more recognition, why not just do a straight feature on her? If you've already given proper coverage, reporting on what the competition is doing is pure bush-league.

 

Mr P,

If thisperceived slight is all that's interesting about her, I wouldn't write about her at all. Find another storyline, with her or, if need be, with someone else.

YHS, etc

 

I've learned that the Big Metro Paper in my area makes itself look stupid all on its own... it doesn't need my help. People realize this.

 

I'm pretty sure we've got a consensus here, but I'll chime in anyway.

NEVER acknowledge a market competitor in print -- ever. Not even if they beat you. Just say "according to published reports" or use some other designator as attribution, assuming you can get the information yourself in an ethical manner (i.e. don't steal it outright from them, copy/paste from their site, etc.) ... The better choice would be to use your own story, of course.

Anyway, back to the point: never acknowledge another paper in print. Not in this situation. Not ever. Create your own damn all-area/all-state/all-anything team.

 

This was my reasoning with football team rankings this year. In my state we don't have an official poll (like a coaches poll conducted by the state association), but Big Metro Paper issues metro-heavy state rankings. People in Podunk would get upset that I wouldn't acknowledge Podunk High as No. 7 Podunk High in my coverage or make a big deal when they moved up in the rankings.

My explanation: That's Big Metro's rankings. I don't give a damn what Big Metro does. If we wanted, we could to the Podunk Press rankings, but we don't see enough games to accurately do that. But I'm sure as hell not going to cite Big Metro's rankings.

 

Perhaps the big paper should be taken to task for this, but a column in your paper isn't the appropriate way to do it. A letter from the coach to the other paper is better, I think, but you really shouldn't be involved in that.