Tampa Trib apparently makes deal with Tallahassee paper for FSU coverage

Mike, with complete respect, if we've learned anything about the past -- how long has it been, anyway? -- couple of years, it's that the human factor is no longer of any consequence whatsoever when it comes to deciding who gets cut and who doesn't.

 

Fuck the Tampa Tribune...

That is all...

 

Scratch the human factor. If Tampa is all about the Web, is this going to allow them to put stuff online in a timely manner? Not likely.

 

Will Tampa have to run one of those Steve Ellis-scoops about the football stadium getting new water fountains? He never misses on those.

 

I don't know the area around Tampa -- suburbs and such, but a quick look at the FSU roster shows four players from Tampa (again don't know how many are from the Tribune's coverage area).
That may be one of the areas where the Trib further suffers. Chances are, the Democrat isn't going to make any extra strides to write a story about a Tampa kid moving up the depth chart. That may be the biggest noticeable difference to readers.

 

46 Josh Dobbie TE 6-4 234 RS SR Dover, FL Bloomingdale
Zach Hobby K 5-11 200 RS SO Oldsmar, FL
33 Carlton Jones RB 5-10.5 215 FR Tampa, FL Middleton HS
90 Moses McCray DT 6-2 268 FR Tampa, FL Hillsborough
81 Caz Piurowski TE 6-7 275 JR Land O'Lakes, Fla. Land O'Lakes
40 Rod Roberts CB 6-0 196 RS SR Brooksville, Fla.
76 Daron Rose OL 6-5 284 SO Tampa, Fla. Jefferson
73 Rhonne Sanderson OT 6-4 280 FR Tampa, FL Plant HS
41 Kendall Smith LB 6-1 228 SO Bushnell, FL South Sumter
11 Drew Weatherford QB 6-3 218 RS SR Odessa, FL Land O' Lakes

 

I think this is a brilliant move for the Trib.

Might be the best thing I've heard this month.

Running Steve Ellis stories will give them the wonderful results that so many of us wish for them. Yes! Yes! Yes!

 

Damn, I've been out of the loop for a while - what the fuck happened to our business?

 

The paper I used to work for was paid $100 a week for all of our college coverage, which was roughly every single story I wrote.

Amazingly, I never saw a dime of it.

As for the web aspect, it ain't happening with FSU. The Tallahasse paper will probably send them stories at about 1030 at night, or roughly 9 hours after a big story hits the Tallahasse website. That's my guess, anyway.

But putting out a shittier product is a great way at getting customers back.

 

Morris does a deal with its Braves writer.
They syndicate his stuff and send out to papers that aren't in the chain but pay for it.
My understanding was that guy saw a little extra money out of it and it also covered travel.
Like instead of covering the last week of spring training, he was able to go for the whole length.
Made for a pretty good deal.
But I suspect you'll see more and more papers going to this.
It might be smart for long-time beat writers at smaller papers, working out a deal where they self-syndicate to larger regional papers. I know of at least one SEC guy who does that. Uses his hometown paper as his base and he sells his copy to other papers around the state and in the region.
He doesn't make a fortune off of it, but it makes for pretty good living.

 

I think you're right, Jay. Just wanted to point out that the whole thing should be in the past tense. As in, "Morris <i>did</i> a deal with its Braves writer, before they scrapped the entire Atlanta bureau and essentially fired their Braves beat writer before his first season was even over, typical of this business and even <i>more</i> typical of Morris in particular."

Just sayin'.

 

Dixiehack,

Good list, but the Trib didn't cover Kendell Smith of South Sumter. Bushnell is out of the coverage area now and has been since 1994. Which shows how the Trib has pulled back over the years.

Also, the kid from Brooksville is covered by Hernando Today, which is a MG sister paper.