The news from Hartford

As for writers not caring about local coverage, that's painting us with such a broad brush. I'm a pro writer and some of my favorite stories are the local stories I've written. (And with the business the way it is, I'll be writing more and more.)

But to imply that we are sleepwalking through those features and that the readers can tell is an insult. And it's a pretty nebulous excuse for the fall of newspapers.

 

With all due respect, what a dumb-ass take. You don't get out of the business of covering things people care about to cover who-gives-a-shit local things. You cover the Red Sox, Yankees, etc., so that people DON'T turn to those other papers.

 

Readers of the Courant have already expressed their distaste for the cuts. Sure, they could go elsewhere for Boston/NY coverage, but they'd like it from their local paper. By making those cuts, the paper is only making sure they do go elsewhere.

 

I agree it's completely idiotic.

But what about the newspaper industry isn't idiotic these days?

Most papers are run by people who I wouldn't trust to work cashier at Taco Bell.

The Courant isn't going to cover the Yankees, Red Sox, Patriots, Bruins or Celtics? Fine. They shouldn't be surprised when no one reads the paper outside of UConn hoops season.

Fucking idiots.

 

Just to agree with Beaker, the readers complained mightily when it happened, and Hartford sent a writer to do a lot of features. That might be a good compromise, but the readers were pissed.

 

WFFW.

 

Forgive my ignorance, but what does WFFW stand for?

 

The Courant has (had) a tremendous Sports section. The reason it is (was) tremendous? It was the only paper in the nation to cover the Red Sox and the Yankees (also, the only paper to staff the Pats and Giants home and away as well). And that is Connecticut. Half the people like the Sox, half like the Yanks. And I don't have to tell anybody that if you like one team, you despise the other. So I'm sure Yanks fans read the Sox coverage, and vice-versa. Now, there will be AP on the Sox? Unreal.

 

You are writing theoretically and you are making assumptions that weren't true. Hartford had people like Greg Garber on pro football and Peter May on the Celtics and Jack O'Connell and Claire Smith on baseball, and the coverage was as good as, if not better than, what readers could find in New York and Boston papers. In the case of O'Connell and Smith, they arrived in Hartford after having written for papers in New York City and Philadelphia, respectively, and I believe they also had a Red Sox writer who had written for what was then the Boston Herald-American. It wasn't wannabe coverage, it was first-rate, on par with any major metro's beat reporting. The section became less ambitious over the years, but there was a tremendous history of coverage and readers were conditioned to get it from the Courant, not from another paper.

 

Couldn't disagree more. If I'm a Sox fan in Hartford, the Courant is telling me I can either log onto the Internet, buy a Boston paper, or settle for wire copy for coverage of my team. Why should I bother buying their paper, then? And if I'm in Richmond, why should I have to buy the Post to read about the Redskins?

I have two choices out here in my part of the woods. One covers the regional NFL and NHL teams and local D-1 school; the other uses AP for all three beats, while covering the hell out of Hometown High (theirs, not mine). Guess which one shows up in my paperbox every day.

 

Word for fucking word.

 

Anyone who wonders if CT readers wanted coverage of the Sox and Yankees in the Courant has clearly never spent a day in the state.

Frank nails the former greatness of the Courant's sports section better than I ever could have.

Going to call the folks tonight and tell them to cancel their subscription. Assholes. (The beancounters, not my folks)