USA Today and The Tennessean to hire "video-forward reporter" to cover Taylor Swift

The San Francisco Chronicle did so much overkill when TS played Levi's it got embarrassing. 2-3 stories a day and constant recycling on social media. Then a friend who works for an industry publication pointed out she was doing six shows at SoFi, so it would get worse.

 

A couple I remember:
The OCR had a "Real Housewives of Orange County" beat. Daily stories.
The LAT assigned a columnist fulltime to the Lakers for an entire season. He had fantastic access. He produced NOTHING significant, no inside news, no breaking stories, just rehashed what the beat writer wrote.

 

I think assigning a beat writer to cover the two most popular figures in pop culture for a national audience makes more sense than assigning a separate beat writer to cover each MLB franchise.
Come at me.

 

It doesn't have to make sense. It has to generate pageviews.

 

Makes all the sense in the world with access. Without access, you're not "covering;'' you're aggregating.

 

This is along the lines of what I was thinking. The time to do this was months ago, if not longer.

And as for access: Beyonce, for sure, isn't giving any ink- or pixel-stained wretch the time of day (I've heard tremendous horror stories from stadium staffers about dealing with her and her entourage while preparing for concerts). You're not getting any access. This isn't sports, where you can talk to teammates and hover forever in search of some color. What is this "beat?"

Taylor certainly fashions a nice image, but you don't make eleventybillionfuckingdollars on this tour if you're not shrewd as the day is long. I'd bet every cent I've ever made that she's just as protected and impossible to speak to as Beyonce or anyone else in that stratosophere. 60 Minutes or a super puffy GQ/Vogue/whatever piece, sure. Fucking Gannett? No. The days of the small-town superstar needing, wanting or even caring about coverage from her local paper are long gone.

 

Picturing the Swifty equivalent of a team manager half-assing the call-in to the paper for the roundup.

"OK, what songs did she play and give the order."
"Uhh...I think she started with Cruel Summer. Or maybe it was Love Story. It might have been You Belong to Me."
"How many encores were there?"
"Three. No, wait, two. Wait! I think it was four."

 

Absolutely correct. This is really smart and a good way to get views from a broader demo than Gannett is typically reaching.

 

1) The teams are always going to be there;
2) How is Gannett going to do anything different from all the sites covering her? I have to think there are a ton of webpages devoted to what she eats for breakfast.

 

SOME TOWN -- Taylor Swift sold out her most recent Eras Tour show in XXXXXXX in X minutes.
She put on an extraordinary performance that had xx,xxx singing, dancing and partying for x hours. Many of those people showed up hours in advance in anticipation of the concert.
Local businesses made more money than they normally do because of the show.
The same thing will occur in the next town in which she performs.
--30--

I'm Hired!

 

I've heard people ridiculing Gannett for hiring Beyonce and Swift reporters instead of "real" reporters - but that's like saying cities should commit the millions they spend or commit on sports stadia to public education or local needs - it isn't a trade-off. Gannett didn't make a "choice" to spend limited income on these reporters. They probably figured it as a way to attract ad dollars and eyeballs. Of course, I doubt Beyonce or Swift fans feel there is a "need" for another person writing about or covering either of them and I doubt a real fan would spend any time reading a professional journo covering their idol when there are plenty of devoted fans doing the same thing for free - and probably in a more fun and interesting way.