What's your Olympic coverage plan?

I think what complicates the Olympics a little bit is that people will turn it on at night to watch it, but people won't look at the results in the morning to find out what happened.

Case in point: Should someone turn on the TV and the NBC folks say, "Stay tuned, Michael Phelps is up next," most people will (theoretically) stay to watch that event. Had they turned the TV off 10 seconds prior to that announcement, they might not know Phelps was swimming and, thus, wouldn't think to look for the results.

Also, consider that people of all ages and backgrounds will turn on the Olympics and put down the remote. That rarely happens when the Redskins play the Cardinals, Ohio State plays Purdue, etc.

 

I'd rather watch the X-Games than the Summer Olympics. I love the Winter Olympics, though.

Anyway, we won't be giving it much coverage, other than agate and some of the big stories. Sorry, but Texas high school football reigns supreme in this area. Workouts start tomorrow. That's what the readers want. That's what they'll get.

Simple as that.

 

Here's my point:
Great stories come out of the Olympics; it's rarely about the results.
From stories on AP to whatever syndicates you have available, some of the best reads of the year will come out of Beijing.
Your customers are called "readers"
Presume they like to read and that a great story, properly presented, will be worth the 50 cents or whatever they drop in your box

What frustrates me are people who piss and moan about how their bosses and the industry dismiss "journalism", but they summarily dismiss an event like the Olympics because "nobody give's a rat's ass" - I guess that's why NBC figures it will make $1 billion in advertising - and that two-a-days from high school - HIGH SHOOL for fuck's sake - are of far greater value
You can rationalize it all you want, but continue to do so and you'll continue to work in Microville

 

Well, I tell you what. You come here and try to run mass Olympics coverage, instead of high school football features. See how long you last.

Major metros should absolutely be running big Olympics packages...but just because someone works at a paper where high school football greatly outweighs Olympics interest doesn't mean they'll never get out of "Microville."

 

I agree with all of this. And I don't think anybody on this thread would disagree with it, either.

Some people already work in Microville, where high school football two-a-days are of greater value than the Olympics. It's just the facts. And telling the readers they are wrong about what they want to read about isn't a great strategy. Again ... nobody is saying there should be zero Olympics coverage in Microville. Some days, it absolutely should be the top story in the section. But not every damn day for two consecutive weeks.

That's my point.

As for my paper, which serves an area with about 1 million more people than Microville, we have two writers and a photog in Beijing. I'm sure they will be centerpieced more days than not. But we've also got an NFL writer two time zones away in an NFL training camp, plus the opening of major college football camps. I'd be shocked if football isn't the top story in our section every now and then this month ... you know, if that's OK with you and all.

 

Have you ever thought that perhaps that decision is a conscious choice, that some of us enjoy working in an area that's a great place to raise a family and is constantly included in top-10 places in the U.S. to live? Not everyone chose to chase the major metro dream when they started in this business.

No one is denying that great stories come out of the Olympics, and we'll run our share, as I've clearly said. However, it will not anchor our paper's sports section for the next three weeks, at the expense of other local news that our readers also enjoy, and some days a roundup will have to suffice.

And if you read what I wrote, you would see absolutly no mention whatsoever about high school two-a-days, that the football references were in regards to a local BCS team that is generating unprecedented interest, and that I wrote that most people "don't give a rat's ass" about fencing, team handball, field hockey, etc., and that they mostly care about Olympic track, basketball, swimming and gymnastics.

 

Yep. Good reply.

Some people should learn to read before they start telling others what and how to write.

 

There's a pissing match over this topic? Really!?!

It's all about knowing your readers. Make your decisions accordingly, regardless of what people outside your area say.

 

No pissing match, Inky. Just not a fan when someone tells me what readers in my area want.

 

Agreed.

 

Oh and that Cayman Islands job link you gave me didn't work out. Seems the publisher is in the middle of some type of strife between local police and the Brits.

 

Damn, that's too bad for you.

What kind of strife is the publisher in with the Brits and local PD?