When is it an EXCLUSIVE?

Obviously, that's an extremely exagerration, but I was making the point that what the metros do matter more, fair or not. On several occasions over the last few years, I've broken stories (of course, nothing like an NBA player and a whorehouse) that the San Francisco Chronicle or the San Jose Mercury News or the Contra Costa Times ran two to three days later, and all the local television stations credited them with "breaking" the story.

 

PE, I can refute that. When Michael Jordan FINALLY retired from the NBA, you know who broke the story? A small paper in Carroll County, Md. And guess what? The paper's beat writer was interviewed - albeit via phone - that night on ESPN.

Blows your asinine theory to shit, huh?

 

>>>With all respect to the small-town scribes, it's NOT a story until a major metro paper runs it.<<<

if it happens in my county and concerns my readers, it IS a story. then when the big boys come in after the fact and report on it like they're breaking the story, that's crap. a metro reporter who does nothing but troll smaller papers for stories isn't doing his job.

now if you're talking about small papers covering pro sports beats just because they're within driving distance, i agree. that's why we use wire and the coverage is secondary to our local teams.

 

Wow, there is so much horse shit in this post I don't even know where to begin. So if you are a small paper located outside of a major market then none of your readers want to read about the major events? I bet folks in Flagstaff would be surprised to find out they don't want to read about the Diamondbacks or Suns. I know readers in Danville, Va., just hate to read local copy about Nextel Cup racing. And when is that Rocky Mount paper going to realize that people in Nash County, N.C., aren't interested in the Tar Heels?

Obviously smaller papers can't ignore high schools and local stuff to go halfway across the state and cover every regular season NBA game, but if a staff is willing to bust its ass it can certainly cover both. If somebody from Kansas City gets online and reads a nice story about the Kansas Jayhawks in the Hutchinson News that's just a bonus, but the story was written for KU fans and alumni in Hutch because they pick up that paper to read both that and the preview of the Buhler-Salina Central game. But the Hutch News shouldn't give people that KU story because the KC Star has it taken care of.  :

And like others have said the analogy about Davis and San Fran is nowhere close to being true. Yeah, sometime a small paper gets overlooked when it actually breaks the story, but not even close to everytime. The Gaston and Rock Hill papers both break news out of Charlotte and get credit for it just like Fayetteville and Wilmington have gotten the scoop out of Chapel Hill and Raleigh before.