Who covers the Olympics?

Back in the day, it was pretty standard practice for many metro newspapers to send a reporter(s) and photographer to major sporting events such as the Olympics. Sometimes several people. One place where I worked PT back in the 1990s actually did an 8-page special section every day during the Games.

Given the changing nature of the media and budget cuts that have been widely discussed on this board, I am curious as to how many papers are sending their own people and how many are relying on alternate sources (AP, NYT, LA Times, Reuters, etc.) for their material. From a management perspective, I can see the logic of getting your stuff from alternate sources: it's probably less expensive and the amount of stuff is more than sufficient to fill a shrinking news hole. Unless you have a hometown person competing, it's probably more than enough.

I wonder if a few winter sports areas (Toronto, Minneapolis, Chicago, etc.) sent their staffers and how many others did not.

 

Our sister paper sent a reporter for sure...not sure on a photog. We are just using their non-hyper local stuff. Today our front had two non-AP stories off the wire and the inside page just used AP.

 

Tribune Co. sent a bunch of people. USA Today and AP have a bunch of people. I haven't really looked at many papers to see what they're doing.

 

I figured AP, USA Today, New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times and Chicago Tribune would. I know Seattle sent a guy to Athens and Torino, not sure what since then (Vancouver was probably a no-brainer). I think Salt Lake has a full-time or semi-regular Olympic Sports person, as does Colorado Springs (where the US Olympic Training Center is located).

I wonder about other cities, like if maybe Gannett or Lee or some other chains sent 1-2 people to do stuff for the entire chain.

As a reader, I still maintain I don't pay much attention to bylines. If a story is good, I really don't care who wrote it. I figure a lot of places have cut back.

 

Don't think Lee is sending anyone. San Jose sent a shooter and a writer (Mark Purdy), per teh Twitters.

 

Minneapolis Star-Trib sent at least one writer, because I used her opening ceremonies story from MCT this morning.

 

Boston Globe has three people there, including a news side reporter who's a foreign correspondent who has covered Russia. And that's just the bylines I saw today. I'm sure one of their hockey people is there, too.
My alma mater the Herald is not. This makes me sad, but I understand.

 

Most bigger papers have 2-3 people there.

I heard USA Today had eight writers there. I'm guessing the LA Times and the NY Times probably have between 5-6. Not sure how many the WP has over there. I just know Rick Maese is there.

 

USAT asked for contact information for any local Olympians more than a month ago, long before most of the teams had been selected.

I doubt that means we'll get a story when our hometown girl finishes 12th... unless I write it.

When I started in this business, I thought being part of a big chain would help me achieve my dream of covering the Olympics. But then I found out, even though the chain could allocate a credential to you, your local paper had to foot the bill. The dream hasn't died... yet.

 

We sent a reporter to Atlanta. That was the last time.
Nowadays they could hold an Olympic games in Dallas and we wouldn't even send someone.