A splendid story falls in my lap courtesy of a talented water polo parent

[HanSenSE]

Great thread!

Every time a parent anywhere in the world sends an email to a reporter, it's a new thread and a new reader we can mock!

"Those assholes who still care about our product! What a bunch of losers!"

I think we can all appreciate a tip coming from a parent or a reasonably asked question or concern, but I think most of us get tired of hearing snarky comments from know-it-all parents, who don't have a clue about the business.

No more calls please ... WE HAVE A WINNER!

Let's face it, about 95 percent of the parents don't give a flying flip what we do; four percent, when they do ask why something wasn't in the paper are genuinely understanding when you explain things to them (and one or two even offer to help); but then there's the one percent that are born-and-bred assholes who are already sending clippings to Cooperstown, Canton, Springfield, Toronto, ect.

So my question is ... why should we bend over to please this one percent of our readership? And before you start,"because they're readers" is NOT an acceptable answer.

 

[RickStain]

What if they are also advertisers?

 

[HanSenSE]

What if they are also advertisers?

Doesn't make them any different in my book.

 

[flexmaster33]

What if they are also advertisers?

Doesn't make them any different in my book.

exactly...well said

 

[Batman]

You guys have so much contempt for your readers.

It's repulsive.

Either you haven't been in the business very long, or you're just trying way too hard to please everyone.

Well said.
Reminds me of the great line from "Rocky Balboa," where Mason Dixon tells Rocky, "You're one crazy old man."
Rocky simply responds, "You'll get there."

 

[swamp trash]

All I wanna know is:

How do they keep the horses from drowning?

 

[Turtle Wexler]

You guys have so much contempt for your readers.

It's repulsive.

You have so much contempt for us.

It's repulsive.

 

[Mystery Meat II]

All I wanna know is:

How do they keep the horses from drowning?

They use seahorses. Duh.

As for the people upset at GBMAD, I'm not sure he's entirely off base. Yeah, the psycho parents are a giant pain and when the publisher/ME/editor capitulates to them, it sets a dangerous precedent and is altogether discouraging. Sometimes, though, I think we go overboard with the venting, particularly if it's something relatively innocuous like running an old photo or wondering (as distinct from demanding) if you could write a story about so-and-so or some such team. They have a kid who does somethig good, they see the paper as an outlet to celebrate it, they contact us. They see the newspaper as something with a function, and they try to use it for that means.

Does that mean everyone who wants a story gets a story? Obviously not. If you're a sports editor, it falls on you to determine what's newsworthy and what's not, using whatever metrics are appropriate for your shop and community. But that doesn't make the parents bad people for trying. They aren't journalists as we aren't mechanics, but I'm sure we'd never complain about other people and how they do their jobs in relation to what we expect, right?

Parents have a duty to advocate for their kin. We (mostly you, since I'm not a FT player anymore) have a duty to weigh their concerns against the spoken and unspoken concerns of your readership. It doesn't make them right. But it doesn't make them the enemy. And there's enough of these HERP DERP THOSE PARENTS SURE ARE ASS HOLES FOR NOT UNDERSTANDING WHAT WE DO type of threads that I wonder if we're not in danger of losing sight of that.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

All I wanna know is:

How do they keep the horses from drowning?

They use seahorses. Duh.

As for the people upset at GBMAD, I'm not sure he's entirely off base. Yeah, the psycho parents are a giant pain and when the publisher/ME/editor capitulates to them, it sets a dangerous precedent and is altogether discouraging. Sometimes, though, I think we go overboard with the venting, particularly if it's something relatively innocuous like running an old photo or wondering (as distinct from demanding) if you could write a story about so-and-so or some such team. They have a kid who does somethig good, they see the paper as an outlet to celebrate it, they contact us. They see the newspaper as something with a function, and they try to use it for that means.

Does that mean everyone who wants a story gets a story? Obviously not. If you're a sports editor, it falls on you to determine what's newsworthy and what's not, using whatever metrics are appropriate for your shop and community. But that doesn't make the parents bad people for trying. They aren't journalists as we aren't mechanics, but I'm sure we'd never complain about other people and how they do their jobs in relation to what we expect, right?

Parents have a duty to advocate for their kin. We (mostly you, since I'm not a FT player anymore) have a duty to weigh their concerns against the spoken and unspoken concerns of your readership. It doesn't make them right. But it doesn't make them the enemy. And there's enough of these HERP DERP THOSE PARENTS SURE ARE ASS HOLES FOR NOT UNDERSTANDING WHAT WE DO type of threads that I wonder if we're not in danger of losing sight of that.

I'd agree with that, except for one thing. It's when people who don't read the paper get all huffy when you explain to them why what they think is a story is not a story, or why, for whatever reason, it may be a story, but you can't do it how they want.

It's when the JV parents whine about why there's nothing in the paper on their unbeaten team. If they read the paper each day, they would see that no JV teams get in the paper. I understood when people asked, because it doesn't hurt to ask, and I would nicely explain to them why.

But when people would get snarky, that's ripe for mocking. Maybe it was the bitchy woman who told me to put my hot dog down and shoot a picture of her son singing the national anthem before the varsity game during the brief time I had 10 hours into a 12-hour day at my first weekly paper to scarf something down, then complained to the publisher when I refused. Or maybe it was getting the "Nice you could make it on time. The JV game started two hours ago." snide comments from clueless dolts with missing teeth who had no idea that I had just come from a varsity wrestling match 10 miles away to cover their 2-10 varsity team's game even though I could have gone home and figured out another way to complete my 40 hours that week. Or maybe it was the jackass who complained that I was going on vacation instead of coming to cover his out-of-our circulation event, even though that vacation was also my honeymoon.

Yeah, there's plenty of nice people out there. Unfortunatly, when their little offspring is involved, some of them forget to be nice. And that's ripe to mock on a message board.

 

[Stitch]

You guys have so much contempt for your readers.

It's repulsive.

You have so much contempt for us.

It's repulsive.

Gonna buy me a dog must not realize this is a message board. It's a place to vent. Most of us get along fine with the vast majority of readers, but there are always going to be a few who are idiots. Do you think publishers don't make fun of advertisers, because I know they do? Or store owners make fun of some customers, because I know they do?

 

[Azrael]

We work just as hard as the other papers.

 

[DanOregon]

I did a story on a high school lacrosse team once, back before there were actual leagues. A parent notified us that the team was playing for the "state championship" and deserved some coverage, so we blew it out - a full page, photos, long-ass article. Told them we couldn't make the trip to the game which was more than 300 miles away, but wanted to write the game up so please give us a call. Game day comes. We wait for the phone call. We call our contact number. No response. Call again. No response.
Come Monday, we call the school. "Oh, they lost," said a student in the main office. Last lacrosse story we did.
All I'm saying, is that this thing with readers and journos is a two-way street.