Legion coach suspended for fake box score

[Small Town Guy]

YF,
You're usually pretty solid with your arguments, even when I find myself disagreeing with them, but this one...

Yes, papers write roundups on games where they only have boxscores. This is done 79,000 times during the year.

HILLBILLYVILLE -- Rufus McCartwrights scored 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as Hillbillyville defeated Hickstown 75-64 Saturday night in Mudville Conference boys basketball.

Cletus Smith added 15 points and eight assists for Hillbillyville, which improved to 7-3 overall and 2-0 in the conference.

Michael Jordan led Hickstown with 33 points, 18 rebounds and six assists while Larry Bird chipped in with 13 points and 10 caroms.



That roundup, written by a 63-year-old who, yes, still uses the word caroms, would be written off the boxscore, whether faxed, emailed or called in. Shockingly, the AP does not cover every game in the state each night, but that would help tremendously.

If that doesn't appear in the paper, feel free to man the phones the next day. "Yes, sir, I know we didn't do a roundup for it, but that's because we had our reporter at the other game. We don't write about anything unless we are there, new policy."

 

[dreunc1542]

A recipe for getting burned that has been the recipe newspapers have used since the beginning of Legion baseball and other HS sports. Newspapers have avoided getting burned by this formula for decades.

They avoided it? Really? How?

Maybe they didn't get burned -- or maybe they did, but didn't know it -- but they didn't "avoid" it.

Don't the obits even require something from the funeral home now?

It's just silly. If American Legion ball is important enough to receive coverage, then send someone. If it's not, don't. But don't run a boxscore & a gamer without any evidence the game even took place.

But, hey, defend it if you want. It's what makes the ports section the toy department.

Otherwise, I'll eagerly await the article on the new restaurant that opened, written by the restaurant's owner. Or, the movie review, written by the director.

Maybe you can run an article about a city council meeting penned by one of the council members -- who cares if they decided to cancel that night's meeting.

I find it hysterical that papers continue to publish "news" that they didn't gather, or acquire through a trusted partner, like the AP. Yet, "news aggregators" continue to get slammed.

How's the view from your glass house?

Should reporters audit every financial statement when companies release their earnings? Should science reporters re-run experiments to verify they are correct? Refuse to print NFL stats because they haven't personally seen the gametape and tallied them up?

Journalists can only do so much to verify the information they print in the paper is true. At some point, you simply have to make a decision weighing factors such as the reliability of the source, the benefit to the public, the harm if untrue, etc. The benefit to the public of disseminating information of high school and legion sports seems to far outweigh the chances someone mistakenly submits or falsifies info--since games are played in public for many eyes to see--the real harm when a mistake gets through, and the cost it would otherwise cost to cover all these games.

This should really end the argument right in its place.

 

[BillyT]

A recipe for getting burned that has been the recipe newspapers have used since the beginning of Legion baseball and other HS sports. Newspapers have avoided getting burned by this formula for decades.

They avoided it? Really? How?

Maybe they didn't get burned -- or maybe they did, but didn't know it -- but they didn't "avoid" it.

Don't the obits even require something from the funeral home now?

It's just silly. If American Legion ball is important enough to receive coverage, then send someone. If it's not, don't. But don't run a boxscore & a gamer without any evidence the game even took place.

But, hey, defend it if you want. It's what makes the ports section the toy department.

Otherwise, I'll eagerly await the article on the new restaurant that opened, written by the restaurant's owner. Or, the movie review, written by the director.

Maybe you can run an article about a city council meeting penned by one of the council members -- who cares if they decided to cancel that night's meeting.

I find it hysterical that papers continue to publish "news" that they didn't gather, or acquire through a trusted partner, like the AP. Yet, "news aggregators" continue to get slammed.

How's the view from your glass house?

YankeeFan: Would you make the same argument about high school sports?

If it's important enough to put in the paper, cover it?

 

[apeman33]

Hey, are you guys lining up the 47 reporters yet who can cover your area's 47 high school football teams on opening week?

I'd have to send one reporter for each team if two area schools are playing each other. None of this "home team provides all the stats" stuff. I need verification that the visitor's stats are right as well.

 

[rmanfredi]

On the flip side, if your local basketball team plays a tournament in Hawaii, Southern California or Florida, you've just earned yourself a nice vacation.

 

[dixiehack]

How do you know the writer is actually at those games and not at the beach? You'll have to send a second staffer to double check.