Stars coverage takes a hit

by James Mirtle on Jan 16, 2009 2:54 PM CST Comment 17 comments

You may have heard the news. The two Dallas daily newspapers, The Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, are now going to take up a content-sharing arrangement with their sports coverage, something that's becoming more the norm in the print media these days.

When it comes to the NHL, this means Mike Heika of the Morning News will be the only writer on the beat. Tracey Myers of the Star-Telegram will be reassigned.

Here's Stars blogger Mark Stepneski on the changes:

What this is all does is take away some of the variety out of the coverage of the Stars in the local papers. Instead of getting two different takes on the happenings around the Stars on a daily basis, it’s down to one because it will be the same story in both papers. It will be still quality coverage because Mike Heika is doing it, but I think Tracey did a great job as well and brought her own perspective to things.

It's not just the NHL affected either, as both the NBA and major league baseball coverage will be split by the papers. Incredibly, this means that the fourth largest metro area in the U.S. will have just one beat writer for a lot of the city's high-profile sports teams.

I joked a bit with Mark over email that he was the reason for the change, but there's a lot of truth in that. He has access to the team and provides great content on his website for a fraction of what a beat writer would make at a large daily newspaper, and that's a situation playing itself out in a lot of markets.

Even the big ones, apparently.

The real worry, I think, is when the number of full-time staffers covering a team goes from one to zero. I believe that markets like Atlanta, Nashville, San Jose and Anaheim (among others) rely heavily on one person to provide the bulk of the coverage of the team, and given the state of the industry, there's no guarantee that role will always be filled.

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Too bad — I liked the Tracey Myers blog all right.

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by Earl Sleek on Jan 16, 2009 4:40 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Maybe I am jaded after suffering the likes of Bruce Dowbiggin and Eric Francis in Calgary, but imo, less self-important writers covering teams is a good thing. Bloggers and fans do a far, far better job of covering sports teams than the print media ever did.

by Resolute on Jan 16, 2009 5:49 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

I think you are jaded by certain bad experiences to some extent, because in my book, a great beatwriter (in any sport) is a godsend. Sure there will be times of disagreement (my god, there better be!), but a guy who digs, who cultivates sources, who asks uncomfortable questions — essentially, a guy who maintains a critical eye on the club while retaining their respect and trust that he gives them a fair shake — that is gold.

Though that may be rare. The overtly self-important ones certainly do turn me off, as you never know what larger agenda they’re after. But in the U.S. at least, that description often fits “columnist” rather than day-to-day beat guy.

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by Dominik on Jan 18, 2009 4:56 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

We’re spoiled in Canada given the amount of coverage, but I get the feeling that for teams like the Islanders, the beat guys are their main connection to the team in some cases. You’re a good example, Dom, given you live so far away — I’m sure guys like Logan and Botta are huge resources for yourself and fans like that.

by James Mirtle on Jan 18, 2009 5:01 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Nothing irks me more than opening up a paper (on the rare occasion) and seeing an article from the Associated Press. Even in my Google Reader I skim right past AP stories. If it’s popular enough a blogger is going to cover it. I genuinely want to see what someone has to say about a report, not necessarily make THE report.

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by FrankD on Jan 16, 2009 5:54 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

If papers employ fewer writers, there’ll be only AP copy available in a lot of instances.

There’s a real disconnect right now with bloggers and actually covering practices, games, press conferences, etc. Only in a few markets, and with a few sites like Stepneski’s, are bloggers actually filling the reports.

by James Mirtle on Jan 16, 2009 6:16 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

There’s also a disconnect in bloggers being considered as media which hurts in terms of getting access to press conferences and for some teams, practices. Some teams, such as the Capitals, do consider bloggers more as a press entity, but others simply still see them as unaccountable people with computers.

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by Travis Hair on Jan 16, 2009 8:27 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

This is true, but how many bloggers with full-time jobs will be covering morning practices? Or developing sources in front offices? Or calling up the NHL head office for clarification on something?

I can see it happening down the line, but hockey blogging is really in its infancy. Puck Daddy is the first guy to really professionalize it, cover games and events, and try to break news and do interviews. I wonder if there’ll be enough of a market for there to be people like that in every market or if the coverage of teams like the Stars (and Coyotes) is simply going to suffer.

by James Mirtle on Jan 16, 2009 8:59 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Fair enough, I know I can’t go to morning practices as I have to pay the bills, but it doesn’t mean that if there weren’t an opportunity to cover other areas of the team beyond commenting on other’s information I wouldn’t take it.

I think it does hurt the team to have no one covering the team on a consistant basis. I mean take the current mess for example. There’s no one employed by the local rag here to look into it. The reporter that they do have pretty much gets the same quotes as people calling up the PR department simply because there isn’t the budget to pay him more that to do just that.

Also, I think that the coverage of many teams is going to suffer as newspapers continue to have trouble keeping the lights on. Many, if not most, haven’t been able to make the same jump as internet operations like even ours do. People can get free news online rather than paying for a paper, and get more interesting content that covers the same areas. Especially for something like sports. Will there be a “Puck Daddy” for every team? Probably not, but in markets outside of Canada, LA and New York where newspapers aren’t as vital, blogs will probably start being more of a source for coverage. Isn’t that part of the goal with our sites? To cover teams that we care about and generate original content? If we do a better job than the papers there’s no reason to think we can’t replace them.

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by Travis Hair on Jan 17, 2009 12:08 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

At the moment, we’re serving a different purpose than replacing a full-time beat writer. There’s probably going to be a transition period there where the coverage is going to fall off as newspapers do and hopefully the ball’s picked up by someone else.

by James Mirtle on Jan 17, 2009 12:21 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I agree that currently our purpose is different, but if we’re generating fresh content, while we may not be the beat writer, weoften serve a lot of the same functions. Especially since teams like mine have not traveling beat writer already.

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by Travis Hair on Jan 17, 2009 12:44 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Wow.

It must be Saturday with all those typos. Time to wake up.

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by Travis Hair on Jan 17, 2009 12:45 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

San Jose

The SJ Mercury News had a beat writer (Vic Chi), and David Pollak wrote occasional features under the byline “Fan in the Stands.” During a series of layoffs about 18 months ago, Chi was cut and Pollak assumed the beat writer duties. The SF Chronicle went to Associated Press stories for their Sharks coverage a while back as well.

I had heard some rumors that the Mercury News wouldn’t send the beat writer on road games, but so far that has not happened. It is also my understanding that the Mercury News contracted one of their writers to write the article for the Tampa paper when the lightning were in town.

by makfan on Jan 17, 2009 1:55 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Minnesota

I’m waiting for this to happen here in the Twin Cities. Having two major papers in one metro area won’t be financially possible soon.

Yes, I realize beat writers do things bloggers can’t, and I appreciate what they do. But to get to James’s point about covering morning practice sessions, do the Wild need TWO reporters there? (Minneapolis Stat Tribune and St Paul Pioneer Press) The stories are basically the same anyways – actually, they are eerily similar.

There's no use being pessimistic, it won't work anyway.

by Mike in MN on Jan 17, 2009 11:17 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Probably not. But I honestly believe at some point some markets won’t have anyone there.

I guess we can rely on television and radio reports, as well as wire services, but it’s unfortunate.

by James Mirtle on Jan 17, 2009 11:59 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Let me ask you this...

you guys have a better sense of this than I do…is this the situation with some of the other sports? I understand that hockey is on the fringe in some markets…but with newspapers being in the state that they are in, is there a cut back in the number of writers traveling with the teams? James, how many writers are following the Jays and Raptors as compared with the Leafs? Do you guys in other markets notice a drop off in beat coverage in hockey or the other sports?

by tbell61 on Jan 17, 2009 2:51 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

I think it’s down in every market, in every sport. You can see with the Dallas papers they didn’t cut back on NFL coverage, and that’d be similar to what happens here with the Leafs.

Otherwise, my guess is travelling with teams will become more and more limited.

by James Mirtle on Jan 17, 2009 3:55 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

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