CPJ Saturday practice notes

swampsting

swampsting

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Bruce Wayne said:
I don't think Suguira does a bad job at all. However, he does seem to really fixate on roster updates, especially about injuries every week.

I kind of suspect that it is that aspect of being a "serious journalist" which says you need to be "investigative" and find out something and tell your readers about it before anyone else does. (Which I actually do think is the best aspect of journalism when done well), The problem with being nosy or investigative around a college sports team you are focused on covering is 1) these kind of run-ins with the head honcho can occur if you tread on toes too much or skirt protocols they want to enforce. 2) You will be talking about people who are technically adults but are still in a place (a college) where those with authority over them have legal responsibilities to protect aspects of their privacy . . . that is, they are not paid professionals (at least at Tech :p). Think about it as if he was reporting on the medical and academic situation of a high school team? Students are just a bit more rightly "off limits" than professionals even if they are also "celebrities" to a certain degree.

Whatever the reason Suguira favors seeking out this kind of info may be I think that it does treads on rules about protecting students medical or academic info. It honestly never seems nearly as captivating or interesting to learn about to me as when he interviews position coaches or players. He may not want to write too many of what he considers "fluff" pieces about the background stories of this or that player like you will get a lot of on Ramblin Wreck.com from a staff reporter like Winklejohn. But, "human interest" type stories would definitely be eaten up by Tech fans likely to read his articles and blog posts.

For example, I would love to see him use the access he has to produce a series of profiles and kind of reviews of the impact of this or that coach on the season Tech has had. Like, one day look at getting info on what Sisk has meant to the team this year )what changes has he made? Emphasis from the summer and how it changed moving on? some player quotes on how Sisk helped them meet personal goals, other coaches commenting on what the S/C program means to the position group the coach, and so on. He could even get his hard-hitting journalism rocks off by trying to form critical opinions about progress made or not made in his view or in comparison to other programs.
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Bear in mind he probably has a quota of stories, blog posts, whatever, per week to fill and injury updates, roster moves, i.e., are prime material for quick hitter type of posts for the Web and print. And it also fills an information hole. Fans want to know who is out and who might play and who is done.
In years past, he's also had some backup on the Tech beat. I don't think that's the case anymore. It used to be Carroll Rogers, who covered Tech years ago at Macon and has been covering the Braves, mostly as O'Brien's No. 2, for a long time. But she has up and moved to Charlotte. So Ken's got Tech football and hoops and the rest by his lonesome, as far as I can tell.
 
TechCubed

TechCubed

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Bruce Wayne said:
I don't think Suguira does a bad job at all. However, he does seem to really fixate on roster updates, especially about injuries every week.

I kind of suspect that it is that aspect of being a "serious journalist" which says you need to be "investigative" and find out something and tell your readers about it before anyone else does. (Which I actually do think is the best aspect of journalism when done well), The problem with being nosy or investigative around a college sports team you are focused on covering is 1) these kind of run-ins with the head honcho can occur if you tread on toes too much or skirt protocols they want to enforce. 2) You will be talking about people who are technically adults but are still in a place (a college) where those with authority over them have legal responsibilities to protect aspects of their privacy . . . that is, they are not paid professionals (at least at Tech :p). Think about it as if he was reporting on the medical and academic situation of a high school team? Students are just a bit more rightly "off limits" than professionals even if they are also "celebrities" to a certain degree.

Whatever the reason Suguira favors seeking out this kind of info may be I think that it does treads on rules about protecting students medical or academic info. It honestly never seems nearly as captivating or interesting to learn about to me as when he interviews position coaches or players. He may not want to write too many of what he considers "fluff" pieces about the background stories of this or that player like you will get a lot of on Ramblin Wreck.com from a staff reporter like Winklejohn. But, "human interest" type stories would definitely be eaten up by Tech fans likely to read his articles and blog posts.

For example, I would love to see him use the access he has to produce a series of profiles and kind of reviews of the impact of this or that coach on the season Tech has had. Like, one day look at getting info on what Sisk has meant to the team this year )what changes has he made? Emphasis from the summer and how it changed moving on? some player quotes on how Sisk helped them meet personal goals, other coaches commenting on what the S/C program means to the position group the coach, and so on. He could even get his hard-hitting journalism rocks off by trying to form critical opinions about progress made or not made in his view or in comparison to other programs.
Click to expand...

One thing to keep in mind about the modern newspaper business is that it's all about clicks. If you look at Ken's recent pieces, most are short items built around a single piece of information or quote. There was a time when the AJC assigned 2 beat writers to GT, so one could focus on the day-to-day (notebook) items, and the others on features.

Ken, like most beat writers, is under pressure to produce a certain number of blog entries each day. That doesn't leave much time to dive in-depth on a regular basis. I think that's part of the reason he can fixated on injuries, etc. It's a pretty quick news item that can be turned around and generate web traffic.

Overall, I think Ken does do a good job and tends to be fair to positive with his coverage. If you watch or listen to press conferences, his style of asking questions isn't the most assertive. I know it annoys me when I'm listening, so I can imagine that's amplified for CPJ.
 
Supersizethatorder-mutt

Supersizethatorder-mutt

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swampsting said:
Bear in mind he probably has a quota of stories, blog posts, whatever, per week to fill and injury updates, roster moves, i.e., are prime material for quick hitter type of posts for the Web and print. And it also fills an information hole. Fans want to know who is out and who might play and who is done.
In years past, he's also had some backup on the Tech beat. I don't think that's the case anymore. It used to be Carroll Rogers, who covered Tech years ago at Macon and has been covering the Braves, mostly as O'Brien's No. 2, for a long time. But she has up and moved to Charlotte. So Ken's got Tech football and hoops and the rest by his lonesome, as far as I can tell.
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Prior to Ken taking over we had to suffer through a year with Doug Roberson, who is a Georgia grad and, despite minimal attempts at objectivity, was a homer.
 
Supersizethatorder-mutt

Supersizethatorder-mutt

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TechCubed said:
One thing to keep in mind about the modern newspaper business is that it's all about clicks. If you look at Ken's recent pieces, most are short items built around a single piece of information or quote. There was a time when the AJC assigned 2 beat writers to GT, so one could focus on the day-to-day (notebook) items, and the others on features.

Ken, like most beat writers, is under pressure to produce a certain number of blog entries each day. That doesn't leave much time to dive in-depth on a regular basis. I think that's part of the reason he can fixated on injuries, etc. It's a pretty quick news item that can be turned around and generate web traffic.

Overall, I think Ken does do a good job and tends to be fair to positive with his coverage. If you watch or listen to press conferences, his style of asking questions isn't the most assertive. I know it annoys me when I'm listening, so I can imagine that's amplified for CPJ.
Click to expand...
Ken's article today on the history of Tech's relations with schools in the state of Mississippi is very informative and, as near as I can tell, accurate. He had to do some research in order to uncover some of that, and I like the way he often writes columns dealing with Tech's history and traditions, especially when, as an outsider, he previously probably knew nothing at all about it. Having met him on 3 occasions, I am not surprised that he is not more assertive in press conferences or interviews. He's just basically a "nice guy", and I doubt that kind of assertiveness is in his nature. I still think he's a decent writer though and does a good job of covering the Jackets.
 

stevo0718

Georgia Tech Fan
Messages
86
I mean we have very few GT media members. We have no journalism major nor many graduates interested in being one.

We have fewer graduates and sidewalk fans in general. It's gonna be tough to get a huge tech fan as a beat writer for a paper or a talking head. What we do isn't writing or talking about people doing things, it's doing things ourselves.

Never surprised when we don't get coverage, and I don't get upset about it. I just enjoy when we do get coverage and hope for the best. It's a part of what makes being a Tech fan fun, we may not always dominate, but when we get on a good run, you gotta enjoy it. It's what makes winning when not expected so much fun, or getting coverage more fun.
 
Northeast Stinger

Northeast Stinger

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TechCubed said:
If you watch or listen to press conferences, his style of asking questions isn't the most assertive. I know it annoys me when I'm listening, so I can imagine that's amplified for CPJ.
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Me too! Sometimes I find myself saying out loud, "Why don't you just ask a question, man, rather than beating around the bush."
 
DTGT

DTGT

Ramblin' Wreck
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Declinometer said:
Ah ha.....those damned capitalists. #policelivesmatter #sharptontheracebaiter #dontbreakthelawandyouwontgethurt
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1508529_366016606913554_2066128560612870967_n.jpg

#livesmatter #dueprocess #supportgoodpoliceofficers #democracynotpolicestate
 
YJAlleyCat

YJAlleyCat

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4shotB said:
Totally off topic, but could we leave the political topics/debates to another forum? #notamoderatorbutnotwantingtoseethissiteclutteredupwithstufflikethis
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SECONDED!!! Please let the football forum stick to actual football topics and not the toxic sludge that seems to result every time someone brings up politics. I would rather read 100 silly threads arguing about uniforms or the proper shade of gold than one single post containing political crap.
 
orientalnc

orientalnc

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I think Ken does a good job covering GT. Remember, while he may have shortcomings that CPJ doesn't like, he is the newspaper guy with the greatest access to GT sports and he does a decent job of writing about the important things that happen there. His bosses, paid by the Cox family, are trying to sell newspapers and get website views. Since they have 10 times more uga readers than GT readers, their perceived bias is not going to change.
 
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