The Portsmouth Daily Times drops the ball again

[biggdowgg]

The Ironton Tribune has no Saturday paper.

I read this article on here last night...maybe it was after 12?

[Burg_Grad_77]

I noticed that too. It's hard to believe they wouldn't even cover the home town school. I do believe they have sunk to the ultimate lowest level of inadequacy.

Since we are talking about the PDT again, I'd like to point out something I saw the other day in a story about the Wheelersburg and Waverly soccer match. There was a sentence in the article where the Pirates had come back tied the score and the writer had put that "the Pirates had came back and nodded the score". Not knotted, as in tied it up, but nodded as in moved their heads up and down. Do they even have a proofreader or an editor to check for this and what kind of writer would used that word anyway. Even a 4th grader knows it knotted, and not nodded. The PDT is a laughing stock at best.

[bengalfan76]

The Chillicothe Gazette also has two reporters but they always cover Chillicothe HS. THe paper is the Portsmouth Daily Times...... Cover Portsmouth HS. If they are having trouble covering all of the HS in Scioto County reach out to the individual HS's and see if any students would be willing to write articles for the Paper. There has to be aspiring young reporters at each of the school. This would not only help the paper but also aid the student in his/her portfolio for college.

[drrabbit]

I am positive that the Portsmouth coaching staff knew that they needed to call in this game.

It does not have to be a coach either. When my brother was in high school at Wheelersburg in the early '70s, he was the manager and was responsible for part of the game stats and for calling them all into the paper after the game.

The PDT doesn't need the article written for them. They just need someone to take the 5 minutes and call them.

And if you don't remember what it was like last year this time, I do and things are about 100x better this year. At least if the coaches do call it in--in any sport--the accuracy is good and it gets in that paper. Not 2-3 days later and totally illegible. AND last year there was three on the staff, not just two!

They do need to develop some stringers but that takes time and development of relationships. Here we have two young and enthusiastic men doing their best. Give them some time and some support. It will be well worth it.

AND COACHES CALL IN YOUR GAMES!!!

[trojan7]

I agree with you drrabbit. Things are very prompt and they are legible, sure there's going to be mistakes but they aren't perfect. I was very pleased with the preview. I also enjoy reading articles on the web as some are pretty good reads and free.

[itown keg 77]

all they had to do is get on seop to find out about any area game

[WhiteWhiskers]

Lets just face it. The Portsmouth Daily Times is a second rate paper. I have been pointing out the problems of this Paper for a long long time and nothing is ever done. The ones in charge just keep doing the same thing over and over. They never learn because they dont care. It is a second rate paper and it will stay as such. The best thing they could do is close the doors.

[a_c_m]

I say, give the sports reporters some credit. The Daily Times is not the Portsmouth Trojan Sports forum. Put the blame where it should be and we all know who dropped the ball. No one called the game in, therefore there was no coverage. I know for a fact the sports team trys very hard to contact people to get the information. Someone needs to step up and help out!

[sidersports]

no matter what the newspaper is called people shouldnt have to do there own report to have to pay for it and read it the next day. if you are short of reporters hire a couple part time to report local high school reports, i guess i just dont understand why you try to have people call in and do reports when its the newspaper job to hire people to report it,,,,whats next coach's start reporting play by play by there cells over the radio,, kudos to our local sports radio they have as many games possible live and they dont ask coach's to report play by play,,,face it our local newspaper suxxxx very very badly....(reporters-report, coachs-coach,communities support your team) quit buying the PDT and listen to the radio and read on preps and you can find out what you want.

[bman]

^ Would you be willing to pay double for your paper then? Because you are looking at a major price increase to hire those type of hands.

Fact is one of the known responsibilities of being a coach is dealing with the media. When the local paper employs two sports writers with 10 high schools then folks aren't going to be covered in person.

[biggdowgg]

[quote="sidersports"]no matter what the newspaper is called people shouldnt have to do there own report to have to pay for it and read it the next day. if you are short of reporters hire a couple part time to report local high school reports, i guess i just dont understand why you try to have people call in and do reports when its the newspaper job to hire people to report it,,,,whats next coach's start reporting play by play by there cells over the radio,, kudos to our local sports radio they have as many games possible live and they dont ask coach's to report play by play,,,face it our local newspaper suxxxx very very badly....(reporters-report, coachs-coach,communities support your team) quit buying the PDT and listen to the radio and read on preps and you can find out what you want.[/quote]

THANK YOU!!

[osubulldog]

b-man "Fact is one of the known responsibilities of being a coach is dealing with the media. When the local paper employs two sports writers with 10 high schools then folks aren't going to be covered in person."

When you DEAL with the media you are talking about answering tuff questions. Not the coaching trying to play phone tag with an employee of the terrible PDT. Reporter ask the questions and the coach answers this is dealing with the media. I agree with the post above, maybe PDT could hire or have one person fascilitate a program with the area schools to cover the events. I know that Prtsmouth has a media program and Valley has a media program. Im sure it would not take that much money to organize such an extra cirricular activity.
This would be awsome to see on a resume down the road.

[tl895]

small paper and all there is no excuse for a paper named the PORTSMOUTH daily times not to cover and give top billing to the team with the ''portsmouth'' in their name!!!! it is not the scioto daily times or ''the burg'' daily times...

[caglewis]

Here's an idea - don't most high schools have some sort of "journalism" course/project like a school newspaper? Why don't struggling small newspapers "recruit" schools to make a graded project assignment of covering and reporting school functions include not only writing an article but also having one designated student immediately call in scores to "media" - newspapers, TV and radio.
Coaches are a little busy after a game - why pile more on them.
And there are frequently several different town newspapers [in this area, several STATES] whose readerships would be interested in coverage and outcomes of not only sports events, but many other things. And what high school kid wouldn't be delighted to see their name used as a byline or contributer. No newspaper can have staff enough to be at ALL high school athletic contests in their area, let alone all other kinds of contests and events.
Make this a SCHOOL assignment - newspapers get the info without much expense; and young potential reporters get the experience of meeting deadlines, writing accurate accounts, and the possibility of seeing their name on top an article.

[trojandave]

The Portsmouth Daily Times should cover the Portsmouth Trojans......just as the Ironton Tribune gives top billing to the Ironton Fighting Tigers or the Chillicothe Gazette always covers the Chillicothe Cavaliers. Both of those papers have a county constituency also.......but the hometown team gets priority. Even the Columbus Dispatch gives props to the City League over the Ohio Capital Conference, which is a suburban league and one of the largest in the state.

The Times could send a reporter to the Portsmouth game and the top game in the county........unfortunately every team can't be covered.

[----]

Trojan Dave-unfortunately every team can't be covered.

Exactly, and your game wasn't.... They did the most with what they could.

Why not cover Burg/Ironton and then cover 2 or 3 more local games.

It's better to leave out 1 team than 5.... And you wouldn't of been left out if your coach had reported the stats.


And if you wan't to say the radio is better then you didn't listen to them try and fill in 20 minutes during a weather delay. The night before the season starts you can't find anything better to say than reading off the sponsors?

[Sawdust]

I agree with both sides of the argument. 2 guys covering 10 or more teams in one night is impossible. But students (HS or College) could be hired per story in order to cover the other games and maybe take a picture or two.($20 - $40 per game and a press pass). It's not like Stegman and Dunham are gettin' rich for their efforts.
Trojan fans are now getting a taste of what the rest of the county teams have felt for a long time. I will say this though, we are 100% better off today than we were this time last year with the sports section. Stegman is only one man and as the old commercial says, "Leon can't do it all."