who writes for your team?

[bigmama42]

I'm wondering who writes in your local paper about your baseball games? Is your coach responsible,or does the paper provide somebody to cover all games.I know i havent seen maybe 4 or 5 write ups about the oak hill team,and i'm sure there have been more games than that.Do they only write when the team wins? I know there's not a lot of love for baseball here, but some people that cant make it to all games likes to keep updated.Just wondering who's not doing there job?

[Keyser_sozeThrice]

Bigmama42......In regards to your Oak Hill question.....Buzz Fisher is our Oak Hill stringer, paid on a per story basis, but he has struggled in getting us information this spring.

Coach Wright has my email address of which he can email us game results anytime.

[clutch]

Glad you asked that question about press info. I know that when coaches get home it's usually late to call in scores.
Some call them in themselves, and some have someone like assistant coaches to call them in or email them in.The way I see it, the sportswriters sit at a desk and want someone to do all their work and call in all the information.
Do they not cover baseball and softball games anymore? They want scores called into them and they get the all the credit.
Where we live, we don't have a local paper, so the town who does gets all the press.

[Keyser_sozeThrice]

clutch....I can't speak for other papers or other writers.

But trust me, we cover the three Jackson County schools and I can be found at just about every home Jackson or Wellston baseball or softball game or track meet in the spring. It's enough to cover and gather everything — and take photographs — for two schools let alone three. Therefore, Buzz assists with Oak Hill. So speaking for myself, I do go out and get the information and not just "sit at a desk all day and let someone do all their work."

If you don't believe me, I challenge you to follow me around for a day or even a week. You'll know what I mean All I'm saying is that it is nice to have consistent cooperation from the coaches, especially on away games.

[osumufan]

How can one reporter cover all the games in the county being played on one night? It is the schools' responsibility to call the games or better yet email them in. I guarantee if you send in the information it will be in the paper. Most times the home team will put it in. Lazy coaches of course will not have any coverage if they don't call or email! If the coach doesn't want to do it then ask the scorkeeper, asst. coach or even a student from the school to do it! I have only seen one game covered with the reported actually there all season. They can't be everywhere. In the OVC alone there are 6 boys and girls games being played on the same nights. Put SV, St. Joe and Ironton and there are 6 more boys and girls games. How can one man be at all 12 games? Plus add in high school amd middle school track as well as middle school golf......Not going to happen....

[bman]

We cover five schools at the Circleville Herald, two of which also offer boys tennis to go with baseball, softball and track. So on an average night we'll have about 10-12 events with sometimes 15-22 events. I usually cover a baseball and softball game at a school about every night. If I'm not there, I'll be at track or drop by for some tennis. The resources are simply not there to have someone at every game. It is hard to do it for football with four or five games.

Most of my coaches are fortunately very good to work with.

[clutch]

Yea I understand that one reporter can't cover all the games. But why can't they have runners or others reporting to them. When news breaks out, do the newsreporters wait til someone calls them with the details?

[Orange and Brown]

Yea I understand that one reporter can't cover all the games. But why can't they have runners or others reporting to them. When news breaks out, do the newsreporters wait til someone calls them with the details?

If you want more coverage than call your local paper and tell them to hire more people. In todays world newspapers are expected to cover what they did 15 years ago with about 1/3 of the staff. The 'Sports Department" at the Athens Messenger is 2 people. There are 5 schools plus Ohio U. Newspapers are expected to do the same with less.

1 suggestion I have which I think is a good one is talk to your local schools about finding a kid or 2 from each school who is interested in Journalism/ photo journalism and have them write about the games. They could make a couple of bucks working as stringers and get some valuable experience at the same time.

[Keyser_sozeThrice]

Orange and Brown....Well said and hits the nail right on the head

[bigmama42]

thanks keyser for the info.we thought buzz was the one.and thanks for some other suggestions.but to respone,i have called the paper,the lady i talked to said buzz must be busy!! no doubt,like real busy.also there is more than one reporter for the county.one reporter's name is by jackson's and wellston baseball and softball write ups even the oak hill softball games. Thats covering 5 teams.And buzz cant cover one!The other bad news is the county,correct me if i'm wrong, has 2 newspaper's.The other newspaper reporter [Red thompson] was at the East double header but still nothing was in paper.Sorry for all the complaining,but these boy's is flat out getting done wrong.

[swbaseballfan]

here is your daily oak hill update....they dropped their game to south webster tonight.

[bman]

High schoolers can be positive and negative. I've had one who was good to work with and provided us with some good photos. I had another one write stories for us, and this person was not dependable. He turned in stories riddled with errors, and sometimes 'forgot' to cover something. Especially at a daily when you are trying to make deadline and have a lot of work to do, which most sports sections in southeast Ohio have, you don't have a lot of time to baby sit a high school writer who obviously is going to make mistakes because he/she is just starting out.

As for runners or extra hands, those are called stringers in the business and most people want compensated for their time. I know I would if I were in their shoes.

Ultimately a newspaper isn't any different than a job in another sector. When a business cuts staff, it results in longer waits for customers or service that isn't as good. Until we turn around our national economy I don't see much changing.

[lions99]

The highland county teams have two newspapers covering not just games in our county, but games in the league that contain Highland, Adams, and Brown counties. Normally, the everyday paper gets the information out on all games played one way or the other, and Leesburgs games are always in there cause someone i know sends the stats after every game via email to all the radio stations and papers in the area

[bigmama42]

swbaseballfan.... thats so funny i forgot to laugh.you did send that to some of the grand parents , and some other people that cant make to the games didnt you. you even can spell, do you give updates in basketball also?

[bigmama42]

gahs4ever, i'm totally disagreeing with you.you say many think your school and kids are slighted.Not school getting it, just baseball kids.I know your familar with this area, and how many times have there not been a 3/4 or full page write-up about the boy's or girls basketball or football after every game!!!!Do you think norm would go for that.Dont kid yourself. there is write-ups by Paul Boggs for jackson,wellston baseball and softball and oak hill softball and oak hill track by the same reporter.If they all play the same night,hows he at every school?The coaches have to send or fax a report in for the ones he cant attend.not sure what you mean saying goes with the territory,but out of the 24 games there have been maybe 5 or 6 reports in paper.you must not think thats called getting slighted.btw hats off to jottings, he does a excellent job with gahs. write ups.

[swbaseballfan]

swbaseballfan.... thats so funny i forgot to laugh.you did send that to some of the grand parents , and some other people that cant make to the games didnt you. you even can spell, do you give updates in basketball also?

it wasn't meant for laughs lady, it was meant to be informative. i actually knew an oak hill score so i posted it since you say there is no coverage. and no i don't do basketball. I'm married LOL

[bigmama42]

no not on here, but the newspaper. you might be married but you must not be able to read.you must have been the one in the horse and buggy i passed the other day.good day

[swbaseballfan]

no not on here, but the newspaper. you might be married but you must not be able to read.you must have been the one in the horse and buggy i passed the other day.good day

your making your community look terrible. well, not the community, yourself.

[bleacher coach]

The internet has made it very difficult for small newspapers but IMO those small newspapers need to realize that we can read about the Cleveland Browns,Bengals,Reds & Indians & Ohio State on the internet but not about local news & sports. Local sports coverage & news is essential to keep these papers in business IMO. If I were running one of these local papers I would be begging for people to write for their local teams.
Last summer I did not ever seem to find an article about the Meigs American Legion team & just 4-5 years ago every game was covered with a nice write up. Instead I got to read about the Major League Teams where espn,cnnsi or the dispatch & Cincinnati Enquirer had already covered. That is why I no longer carry the Daily Sentinel because they just seem to reprint what some associated press writer has written the morning before & very little locally. The Athens Messenger is nearly as bad but usually they do have a decent write up for local Athens County teams (H.S.& Legion).

[bman]

Newspapers are between two age groups. While it is true that those pro and college stories are available on-line, a good portion of newspaper subscribers are still older residents who expect the OSU football gamer, for example, in the next edition if you have a daily newspaper. Some of these customers are not very comfortable on the internet. These customers have a right to be served just as much as the high school parent.

Now at my paper, for example, I tend to play up the high school stuff because we go on a high local content model, but we include a lot of Buckeye football and some pro baseball and football. I'd also add that AP copy is often needed to fill out the editions because the limited staff most newspapers have can only do so much. If ABC newspaper has a three-page local sports section on Saturday, there is going to be some AP needed to fill it

Bottom line: a member of the coaching staff needs to call in the events a newspaper can't staff if they want it in the paper.