PDT Coverage

[Burg_Grad_77]

I stopped and got a Scioto Voice on my way to work tonight and that's what I call great sports reporting. They had really good in depth articles on each and EVERY game played in our area over the weekend. Nice pictures and STATS with every story. The PDT could learn a thing or two from that sports section.

At least we did get a preveiw of the weeks games in Fridays paper, though it wasn't as good as the ones in the past that had the matchups of all the teams, where they were played, results of last years game, and whether it was broadcast or not. They also used to include the weekly stats in that section every week and I'd like to see that come back. I guess tomorrow morning will be the tell for the PDT. If they don't improve from last weeks debacle then I see lots of folks cancelling their subscriptions to the PDT and picking up the Scioto Voice for their sports coverage.

[Burg_Grad_77]

Well, it was a little better this Saturday, but not much. At least there were stats included with the articles and the articles were fairly well done and readable. Now that crap on page 3 was a disaster. All in bold print and impossible to comprehend and still no reports on Scioto county teams, though they made sure to get the Piketon/Nelsonville York game in there.

[alabama mike]

Why is the PDT covering Piketon and Nelsonville-York? I am out of town this weekend so I am looking forward to seeing what changes have been made in week 2 after the week 1 disaster.

[Burg_Grad_77]

Why is the PDT covering Piketon and Nelsonville-York? I am out of town this weekend so I am looking forward to seeing what changes have been made in week 2 after the week 1 disaster.

Maybe the same reason they covered Piketon/Waverly last week. Evidently the are trying to get new subcribers out of Pike county since most of Scioto county is fed up with them.

Trust me neighbor, it wasn't much better.

[TheSportsGuy]

Why is the PDT covering Piketon and Nelsonville-York? I am out of town this weekend so I am looking forward to seeing what changes have been made in week 2 after the week 1 disaster.

Maybe the same reason they covered Piketon/Waverly last week. Evidently the are trying to get new subcribers out of Pike county since most of Scioto county is fed up with them.

Trust me neighbor, it wasn't much better.

They didn't "cover" the Piketon game. It was on the page where the call-ins are, so someone called in the scores and statistics for the game to the paper.

Differences in the two weeks: pictures were better (and they brought back the picture page on the back), but the captions said nothing of the players in pictures.

The big game (West/PHS) got coverage, but they didn't travel nearly as well as they did last week. A reporter was in Waverly week 1, but couldn't go to Rock Hill or South Point to cover Valley or 'Burg week 2? I can understand covering defending SOC I champs at East, but was Northwest/Manchester more notable because it was closer? The sad thing, that game had the best write-up of those the Times had.

As far as statistics go, there were a a few more in-story numbers this week, but just two scoring summaries and one individual stats write-up.

Progress...but there's still a way to go.

[sportsfan_1959]

Let's see what tomorrow's paper brings. Will they have reports on Friday's games that were not covered Saturday? Will they run state-wide scores like they have before. We'll just have to see. Don't have my hopes up to high.

[ManitouDan]

the sports wrap up at the top of the right hand page was a bunch of mumbo-jumbo , typed over , ran together , total train wreck of a section . I'm talking fridays paper ---terrible ! The paragraphs ran over each other, you could'nt even tell what sport was being reported on.

[DaRecGuy]

I agree, in the Sports Wrap-Up section someone left the bold button on WAY too much. Go back to the preview articles on a couple of local games each week. Send someone out to practice on Monday and talk to the coaches and players, it will take 1/2 hour at most. Then come back and write a little on what was said and how they are preparing for the upcoming big "local" game. Every Monday come out with the local power rankings #1-10 based on records and strength of schedule, not where you went to school! Take some pictures while at the teams practice to feature on the front page of sports section.
I will give you some tips for this coming week, free of charge.

Monday - Send someone to Burg to take pictures (Shankweiler brothers) and write a story about how they are in the same backfield together and how it helps to be brothers and know what the other one is thinking. Talk to coach and ask him how they will be preparing to stop the Trojans this week and any other comments he may have.

Tuesday - Send someone down to the stadium to take pictures (some of the super sophomores) and run a story about how they have been winners their whole careers and how it is a different now that they are struggling a little. Then talk to coach Clifford about the rivarly with Burg and how they plan to stop them this week.

Wednesday - Run the article on Burg

Thursday - Run the article on the Trojans

Friday - Run the INSERT with the Picks, Preview every local game with a capsule (overall record, league record, stats from last week, and key players for both teams) and have a few articles from other practices that have been visited throughout the week, or some stories that may have came from the Burg and Trojan practice that hadn't ran yet.

If you send someone out to the practices you will FIND stories but just talking to the kids and the coaches.

[ManitouDan]

A story can be found by calling any coach --just ask him ---What/who is compelling about your team this year ?

[drrabbit]

>>Send someone out to practice on Monday and talk to the coaches and players, it will take 1/2 hour at most. <<

LOL. I wish it only took that amount of time. I call the soccer coaches each week and I expect that to take two hours and I don't have to drive.

The Scioto Voice has one sports reporter--Mark Allard. He does what he can and spend most of Saturday and Sunday collecting stats and writing game reports. I write the Wheelersburg football articles (hence the poor journalism but the stats are usually good...) And I write the soccer round up. The pictures come from Mark or his wife Debbie taking pictures at 1-2 games. Also several hobby/semi-professional photographers who submit pictures. These photographers give them free of charge--in some cases to get their website noticed--but mostly for the kids to get their pictures in the paper.

Mark tries to put in some of the other sports too but, to be honest, he often relies on gathering information (scores etc.) from other papers. If they are not published any place else and if no one calls, emails or faxes them to the Voice, they can't be reported. If any parent or student wants to see cross country, volleyball, golf or tennis for their school in the paper, they may want to make sure the coaches submit it or send it in themselves. If they get enough results submitted, maybe the Voice will add a second reporter.

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[Do-Your-Job]

I haven't read the PDT. So I can't say who is right, who is wrong, what the problem is, etc. But I think it would be tough to work at a paper, mainly because it seems like everyone feels like they are an expert and could do a better job than the people in place at any newspaper. Just read the Sunday Dispatch, and look at the letters to the editors in the sports section. People complain about too much Buckeyes coverage, not enough Buckeyes coverage, too much Blue Jacket stories, not enough Blue Jacket stories, why do you cover soccer?, why don't you cover soccer more?, why don't you cover high school more? etc., etc. DarecGuy kind of makes it sound like working at the portsmouth paper is pretty simple. Again, not saying anyone is right or wrong. Just thought I'd try and offer another way to look at the situation.

[sportsfan_1959]

As I expected, Sunday's paper had no mention of the games from Friday that were not in Saturday's paper. This is downright awful. I have now given up any hope that the sports department will efficiently cover the local sports scene in this area. I have been a subscriber to this paper for over twenty-five years and now have no intention of renewing my subscription. If I am not going to get coverage of "all" the games, I will wait on the Scioto Voice's coverage on Thursday. I was pleased with the articles and the amount of photographs, etc. It is a shame that the Voice can't print more times weekly, but I will continue to subscribe to this paper. Good luck to the subscribers of the PDT - you're never going to know what has happened in the games that did not attend.

[MinnyAckMack10]

In a world where people just wanna know whats happening on the gridiron..

Our PDT can't provide that for us..

Get your local SCIOTO VOICE every thursday..

[salemcat]

It must be spreading to the whole paper, because this is the first time I can ever remember not getting a paper on Labor Day. In the past, the only day I can recall the paper not coming was on Christmas.

[sportsfan_1959]

I agree salemcat. It was never a big edition, but a paper still. Lack of competition is the only thing that allows this paper to exist. Another daily paper would certainly put the PDT out of business. I guess whatever happened late Saturday night can wait til Tuesday - or not at all as in the case of most football games.

[alabama mike]

Well I made it back to town and opened my Sat. paper looking for a better job by the 'crack' PDT sports department and man was I disappointed once again. If I followed Minford, Valley or Green, I would be calling quick cancelling a subscription. I plan on cancelling our subscription first thing Tuesday morning because of the overall poor sports "reporting" by the paper. It is apparent the PDT does not want to listen to its customers so my $.50 can go elsewhere.

The Scioto Voice is doing a fine job as always. Keep up the good work.

[kahn]

Are you guys actually demanding the PDT cover EVERY GAME? They have a 3 or maybe 4 man staff. One guy has to stay at the office to do the layout and take calls. That means they can cover three games max, maybe 4 if they get a good stringer. The PDT covers a bunch of teams so not everyone can be covered every week.

Here's another piece of insight. If your team isn't in the roundup section, your coach/stat guy didn't call it in or didn't call it in by the deadline.

When a reporter gets back from a game, he has less than an hour most of the time to get his story typed, edited and placed on a page. All the while the phones are ringing like hell and he has to stop working on the story for 10 minutes to take a call.

Writing 20 inches on a game that became a blowout while taking 4 or 5 callins and 1 or 2 complaint calls and countless calls of people who cant wait til the next day to get their scores all in less than in hour is something I don't think most of you could do as easily as you think. It took me a while to get it when I was down there.

But don't let me stop you, go ahead and apply for a job there, they need people. You all seem to think you can handle it, so do it.

[alabama mike]

kahn go back and read the previous posts, suggestions have been made numerous times on how they can cover SOC games on Friday nights. Yes, we would like for the PDT to cover local games on Friday night, I dont think that is asking too much.

[kahn]

Whether you think it or not, the pdt is a legit newspaper. That means they have standards that don't allow them to let a little high schooler do a write up on his own school or let someone with little to no experience take photos and then put those things in print.

Things are down, fair enough. But once you hit that level, why have a staff at all? That isn't what an AP paper does.

Also, writing up stories a day late based on callins or anything else really isn't journalism. A newspaper's true coverage includes only what it or its stringers can get themselves. The call in section serves everything else.

Look at this Dispatch or Cincinnati Enquirer, neither cover every single HS football game and they have larger staffs, more resources and people whose only job is to man the phones.

I swear to you all, contrary to popular opinion this job isn't as easy as it looks.

[sportsfan_1959]

No one is saying it is easy. However, the staff isn't that much different than the staff that has always been there. One editor and 3 writers and all the games managed to get covered. What seems to be the problem now? Why does it always seem to be the same 3 schools? I know the coach from my son's school calls it in. He made the comment that the reporters only spoke to him for two minutes. Didn't want to know anything about the game - just who the best players were. When the story appeared, two days late, no names in the article. Why bother???