Nor should it, because that's what they pay their people to do.
I guess I'll just have to play the part of the crotchedy old cynic. We on the BY have thoroughly chewed our way through this topic here at least once or twice that I can recall, maybe more times. So I feel as though this is "been there, done that, and once again."
For myself, I don't have any desire or need to get my opinion published in the Courant. In any case, it'll be like almost all "Man on the Street" stories every published: If they get enough people, they will find and quote some who feel one way and find and quote some who feel the other way. The reporter gets to fill a hole on a slow news day with an easy job of writing and -- guess what!?! -- no actual reporting.
Look, I understand there are slow news days, but those have never stopped the Courant from publishing nothing at all in a given edition. I mean, how many days have you gone to their page recently and seen the same article about the Geno lawsuit at the top of the page? Okay, nothing's happening, so they publish nothing. Fair enough.
But this one sounds to me like made up news or, in the parlance of the dominant and not very good newspaper in my neck of the woods, "News By You," which simply means they fill space by publishing whatever you send in so long as it's reasonably well-written and displays not too much advocacy.
It's a fact that the UConn women's basketball fan base contains some extremely knowledgeable fans. So there have been lots of times in the past when a Courant reporter quizzing fans on real news topics would have been welcome. Remember several years ago when UConn screwed up mightily and told oh, say, twice as many people they were going to get first-level seats as could actually fit in those seats? A story reporting on fan anger -- and it was palpable -- is the kind of story that would have been welcome, at a time when we, the fans, were the ones making the news. If I recall correctly, what we got was an article that discussed the UConn party line -- why they did what they did and what they, nice guys that they were, would do for the affected fans.
How about the fans reactions to parking fees in Storrs or to the price increases at the BE tournament or to that ridiculous alleged tournament they played at the Civic Center against awful teams? Well, the price increase story eventually got into the paper, but not until the resentment was common knowledge and well publicized almost everywhere else.
Or could it be that the newspaper was reluctant to throw itself into those stories because each and every one of them would have been critical of UConn? It's hard to determine motives, but that possibility has occurred to me.
Anyway, I don't know about anyone else, but if the newspaper wants me to help write their stories, they're going to have to pay me, and we all know that ain't gonna happen any time soon.
Sorry. Needed to rant. Some things journalistic just get to me.
I guess I'll just have to play the part of the crotchedy old cynic. We on the BY have thoroughly chewed our way through this topic here at least once or twice that I can recall, maybe more times. So I feel as though this is "been there, done that, and once again."
For myself, I don't have any desire or need to get my opinion published in the Courant. In any case, it'll be like almost all "Man on the Street" stories every published: If they get enough people, they will find and quote some who feel one way and find and quote some who feel the other way. The reporter gets to fill a hole on a slow news day with an easy job of writing and -- guess what!?! -- no actual reporting.
Look, I understand there are slow news days, but those have never stopped the Courant from publishing nothing at all in a given edition. I mean, how many days have you gone to their page recently and seen the same article about the Geno lawsuit at the top of the page? Okay, nothing's happening, so they publish nothing. Fair enough.
But this one sounds to me like made up news or, in the parlance of the dominant and not very good newspaper in my neck of the woods, "News By You," which simply means they fill space by publishing whatever you send in so long as it's reasonably well-written and displays not too much advocacy.
It's a fact that the UConn women's basketball fan base contains some extremely knowledgeable fans. So there have been lots of times in the past when a Courant reporter quizzing fans on real news topics would have been welcome. Remember several years ago when UConn screwed up mightily and told oh, say, twice as many people they were going to get first-level seats as could actually fit in those seats? A story reporting on fan anger -- and it was palpable -- is the kind of story that would have been welcome, at a time when we, the fans, were the ones making the news. If I recall correctly, what we got was an article that discussed the UConn party line -- why they did what they did and what they, nice guys that they were, would do for the affected fans.
How about the fans reactions to parking fees in Storrs or to the price increases at the BE tournament or to that ridiculous alleged tournament they played at the Civic Center against awful teams? Well, the price increase story eventually got into the paper, but not until the resentment was common knowledge and well publicized almost everywhere else.
Or could it be that the newspaper was reluctant to throw itself into those stories because each and every one of them would have been critical of UConn? It's hard to determine motives, but that possibility has occurred to me.
Anyway, I don't know about anyone else, but if the newspaper wants me to help write their stories, they're going to have to pay me, and we all know that ain't gonna happen any time soon.
