The Shrinking Horde

[JohnFSilver]

The National though short lived in the early 90’s was pretty good as well. It had some local reporting and was reasonable and available in news boxes all over Hartford.

National is legendary in sports journalism circles for its incredible content, and incredibly awful business execution .

 

[Palatine]

National is legendary in sports journalism circles for its incredible content, and incredibly awful business execution .

I found The National to be little more than a baseball vehicle. I thought that was a huge editorial mistake.

 

[JohnFSilver]

I found The National to be little more than a baseball vehicle. I thought that was a huge editorial mistake.

Don’t remember it that well, but I could see in 1990 it being baseball heavy.

 

[Waquoit]

Don’t remember it that well, but I could see in 1990 it being baseball heavy.

It had a daily horse racing page by a guy who knew what he was talking about - Mike (not the jockey) Smith. It was my first exposure to Ray Ratto. I gave him an idea for a column when I started the "P-C N-I-T" at the PCC in 1990.

 

[HooperScooper]

Could be worse.

The warning came in the New York Times. Nearly six years later, its sports department is gone, and the Athletic is here to stay.

On Monday, the Times announced it was disbanding its sports department and would now rely on The Athletic.

www.boston.com

 

[king conn]

Could be worse.

The warning came in the New York Times. Nearly six years later, its sports department is gone, and the Athletic is here to stay.

On Monday, the Times announced it was disbanding its sports department and would now rely on The Athletic.

www.boston.com

Is the NY Times using the Athletic much different than the CT papers using the Boneyard for content?

 

[Chin Diesel]

Could be worse.

The warning came in the New York Times. Nearly six years later, its sports department is gone, and the Athletic is here to stay.

On Monday, the Times announced it was disbanding its sports department and would now rely on The Athletic.

www.boston.com

If they're smart, they'll learn how to code.

 

[uconnfan68]

If they're smart, they'll learn how to code.

To compete with the miners.

 

[UConnJim]

One of the (many) problems that newspapers faced (I have a sportswriter as a friend) is that newspapers offered broad content when many of their consumers wanted more narrow content. The internet allowed customers to view the content they wanted and for the newspapers to measure what the customers were reading. Unfortunately, writers at many newspapers are not paid based on what customers actually read, but based on seniority. That business model doesn't work in the LT.

Personally, I think The Athletic has an opportunity to become the "newspaper" for sports, but I just don't see the management or vision from the NYT. I think The Athletic needs to be a combination of writing, social media, videos, interactive, partnerships,....

 

[Chin Diesel]

One of the (many) problems that newspapers faced (I have a sportswriter as a friend) is that newspapers offered broad content when many of their consumers wanted more narrow content. The internet allowed customers to view the content they wanted and for the newspapers to measure what the customers were reading. Unfortunately, writers at many newspapers are not paid based on what customers actually read, but based on seniority. That business model doesn't work in the LT.

Personally, I think The Athletic has an opportunity to become the "newspaper" for sports, but I just don't see the management or vision from the NYT. I think The Athletic needs to be a combination of writing, social media, videos, interactive, partnerships,....

You're correct on a bunch of it. Traditional role of a sports reporter of reporting what occurred at a sporting event and having it published on paper is dead. Post-game analysis is dead for print media. All of that is done on social media within seconds or minutes of a game ending.

Only thing left for sports journalists is essays and human interest stories outside of competition and games/matches.

I'd love to see an interview for a sports reporter looking for a new career.

HR: "Tell me what you would bring to this company."

Sports Reporter: "Well, I am highly skilled at being paid to attend sporting events for free, watching the event and then telling people who watched the event what happened at the event."

 

[HuskyHawk]

You're correct on a bunch of it. Traditional role of a sports reporter of reporting what occurred at a sporting event and having it published on paper is dead. Post-game analysis is dead for print media. All of that is done on social media within seconds or minutes of a game ending.

Only thing left for sports journalists is essays and human interest stories outside of competition and games/matches.

I'd love to see an interview for a sports reporter looking for a new career.

HR: "Tell me what you would bring to this company."

Sports Reporter: "Well, I am highly skilled at being paid to attend sporting events for free, watching the event and then telling people who watched the event what happened at the event."

That's rather accurate, except maybe "people who watched the event". One of the interesting twists about cutting the cord for me has been no NESN. So while I never read the game recaps in the paper before, I actually found myself reading one the other day. I haven't seen a Sox game all year except on bar TVs. It was exactly as you described, a nice summary of what happened, when it happened and who did it.

The stuff I read is the more in depth stories about roster construction, trades, signings, the draft, player improvement (all of those for all sports), that's where the coverage is now and where writers can add value and analysis. But I'd say that's exactly what the Athletic is good at. As a Patriots fan, Mike Reiss for ESPN is also fantastic at getting that information.

 

[Fishy]

The Athletic is far better than any local reporting we've ever had (sorry guys!). This is too bad.

Yeah, that's nonsense.

The Athletic hired a marginally talented person to cover UConn from 30,000' up and then killed their college hoop coverage entirely.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Who needs the horde when you have Mr.

 

[UConn Dan]

Traditional newspapers may be getting picked off, but there's plenty of content out there that has been replacing it with bloggers and podcasters. Reading every article I could in the 90's and early 2000's I don't feel like there's a lack for content.

 

[HuskyBaggins]

Hearst Media, which owns the New Haven Register and the Connecticut Post, just purchased the Journal Inquirer of Manchester and as of this week all the UConn men's basketball articles in the JI are the same ones that are in the Register and Post. No more dedicated UConn beat writer from the JI.

Remember 20-30 years ago when there were at least 10 beat writers covering the UConn men's basketball team and they were called The Horde? No more. The only Connecticut newspapers that I'm aware of that now have at least 1 dedicated UConn beat writer are the Hartford Courant, New Haven Register (really Hearst Media), New London Day and the Waterbury Republican-American. I think The Athletic has a beat writer covering the team. Does that reporter specifically cover the team and travel to away games?

The last few seasons only the Courant and Register have sent their beat writers to far away road games like DePaul, Marquette, Creighton, etc. A cost cutting move for sure.

It is a sign of the times as newspapers have shrunk in importance. Game articles are pretty much the same but the more beat writers there were the more extra interesting articles there were outside of the game articles. I miss that. The Horde is no more.

Only caveat being that any such "horde" is shrinking. There are less and less reporters covering any topic and relying on the few reports that are posted via the wire services.

 

[uconnfan68]

Yeah, that's nonsense.

The Athletic hired a marginally talented person to cover UConn from 30,000' up and then killed their college hoop coverage entirely.

Anyone we know?

 

[Fishy]

Anyone we know?

I forgot her name. She was perfectly pleasant and worked hard I am sure, but the org had no commitment to her and she was gone pretty fast. I am sure she is in a better spot, wherever that might be.

 

[HooperScooper]

I forgot her name. She was perfectly pleasant and worked hard I am sure, but the org had no commitment to her and she was gone pretty fast. I am sure she is in a better spot, wherever that might be.

Charlotte Carroll. She's still at The Athletic. She's the New York Giants beat writer for The Athletic now.

Charlotte Carroll - The Athletic

Charlotte Carroll covers the New York Giants for The Athletic. She previously covered the University of Connecticut basketball and the WNBA's Connecticut Sun for The Athletic and wrote for Sports Illustrated. She interned at The Denver Post and Field & Stream magazine.

theathletic.com

 

[Waquoit]

I forgot her name. She was perfectly pleasant and worked hard I am sure, but the org had no commitment to her and she was gone pretty fast. I am sure she is in a better spot, wherever that might be.

It's a fair cop.