[NU Sports] CFB Postseason...Survey Says... (fwd)

[Ben Adler]

You know, believe it or not, I was hoping to keep this discussion OUT of politics...

As for some of the other issues being raised, the attention span point is a pretty fair one.  But I do still think there are enough people who care enough about various subjects to read (or listen to) in-depth stories.  Meanwhile, Mike and John make good points about how we often don't research our subjects enough before writing our stories.  Of course, making blanket statements here is dangerous, but you can usually tell when a reporter has done his/her research and when they haven't.

Medill does have some non-journalism class requirements, but they're not all that significant: only one economics class, for example.  That's an area I wish I had learned more about in college.  Of course, my parents still think all I got at Medill was a "trade school" education.

But what makes this "economics/market of journalism" discussion relevant to this list?  How about the ever-shrinking Northwestern sports coverage in the Trib, Sun-Times and elsewhere?

Just a handful of years ago, NU football had stories in the Trib and ST almost daily during the season.  Now they get 1-2 a week, plus a blurb or two if we're lucky.  And the reporters have higher priorities elsewhere, so they don't have time to build sources or learn the team.  Their stories get more and more superficial every year.

That's how this affects us.  And that's why we should care.

-- Ben



________________________________
From: Dennis W. Brandt <tbng at comcast.net>
To: nwu-sports at romaine.tssi.com
Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2009 2:14:00 PM
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] CFB Postseason...Survey Says... (fwd)

<Here's the bottom line: There will always be a market for solid, hard, investigative news - the kind currently offered by the NYT, WashPost, WSJ, NPR, etc. <The question is, how will we want to consume it?

Would that the NYT, NPR, etc. actually did investigative news instead of pumping out liberal propaganda.  No one has noted that is part of the reason for many newspapers' failures.  Too many are simply dishonest and slanted. Sometimes I think I'm reading Civil War-era newspapers when they  didn't apologize for supporting one party or the other.

One other reason:  The world is losing its attention span.  Fewer and fewer want to take the time to read in-depth reports.  Allow me one other observation:  I don't believe there are many journalists who are all that knowledgeable. 
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