Happy w/Press Coverage in Your Area?

[hawks08]

With the rain and cold postponing the ball games this week, we need something to chew on.... So.... Just curious how the newspaper and TV covers fastpitch in the different areas of the state and are you happy? Would we ever be happy?

In Asheville, the Asheville Citizen Times, in my opinion, has increased coverage of softball and most prep sports significantly over the past 2 years. It used to be articles on football, basketball and baseball.. plus box scores for softball...if we were lucky. Softball used to get 3-4 articles per YEAR at best. Then it was only the top guns, Enka and Owen... and only when they were playing each other, plus a time or two in the playoffs. Now, ACT covers baseball, mixed in with a little of everything....soccer, softball, golf, track...etc.

This year they have increased the coverage to about one, sometimes two softball articles per week, with a weekly honor roll, a verbal summary of games on some days, plus the box scores. That, in my opinion, (although I bet I'm going to get some tomatoes thrown at me) is worth a 'sitting' ovation for ACT. My biggest complaint would be that they are too focused on the teams atop the 3A and 4A conference. This year if I'm not mistaken, they have only covered games which include Enka, TCR, North Buncombe or Reynolds. I believe they have totally left out the Western Highlands 2A teams such as Owen, Pisgah or West Henderson.

So, is ACT doing a fair volume of fastpitch games considering all the other prep sports? And... is it reasonable business and good for sales to only cover the top conference teams or would ACT sell more papers if they covered a little bit of everyone until the end of the season? Should the paper cover games which have no bearing on the conference title? And last, but more importantly, why aren't they covering 2A games yet? Are we giving them notice? I suspect some Owen supporters have called and let ACT know about the big games to no avail.

Does it sell papers to give better coverage of all prep sports? I gotta believe it does. If I know, my child or a friend's child has a chance of being in the paper on any given day, whether its football, softball or tennis, I'm buying.

And finally ... local TV. My momma always said don't say anything if you don't have anything good to say. Softball doesn't get on the radar screen in WNC until the 1st round of the playoffs...maybe. I guess we are supposed to be thankful. NOT. Girls basketball gets great TV sports coverage. Why not softball? At least give us the scores? WLOS TV coverage sucks. Sorry Mom.

Cosmo Hawk

[CFBall]

Interesting subject and I agree with your assessment of media coverage provided to most of us. I believe we have witnessed a great deal of progress over the last few years and feel the media we are using now is more effective....... minus the action shots and provides a statewide audience and beyond. Here is my take(Grade) on the local newspapers and local TV coverage:

Charlotte Observer readers (my daily) are lucky to have One article of more than 2 paragraphs, per week, but do provide daily boxscores from reporting teams and normally list games to be played. They could do more, so..... C

Daily Courier (Rutherford County) does an outstanding job in my opinion, (my friends there may throw tomatoes at me as well)! Two or three time a week, a photo or two and a well written account of the game plus the boxscore appears in their newspaper! Obiviously a priority to them and got to remember only 3 hs in a small county. They still get .......... B

Gaston Gazette (Gastonia/KingsMtn) does a daily two paragraph article on local team results(if reported)plus boxscores and will mix it up with other spring sports for a Feature(Photo and nice write-up).........soo maybe two or three a season plus the good playoff coverage! I will leave farther comments to my friends from Gastonia and Kings Mtn area....greenwave1, I give them ....................B-

Hickory Record, from what I have read over the years is probably the worst in our area..........................softball4ever may add or disagree? IMO......................D

Shelby Star is on the same press as the Hickory Record............................................ .........................D

TV Coverage with what 4 stations in Charlotte and local TV to boot...........One maybe two a year and some playoff coverage and then only the top teams are shown. I think this media has improved over the years as the sport as gained popularity and the audience demanding more coverage. With the NCHSAA deciding to publish a weekly poll, perhaps, all-state players being named in May and more and more talented programs establishing themselves in the "media's eyes"; coverage by the TV and newspapers will contiune to expand. By no means am I satisified or content, so we must maintain communications with all media outlets, its directors and staff to ensure the girls recieve proper exposure and recognition for their athletic experience and accomplishments. Charlotte, Gastonia, Rock Hill, Shelby and Hickory area TV with 3 plus stations and a huge market..........C

Thanks for an interesting topic and lets hope for some sunshine so we can get back on the field. Contiune to keep this board informed on WNC Softball and you dedication to our female athletes! Sorry for such a HUGE post.......................................D-

[FP SUPER]

I would have to disagree with the Asheville paper. I mean Reynolds beat Alexander Central and I didn't see a word mentioned about it. I mean they broke a seven year conference winning streak. Give'em some press.





GOD BLESS AMERICA AND HER TROOPS:cool:

[CFBall]

Reynolds and AC in the same conference since 1996, boy if so, time isssssss flying? I know ACR took Crest's spot when they dropped CHS to 3A.....but I have a real good feeling it hasn't been that long? Someone will post it before I Find my notes and date!!!!!!

[homerun]

CFBALL I THINK FP SUPER IS CORRECT EAST BURKE WAS ONLY TEAM TO BEAT ACHS IN A REGULAR SEASON FASTPITCH GAME. THAT WAS IN 1996 OR 97.

[CFBall]

FP Super.........my bad! I misunderstood initially and thanks to homerun for refreshing my memory but You Did!!! It was worthy of a nice writeup and not to mention TV coverage.

[EnkaJet04]

I would have liked to have read something about the game as well. I only found out and reconfirmed that Alexander returned the favor a few days later by reading a post in this board rocks. FPSuper, if you are a Reynolds fan post some game highlights for us. I wrote a couple of posts from two games that Reynolds played but I am at the Enka games and can only write about those few games that I am able to attend when Enka is not playing. A couple of Reynolds players are on my traveling team and they are very very good. Dana Burton and Janelle Trifon.
Good Luck to Reynolds and I await the rematch game with them after spring break.

[Falcons]

In the mountains, we have two papers that cover softball - c.times/Times-News. Times-news usually does a preview for softball and baseball and has ever year that I have been involved with softball. The parents/athletes all look forward to this. This year they only did baseball - using excuses for not doing softball. The preview usually covers both basseball and softball together. Basically, they took a step backwards letting the girls know once again that they're not worhty. Several parents have called and complained, but to no prevail. That was not right.

The Asheville paper covered a game between West/Owen - big game - 9innings- The paper came out with maybe 5 sentences.
This paper is not very friendly to Coaches calling games in either. They want games called in at their convience- like right after the game. They have upset a few coaches with their attitudes. Basically, we could be satisfied with the coverage, but really its not that good.

[scfan]

I have always been dissapointed in the coverage of softball by the press. I quit buying the Charlotte Observer and Hickory Daily record a couple years ago because of their lack of coverage of high school sports in general. Both of these papers basically cover national sports that you can see through TV coverage. I buy a paper to get more local news.
I will say that our local paper the Lenoir News Topic does a very good job covering high school sports. Their coverage of softball has been excelent in years past but has droped off some this year. They still have a small article on every game but not the detailed coverage they have had in the past. When baseball and softball play the baseball coverage will be half a page and softball will be 1 or 2 paragraphs. These girls work just as hard as the boys and should get just as much coverage. If the papers think that not as many people care about softball like they do baseball they are wrong. One example: This year at the first South Caldwell Home game the softball ticket sales was more than the home baseball and soccer game sales were combined. All three games were being held at the same time. Still both of those games had bigger articles in the next days paper.
Still the Lenoir paper does give softball some coverage and that is better than none at all.

[FP SUPER]

CF BALL If you remember Crest left the NW4A after the 2001 season. I believe your daughter started for that team then left for E. Rut., AC Reynolds first season in the NW4A was last season. I agree with scfan the Lenior Newstopic is one of the better papers concerning high schoolsports.


There website is www.newstopic.net



Like most of you the Charlotte Disturber stinks



GOD BLESS AMERICA AND HER TROOPS KNOCK IT DOWN:D

[FP SUPER]

Get on the newstopic scfan. I've checked the website for two days and havn't found anything about our win over Alexander Central.






GOD BLESS AMERICA AND HER TROOPS WAY TO KNOCK IT DOWN:D

[CFBall]

Thanks and I do remember.............just misread the post ! Sorry and thank you and homerun for keeping me in line.

:D

[hawks08]

I agree with FP Super that ACT missed a great game with Reynolds & AC and it should have been covered. So why wasn't ACT there? Did anyone email ACT days in advance to tell them about this big game? Because of the volume they have to cover I don't think they always know what is a big game in each prep sport. We could help improve that just by emailing them several days in advance. My experience is that ACT is receptive to a heads-up on a big game... they appreciate it. They don't always cover it, but more often now then in the past, they do. The new prep writer said he is trying to learn who are the teams to watch in each sport.

So, as I mentioned in my opening thread, ACT is still falling short in covering all schools and each conference, but they have increased their coverage from miniscule to moderate. In half a season, they have already written more articles on games than they did for the entire season and thru the playoffs, 2 years ago. Maybe we can help them cover better with some well timed emails. We can always hope.

Someone told me that they thought newspaper coverage doesn't help with recruiting an athlete for college. I disagree. I think the lack of an article is not bad, but I think that its a natural tendency to think the athlete is performing at a higher level if they are identified in the press with positive comments. It won't help you get the spot on the team but it could help you get a tryout or get a coach to come watch you play.

[Greenwave1]

CF Ball
RE: Gaston Gazette
In the past couple of years the Gazette has gotten better
on its coverage of fastpitch in the county. This year, it seems
it has regressed as HS Softball was the only spring sport without an early preview of all the county teams. It appears that only
one reporter is covering ALL spring sports and that is nearly impossible to accomplish. So far, I give them a C for so-so coverage. I find that more coverage is available on TBR.

[CFBall]

greenwave, I noticed the no softball preview and as the Asheville area fans mentioned, they deleted their preseason preview section on softball! Shortage of staff to cover all the spring action is normally the problem but I am like you, this forum is and can be a great outlet for our players and fans. Thanks and keep us posted as you have on the Gaston area softball!:D

[fastpitch_mama]

Rutherford County has the Daily Courier, which does a pretty good job covering high school athletics. They are sometimes biased though when it comes to coverage of all 3 schools. (they have their favorite school). It seems like they sometimes choose the wrong games to cover. However they will write articles about middle school games if they are called in and I think that is a plus. They also will have random pictures of Little League players throughout the summer ,which I think is super, and they cover All-Star Little League games as well. All in all I think they do a pretty good job of covering the local sports.

[rams12bb]

In Boone, The Watauga Democrat does a good job of covering the high school team. Of course, being the only team in the county, the team should get coverage. They almost always run a detailed front page article, and many times include a picture. They don't cover the entire conference or area though. But, as far as coverage of Watauga High, I can't complain.

[achscougarfan]

The Taylorsville Times does a great job covering baseball and softball for the ACHS Cougars! We have lots of pictures and articles. I really enjoy looking at the sports section. Thanks Donny!!!!!

[SouthernGent]

Over the last several years the quality & quantity of softball coverage in the Gaston Gazette has decreased almost to the point of non-existance. Games scores will be run if they're called in, but that's about it. I think the GG's article on Nicole Shoemaker's recovery was the preview. In my opinion, the only reason a GG reporter would show up at a softball field is that they were way early for a baseball game.....it's sad but true.

GV1 said it all...TBR is where it's at.

Hey..CF...maybe we should do our own preview next year. What'd ya'll think...???

[CFBall]

2004 Softball Preview will be posted on TBR for all respresented areas........enkajet, hawk, fp super, fastpitchmama, homerun, scfan and so many others, any thoughts?;) Hey, with the schools trying to play baseball and softball at same location......not far to walk to get two stories. As much as I enjoy reading about it in the newspaper and seeing some on the tube......this media we are using is much more informative, entertaining and personal! THanks to all you guys/gals from all over the state for making this Softball forum enjoyable!

[titanfan]

Last year when we got our Sweet-16 banner from the Charlotte Observer Langston said it was probably the last one. He was planning on doing the poll for football and basketball only.

[FP SUPER]

I'd have to agree with cougarfan. Donny Pennell of the Taylorsville Times sets the standard for high school sports coverage. Dony's article's always tell it like it is and if you miss a game you know what happen by reading his stuff.









GOD BLESS AMERICA AND HER TROOPS GET UP THE GOOD WORK:D

[Inspector1]

I feel like the times has baised covrage. If you run with the sports editor, your kids are in the paper. I have never seen at a soccer game. He gives football way too much publicity. The football team wins a few games a year and he is always on the sidelines. Cross Country is screwed too. Does anyone know who I can contact at the times concerning this! :confused: :( :mad:

[acfan]

If Donny (Taylorsville Times) run with all of the parents of all the pics he puts in paper he would have an entourage. I have always seen pics of cross country runners and every other sport whether its high school, middle school, recreation. Every paper that has a sports page allows alot of football cover because of the size of the sport not just the number of wins. Just a fact of life. This week 2 pages were dedicated to recreation b-ball pics. I thank the times for giving him the space to get all of this in. I never miss an issue maybe you missed a few. Also check out www.taylorsvilletimes.com. Even though it is a small county Donny puts in alot of nights running around getting pics. Keep up the great work Donny!!

[fence]

i agree the asheville paper is terrible unless you are enka or north buncombe
hendersonville paper improving everyday
our local paper the transylvania times does a great job with all of our local sports. in addition we are fortunate to have a local radio station wsql am that also does a great job with high school sports
unfortunately, we only have two schools in county, but you cant have it all

[Dawgfan]

ACFAN
Please send me an e-mail I got your mail but do not know exactly waht you mean.
Thanks
Ray

[CFBall]

Dawgfan, we got to solved and i am sure its all settled now! Thanks, Ray

[FP SUPER]

Well let's see Inspector1 are you an idiot? To say Donny gives special treatment to certain sports in crazy. If you've never seen a soccer game that's your problem I know Donny goes to soccer games every year. However there is only one of him, he can't be at all the sports at one time. Another secret he's not the only person that works at the times, he has to cover town meetings as well. Rest assure that someone from the Times is at most of the Soccer games. Oh by the way, you said football only wins a few games ayear and he's always there. Well let's see

A. I don't think he was at everygame this year, look at the pictures they tell the story.

B. I haven't really seen AC's soccer team making a playoff push or heck even a let's win five games push, and they play twice as many games as football.:cool:



GOD BLESS AMERICA AND HER TROOPS :D