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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
OT: How much is too much?
Paul Hayes, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Littleton | NH | USA | Posted: 10:40 PM on 08.27.11 |
->> Over the years I've grappled with a question regarding prep/youth sports. That question is "How much exposure is too much exposure?"
It a relative question rife with gray areas. Different markets have different expectations. Different publications have different emphasis. Different kids have different abilities.
I suppose one way to answer this question is where do you, personally, draw the line and why? And where do you feel publications have crossed that line? And have your opinions on the matter changed over time? |
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Dave Einsel, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Houston | TX | United States | Posted: 11:26 PM on 08.27.11 |
->> You talkin' sun exposure?
You talkin' f/stop - shutter speed exposure?
You talkin' ladies volleyball uniform exposure?
Help us understand the question so we might turn the gray into a rainbow. |
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Patrick Fallon, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Houston | Texas | USA | Posted: 3:52 AM on 08.28.11 |
| ->> You talkin' your publication writes/photographs about the same kid or team every game exposure? |
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Brad Tollefson, Student/Intern, Photo Editor
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Lubbock | TX | USA | Posted: 11:38 AM on 08.28.11 |
->> I'm guessing that you mean giving one sport more coverage than another. E.g. football will almost always get more coverage than swimming or track. I beileve this is based on our perception of what the general populous wants to read and see. Which is understandable given that most people are only interested in football, basketball and baseball.
However, as you stated, this will always change in different markets depending on the quality of programs. A basketball powerhouse will probably receive more light than the underperforming football team. Or when your golf and tennis teams are consistently ranked highly and win championships they'll gain more coverage than at other programs. On this note, a teams or individuals success will loosly dictate the coverage they receive.
In my opinion, the smaller sports should garner more coverage other than the typical event story regardless of performance. E.g. the occasional side bar, feature or photo page. Now obviously it shouldn't (and couldn't) be every week, but we as journalists should strive to venture outside our comfort area of complacency.
I'll get off my soap box now.
Brad |
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Paul Hayes, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Littleton | NH | USA | Posted: 11:48 AM on 08.28.11 |
->> To clarify. I'm talking youth/prep sports coverage as a whole. I'm asking, when it comes to covering kids, how much exposure (ie coverage) is too much?
This could apply to the frequency of coverage for a team or player, ways in which these teams or players are covered, ways the coverage is presented on the printed page, level and depth of analysis/criticism/scrutiny leveled at these players, and so on and so forth.
I was not specifically asking about coverage of one sport over another. Because there is the potential for any team or player from any sport to receive significant exposure at any given time. |
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Mark Peters, Photographer
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Highland | IL | USA | Posted: 12:17 PM on 08.28.11 |
->> Do your readers complain that there is too much or not enough?
That might be a starting point. |
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Clark Brooks, Photo Editor, Photographer
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Urbana | IL | USA | Posted: 2:36 PM on 08.28.11 |
->> "To clarify. I'm talking youth/prep sports coverage as a whole. I'm asking, when it comes to covering kids, how much exposure (ie coverage) is too much?"
If you ask a parent who is honest with you they will tell you there is never enough coverage of their team and more importantly their kid. If you ask an ad salesman, he'll tell you the same because it helps him/her sell ads, especially in small communities. |
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Mark Loundy, Photo Editor
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San Jose | CA | USA | Posted: 3:24 PM on 08.28.11 |
->> What sort of consequences to you envision from "too much exposure?" I guess I still don't understand the question.
--Mark |
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Robert Scheer, Photographer
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Indianapolis | IN | USA | Posted: 4:59 PM on 08.28.11 |
->> Honestly, I do think it's disproportionate. I have covered a ton of high school softball/volleyball/basketball/track/whatever games with maybe 100 people in the stands, often fewer than 50. We (newspapers) often cover these blindly, but the truth is that there are sporting events that happen every weekend, that feature adults, that draw far more spectators, that only rarely see print.
Some examples: minor league auto racing, roller derby, triathlons, horse racing.
Paper editors often make decisions based on how their editors did things, and how those editors did things, and so forth. . . |
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Paul Hayes, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Littleton | NH | USA | Posted: 7:32 PM on 08.28.11 |
->> @Clark -- You're right that parents and kids would probably take as much coverage as we give them. Sort of like goldfish eat until they croak.
@Mark -- I don't know. It's an open ended question. Maybe there is no downside. Maybe it causes problems. Maybe it feeds subtly into a change in the way people view sports. I dunno. But I think it's an interesting think to consider, what too much coverage can do.
@Robert -- This is sort of what I'm getting at.
I guess it boils down to this. There's no doubt we pay more attention to, and level more criticism at, prep athletes today (as opposed to a quarter century ago). Not just at the elite level, where they choose colleges at press conferences and grace magazine covers, but at the local level where smaller papers give them the same play that major league sports teams get in metro papers. I did the same thing when I was sports editor a while back. But I always wondered if there was a point where too much coverage of a kid or a team was simply too much?
I can't say I have a definite opinion on this. I don't. |
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Mark Loundy, Photo Editor
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San Jose | CA | USA | Posted: 10:10 PM on 08.28.11 |
->> Paul, There is no formulaic answer. Your question helps illustrate why "local" doesn't scale very well. The answer involves intimate knowledge of the community combined with experienced news judgment.
In other words, if you don't know, a more intimate relationship with your community will probably help.
--Mark |
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Doug Pizac, Photographer
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Sandy | UT | USA | Posted: 10:34 PM on 08.28.11 |
->> Robert...
The reason the sports you mentioned (roller derby, racing, etc.) aren't high on the priority list is because they don't involve a ball. As strange as that may seem, in over 30 years of dealing with editors that is a commonality -- which is unfortunate.
Here in Utah more people will turn out for a high school game than for World Championship speedskating, bobsled, etc. featuring Olympic gold medalists who set new world records. |
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Randy Vanderveen, Photographer
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Grande Prairie | AB | Canada | Posted: 12:22 PM on 08.29.11 |
->> I think it depends on your location/readers. I worked for 10 years at a small city newspaper which had no pro teams, was an afternoon paper and is located approximately 200 miles away from the nearest pro sport franchise and at the very least half the sports stories were about pro sports which had already run or were similar to ones that had run in larger metro papers which arrived in the morning, before the local paper even went to press. Often times local sports stories that occurred on the weekend didn't see any press until Tuesday or Wednesday.
I think it is important to remember that when you work for a paper you are working for the readers. That doesn't mean you kowtow to every demand or request they have but you better be giving them something new, fresh and that, for the most part, relates locally — whether it is sports or news.
Local doesn't have to mean it applies to your town only but make it real to your readers. If it is a story on income tax increases then tell and show how it will affect Joe and Mary Brown who live in your town don't just run an AP/CP/Reuters story that interviews experts on Wall/Bay Street and politicians. How will it affect you and your neighbours. If it is a story on a disaster add at least a few paragraphs about how people in your community can be prepared and/or help with relief support whether on the other side of the nation or world.Get back to community journalism.
Regarding sports, every single game that takes place in the community but the more quality content you provide — not a team photo of the winning team in a tournament — the more readers will begin to see the relevance of your publication in their daily lives and will support it.
I no longer work for a newspaper as a staffer but I believe the lack of "local" coverage is what is killing the industry. Why would advertisers pay for an ad in a newspaper that is running the exact same stories as runs in every other paper? If the readers aren't buying into your publication for their news and sports fix you can be assured the advertisers won't and layoffs and closures will soon follow.
That is one of the biggest issues with corporate ownership they cut the newsroom and use shared copy which doesn't satisfy readers which means plummeting readership, lower ad sales and more layoffs or closures.
Just my two cents. |
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Randy Vanderveen, Photographer
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Grande Prairie | AB | Canada | Posted: 12:29 PM on 08.29.11 |
| ->> Dropped a phrase: Should read. Regarding sports, you don't have to provide coverage for every single game that takes place in your community... |
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