"You'll never get ahead if you don't take care of what you have." - Doris Waddell, RIP

The late Ralph E. Williams with "Heidi" - morris mn

The late Ralph E. Williams with "Heidi" - morris mn
Click on the image to read Williams family reflections w/ emphasis on UMM.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Navigating media waters for track results

I say hats off, obviously, to the Morris Area Chokio Alberta track and field athletes who carried the school's banner so well in state. I wish I could have gotten through this online coverage process cleanly.
As much as I have lamented the West Central Tribune sports section as an information source, I really wasn't expecting such a big glitch again so soon. I innocently grabbed the June 1 sports section here at the Morris Public Library, eager to see how the Tigers did in section. I had no reason to expect problems.
At the top of page B2 is an article with photos that focuses on Tiger track and field in the 6A meet (held in Moorhead). There are two photos, one of Katie Holzheimer and the other of MaKenzie Smith. The headline also bestows attention on these two: "Holzheimer, Smith qualify for state meet in 6A."
Wonderful, I thought. The article accompanying these photos gives details. It reports that Holzheimer qualified for state in the 100m and 200m dashes.
Coach Dale Henrich told me at Willie's that Holzheimer met the qualifying standard in the 200m, thus she advanced despite placing third. Normally it's the top two. Meeting the qualifying standard is something to crow about.
The West Central Tribune article reported that Smith qualified for state in the 3200m, the longest distance. That didn't surprise me because I saw what Smith was capable of doing last fall in cross country. I discovered later that Smith also qualified in the 1600m but that wasn't reported on 6/1. My head is starting to swim just reporting the discrepancies.
The article concludes by announcing the dates of the state meet.
I bumped into the always-amiable coach Henrich toward the end of the week when he was stocking up on Gatorade-like drinks. At this point I assumed the West Central Tribune article had given me all I needed to know. I wrote a few paragraphs online to give these two athletes their much-deserved acknowledgment.
Fast-forward to June 11. That's the Monday after the state meet. Because the West Central Tribune doesn't publish on Sunday, all eyes were going to be on the Monday edition.
Actually I checked online Sunday night and was unable to find anything. Here's a hint, coach Henrich: Make sure that one way or another, track and field news gets reported in a timely way, whether it's via an "old media" site, or Pheasant Country Sports, or a completely independent website. The kids of today expect all important news to be online.
Looking at the June 11 edition of the Willmar paper, I was shocked to see that other Tigers besides Holzheimer and Smith had qualified for state. I was shocked and saddened because I had used that earlier West Central Tribune article as an information source.
Can we assume the Willmar newspaper is a credible source of sports info? I notice minor problems popping up quite often, like stats not adding up the way they should, or other details not reconciling properly.
On June 11, I read that Holzheimer took third in the 100m and sixth in the 200m in state, but also anchored the eighth place 4x100m relay team which also included Beth Holland, Sydney Engebretson and Adrianela Mendez. Why weren't those other three Tigers acknowledged in the West Central Tribune's coverage after the section meet?
Not only that, we had a pole vaulter in state. Wow! Abby Travis placed 16th, getting over the bar at eight feet/three inches. Congratulations to all, but I would like to have acknowledged all you athletes earlier.
Distance runner Smith placed eleventh in the 1600m and 13th in the 3200m.
I hope coach Henrich had enough Gatorade (or whatever brand) along. Certainly it was a weekend to savor special memories.
Track and field seems to have an inherent disadvantage when it comes to media coverage. The baseball and softball teams receive "team specific" coverage. As a result there are frequent headlines that refer to "MACA baseball" and "MACA softball," and these articles focus on the athletes of MACA and the opponent, only.
Track and field tends to get represented in "meet coverage" which has a big block of space turned over to a particular meet (with very small type usually) and you have to painstakingly sift through to ferret out the Morris names.
By mid-season I could almost recite the MACA baseball and softball lineups for you, but I hardly knew who was out for track. I think this is unfortunate.
My remedy as it always is, is for these teams to establish online homes in one manner or another. It costs nothing or next to nothing. The kids themselves could guide you. It's likely they have more insights than many of the coaches.
Forget about the very inconsistent West Central Tribune of Willmar. How much longer can it hang on as a daily anyway? Papers around the U.S. are reducing their frequency of publication. Newspapers are so stressed they can be nightmarish places to work.
Online, no one is encumbered by huge overhead costs which reflect the old U.S. industrial model. Everything is getting more nimble now.
I shudder to think what could have happened to me, in my newspaper career, if I had written an article omitting names of state qualifiers. I'd be called dumber than a pail of nails. Can there be any excuse for this?
The West Central Tribune tries to be too many things to too many people. Too much of the type size is inexcusably small. You get ink on your fingers. Their 6/1 coverage of Tiger track did more harm than good.
Maybe the Morris paper (owned by the same company) got the section meet info right the next day, but I rarely look at the Morris paper. I certainly don't buy it. Who wants to deal with a big Office Max sack that has to be disposed of? Where is the Office Max store located in Morris?
I know, it's in Alexandria which is where the Morris paper seems to want to steer everyone to spend their money.
Let's allow the Morris and Willmar papers to both fade into well-deserved irrelevance.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

No comments:

Post a Comment