so the o considers its region 60-80 miles out? hey mike, explain this one.
http://www.charlotte.com/qna/forum/ask_the_editor_rick_thames/index.html
[QUOTE=cltniners;326688]so the o considers its region 60-80 miles out? hey mike, explain this one.
http://www.charlotte.com/qna/forum/ask_the_editor_rick_thames/index.html[/QUOTE]
From Rick’s answer:
“At the same time we’ll go anywhere in the Carolinas, or beyond, to cover stories important to a majority of readers in this region.”
You’d have a hard time arguing that the Tar Heels and Wolfpack, and by extension the ACC in general, don’t fit that description.
[QUOTE=Mike_Persinger;326697]From Rick’s answer:
“At the same time we’ll go anywhere in the Carolinas, or beyond, to cover stories important to a majority of readers in this region.”
You’d have a hard time arguing that the Tar Heels and Wolfpack, and by extension the ACC in general, don’t fit that description.[/QUOTE]
Ya know Mike for the most part I am ok with that answer. I just wish you would give us at least equal billing since we are actually in the reigon that you supposedly cover.
Thanks Mike. I look forward to front page Cowboy coverage this fall and front page Celtic coverage during basketball season.
Some of you Niners need to quit complaining and accept our place in society. We are not supposed to have a med school, football, law school, or be considered a major institution by the home town. We are not supposed to have fans other than alumns. Learn to accept who we are and deal with it. How many times do experts like Mike and Mary and others have to explain this to us?
[QUOTE=NinerWupAss;326706]Ya know Mike for the most part I am ok with that answer. I just wish you would give us at least equal billing since we are actually in the reigon that you supposedly cover.[/QUOTE]
QFT
[QUOTE=Mike_Persinger;326697]From Rick’s answer:
“At the same time we’ll go anywhere in the Carolinas, or beyond, to cover stories important to a majority of readers in this region.”
You’d have a hard time arguing that the Tar Heels and Wolfpack, and by extension the ACC in general, don’t fit that description.[/QUOTE]
I would have a hard time arguing that the majority of readers in our 60-80 mile radius think is important because I don’t have any facts or figures to back it up. So give them to us. I suppose you do exhaustive research that you use to determine what your readers are interested in. Would you share with us the numbers that show that the majority of your readers find ACC stories important, and how you arrived at those numbers?
[QUOTE=gamer;327074]I would have a hard time arguing that the majority of readers in our 60-80 mile radius think is important because I don’t have any facts or figures to back it up. So give them to us. I suppose you do exhaustive research that you use to determine what your readers are interested in. Would you share with us the numbers that show that the majority of your readers find ACC stories important, and how you arrived at those numbers?[/QUOTE]
I’ve done this job for seven years and been in Charlotte for 20. I think I have a pretty good handle on what sells in this market. I’ve talked to hundreds of readers, I know what they call to complain about and what draws no reaction at all. I’ve watched numbers on web traffic for specific stories, seen what draws eyeballs and what doesn’t. I know what draws TV ratings in this market and what doesn’t. I know who you guys hate and who you don’t, and you generally hate the ACC teams because your neighbors and coworkers follow them. If they had no effect on your life here in Charlotte, you’d be indifferent to them. You can deny the fact that that ACC is popular here, but denying it doesn’t make it any less true.
I've done this job for seven years and been in Charlotte for 20. I think I have a pretty good handle on what sells in this market. I've talked to hundreds of readers, I know what they call to complain about and what draws no reaction at all. I've watched numbers on web traffic for specific stories, seen what draws eyeballs and what doesn't. I know what draws TV ratings in this market and what doesn't. I know who you guys hate and who you don't, and you generally hate the ACC teams because your neighbors and coworkers follow them. If they had no effect on your life here in Charlotte, you'd be indifferent to them. You can deny the fact that that ACC is popular here, but denying it doesn't make it any less true.
I don’t mean to beat a dead horse. But if this is true, why not more front page coverage and features of Notre Dame football, NY Yankees and the Dallas Cowboys? You generally seem to dodge this one, but surely stories on those teams would sell more papers.
[QUOTE=Normmm;327099]I don’t mean to beat a dead horse. But if this is true, why not more front page coverage and features of Notre Dame football, NY Yankees and the Dallas Cowboys? You generally seem to dodge this one, but surely stories on those teams would sell more papers.[/QUOTE]
The key is how many. Those teams are popular here, but Notre Dame is not more popular here than North Carolina, and you know it. The Cowboys are popular, but no more so than the Redskins (and probably less) and both are, at this point, less popular than the Panthers, as bad as they can be on occasion.
There’s also a geography limitation. It would cost us a fortune to cover Notre Dame or the Cowboys from here, and if we’re not going to spend that fortune, that makes no sense. Using AP, which can easily be found online at espn.com and elsewhere, doesn’t differentiate my product from them, and thus makes us less stable in an unstable industry. Similarly, other outlets can’t cover the ACC like we can, or the Niners for that matter. I’m in no danger of losing subscribers or online viewers to the Gaston Gazette on Niners coverage, for instance.
This argument is stupid. It’s fairly unanimous that Jim – and by extension the Observer – has done a good job of covering the Niners. Correct me if I’m wrong on that. But it’s just as true that it would be job-security suicide for me to do less than we do on the ACC in the paper.
Working for a company that just cut 22 newsroom jobs, I’m not sure now is the time to be experimenting with the alternative to that, either.
I won’t ask you to agree, normmm, because I know you don’t. But don’t expect me to risk my job, either.
[QUOTE=Mike_Persinger;327085]I’ve done this job for seven years and been in Charlotte for 20. I think I have a pretty good handle on what sells in this market. I’ve talked to hundreds of readers, I know what they call to complain about and what draws no reaction at all. I’ve watched numbers on web traffic for specific stories, seen what draws eyeballs and what doesn’t. I know what draws TV ratings in this market and what doesn’t. I know who you guys hate and who you don’t, and you generally hate the ACC teams because your neighbors and coworkers follow them. If they had no effect on your life here in Charlotte, you’d be indifferent to them. You can deny the fact that that ACC is popular here, but denying it doesn’t make it any less true.[/QUOTE]
So then you have no facts or numbers to argue with? That would suggest that your opinion is no better than mine. At least I tried to make this a discussion of facts and numbers without purporting to be an expert. But for what it’s worth, without any evidence to the contray, I do feel that I can argue that the majority of readers of the Big Obs probably don’t even read many of the articles on the ACC, much less consider them to be important.
Again, if you have any data to support what you say (and that is what serious news reporting should be based on) I would be interested in seeing it. Otherwise, I will wait till I walk by the paper rack and see that the sport section has become section A before I change my mind about what most people think is important in the paper.
[QUOTE=Mike_Persinger;327100]This argument is stupid. It’s fairly unanimous that Jim – and by extension the Observer – has done a good job of covering the Niners. Correct me if I’m wrong on that. But it’s just as true that it would be job-security suicide for me to do less than we do on the ACC in the paper.
Working for a company that just cut 22 newsroom jobs, I’m not sure now is the time to be experimenting with the alternative to that, either.
I won’t ask you to agree, normmm, because I know you don’t. But don’t expect me to risk my job, either.[/QUOTE]
Nobody knows stupid like I know stupid, and it ain’t Normm.
You want to know what’s stupid? I’ll tell you what’s stupid. Stupid is as stupid does, and news people using phrases like “fairly unanimous” is stupid. Look up unanimous in your Funk and Wagnalls.
Something else that sounds stupid to me is thinking that the loss of 22 newsroom jobs means that you shouldn’t change anything. Duhhh!
Now if you think that giving Dan Rather a 30 second spot in the middle of a sitcom would be good world news coverage, then I can understand your thinking that the Observer does a good of covering the Forty Niners.
Give Mr. Utter more ink and let him give our Niners more coverage. You may be pleasantly surprised!
This argument is stupid. It's fairly unanimous that Jim -- and by extension the Observer -- has done a good job of covering the Niners. Correct me if I'm wrong on that. But it's just as true that it would be job-security suicide for me to do less than we do on the ACC in the paper.Working for a company that just cut 22 newsroom jobs, I’m not sure now is the time to be experimenting with the alternative to that, either.
I won’t ask you to agree, normmm, because I know you don’t. But don’t expect me to risk my job, either.
LOL. so basically, your newspaper is going in the tank and instead of making changes to improve that situation, you’re just gonna keep doing the same ol’ thing…hmmm that makes a lot of sense.
I was in San Diego back in December, right about the time football is winding down and basketball is picking up. I was thinking there was going to be massive coverage of UCLA and USC…not so much. It was strange to see the local media spend so much time covering Univ. of San Diego and San Diego State and not a couple of powerhouse schools a couple hours away. Believe me, the Observer is in the minority in how they treat local sports. Maybe when the next round of layoffs come around, you’ll start thinking about new “innovative” changes to what your paper covers.
[QUOTE=NinerNation Inc.;327109]LOL. so basically, your newspaper is going in the tank and instead of making changes to improve that situation, you’re just gonna keep doing the same ol’ thing…hmmm that makes a lot of sense.
. . . [B]Maybe when the next round of layoffs come around, you’ll start thinking about new “innovative” changes to what your paper covers[/B].[/QUOTE] :lmao:
Base on all of the responses from Mike, we don’t have enough trailer park Niners within the 60-80 mile radius. 
Base on all of the responses from Mike, we don’t have enough trailer park Niners within the 60-80 mile radius. [/QUOTE]
If you think I should do less on the ACC than we do, and particularly on North Carolina and N.C. State, I don’t think I could ever convince you otherwise.
[QUOTE=Mike_Persinger;327114]If you think I should do less on the ACC than we do, and particularly on North Carolina and N.C. State, I don’t think I could ever convince you otherwise.[/QUOTE]
Could you really do that? I didn’t think that you care.
[QUOTE=Mike_Persinger;327114]If you think I should do less on the ACC than we do, and particularly on North Carolina and N.C. State, I don’t think I could ever convince you otherwise.[/QUOTE]
clt asks mike if the o covers unc-ch ( you guys refer to them as unc even though that is incorrect and has NEVER been fixed) and UNC-R ( that should be their name and clt knows you agree Mike) more or less than 10 or 20 years ago. clt doubts the significance of the acc that was present 20 years ago, pre panthers and hornets/bobcats, nascar explosion, malik el tamir era.
clt offers this. you cover it bc you know it and a good number of the o staff are unc-ch grads.
Mr P, We have people on this board state that they have stopped subscribing to the Big Obs due to lack of 49er coverage. How many former subscribers do you know of who have quit taking the paper because of lack of ACC coverage?
[QUOTE=gamer;327122]Mr P, We have people on this board state that they have stopped subscribing to the Big Obs due to lack of 49er coverage. How many former subscribers do you know of who have quit taking the paper because of lack of ACC coverage?[/QUOTE]
People quit taking the paper for all kinds of reasons. Most of those who care about sports in the Carolinas continue to use our product, at charlotte.com. If there’s a better source of Niners news than Jim, I’m not aware of it. Whether you read him in the printed paper or on charlotte.com or on his blog, you’re reading an Observer publication. Who’s better than him? Who covers you more?
clt has two questions mike p: one, where is mike’s answer for clt’s question? and who is the acc paper of record? clt says it IS the n&o, considering they have 3 schools within their coverage area.
[QUOTE=cltniners;327126]clt has two questions mike p: one, where is mike’s answer for clt’s question? and who is the acc paper of record? clt says it IS the n&o, considering they have 3 schools within their coverage area.[/QUOTE]
I’d say the coverage now and 20 years ago is roughly the same. When I got to the Observer 20 years ago, we had a much heavier presence in South Carolina, an entire edition in fact that swapped out N.C. stories for Clemson and South Carolina and circulated widely and aggressively in York, Chester and Lancaster counties. The Hornets were amazingly hot (I arrived in part because of their birth) once the Kurt Rambis tip-in beat the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls on Dec. 23, 1988, starting a streak of more than 400 straight sellouts of Charlotte Coliseum and its 23,000-plus seats. The Panthers did not yet exist, we had five or six stories on the front page most days (now we have three or four) on a page that was almost two inches wider than today’s front page and the same length.
That was a different world, but at that time we had one reporter based in Raleigh to cover the ACC and Stan Olson covered the Niners (and other things). Now we have one reporter based in Raleigh (we still fill in with others from the Charlotte office when necessary). We had one NASCAR reporter then, now we have most of two people.
While Raleigh has every right to consider itself the paper of record on the ACC – they have a reporter for each of the Triangle schools plus two or three others who float, plus columnists – that doesn’t mean we should do less on the ACC. Our readership is intensely interested. I’m not going to look up the TV numbers and don’t have to. If anyone else could draw the same numbers here, you can rest assured they’d have a local TV contract. You will see more cooperation on the ACC going forward between us and our now-sister paper in Raleigh. That’s another thing that’s vastly different from 20 years ago, or even two years ago. They used to be the competition, and now we’re basically becoming one staff.
Between the N&Os staff and ours, we have lots of reporting muscle to use, on the web and in print.