Troubling

[XU-PA]

back on my soap box. It appears once again the ladies are getting no respect. As much as they've done this year, did the enquirer even bother to send a reporter? Did any of the TV stations bother?

I was looking at the enquirer site, only thing on x women was a blog from shannon russel about them holding on the the #5 site and getting ready for the title game. I checked her twitter, she's watching on TV. In XU's win over Charlotte, they got a report from an "enquirer contributor" and the first game it was AP coverage.

Sad,,,,,, very sad. The team deserves better, they should be celebrating in front of cincinnati reporters and cincinnati cameras. It's a slap in the face of the team, and for women's basketball.

But was I expecting anything different?

[muskienick]

With the impending demise of the newspaper industry, there isn't enough cash in the kitty for the Enquirer to dedicate a reporter to a women's out of town Conference Tourney be it the A-10 or Big East.

[XU-PA]

The trouble with the papers is that they continue to stuff their heads up their asses about coverage. What they need to do is give their readers or potential readers something that they can't get from all the other sources popping up. It's still not easy to find really good in depth coverage of womens teams like Xavier on the internet. Print and TV are missing out on a golden opportunity here.
There's money available, it just needs to be shifted from one thing to another, the old white boys network in the morning meetings are still pssing money away on stuff that we are finding quicker and in better quality than they can offer.
there will come a time for the local tv stations that they won't have the network programming all to themselves, and that time is coming fast, they need to find a local niche, and just over-hyping snowstorms isn't going to cut it!

[xavierj]

This was on the front page last week of the paper, not the sports page. Seems like John Erardi writes about them often. Problem is as good as the Xavier women are most people who actually read the sports page could care less about womens basketball. Plus Xavier men have a hard enough time getting coverage, I doubt the women will ever get more than they get now unless they win it all. Oh and it would help if McGuff could maybe win a game or two in the tourney. If he loses early this year it will be even harder to get coverage.

http://nky.cincinnati.com/print/article/AB/20100304/SPT0102/3050385/Xavier-women-reach-for-stars

[XUCat1]

Today's recap of semifinal win over CLT was front page of ENQ Sports with color photo of Amber. I believe the ENQ hired a stringer to cover the Tourney.

[xuwin]

From the looks of the crowd it wasn't just the reporters that weren't there. There has to be enough interest to justify the investment.

[xsteve1]

They need to win in the tourney and by the looks of things they definitely aren't playing their best basketball right now. They better get their act together or it's going to be a short tourney again.

[blobfan]

The trouble with the papers is that they continue to stuff their heads up their asses about coverage. What they need to do is give their readers or potential readers something that they can't get from all the other sources popping up. It's still not easy to find really good in depth coverage of womens teams like Xavier on the internet. Print and TV are missing out on a golden opportunity here.
There's money available, it just needs to be shifted from one thing to another, the old white boys network in the morning meetings are still pssing money away on stuff that we are finding quicker and in better quality than they can offer.
there will come a time for the local tv stations that they won't have the network programming all to themselves, and that time is coming fast, they need to find a local niche, and just over-hyping snowstorms isn't going to cut it!

Agreed but the problem is also newpaper consolidation. What does some suit in Gannett's main office care whether or not local sports are getting covereage when all the suit sees is numbers on profits and losses?

[XU-PA]

True Blobfan, most corporate heads find it easier to chop heads and dumb down the product to meet a pre-concieved notion of the proper profit margin, than to try and improve the product and keep up with the changes happening in the media.

Hard work to try to make things better, easy just to let the changing world overcome you.

Want a good example? Take a look at the facebook pages of your local tv news. they are tossing out real updates on news items throughout the day, great way to get a news "tease" to potential viewers who are not currently watching!

I went to the spot on the enquirer page that would link me to their facebook page, and it's a dead link. Found the page via a facebook search and see they've put up just five items so far today, none really "hard news" worthy. and the number of "fans" of the enquirers page is dwarfed by that of the 3 locals ( I can't seem to find a page for WXIX, have they heard of facebook?? I did see that they are looking for a news director, Q,,,, you busy????)

[GoMuskies]

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them care.

[blobfan]

March 22nd Enquirer article on XU v Vandy game (http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100322/SPT0102/3230360/Xavier-women-won-t-intimidate-Vandy) is up with only 2 recommends and 1 comment. The Enquirer isn't going to increase coverage of the women if they don't get any clicks.

[XU-PA]

On my way there Blobfan. Since I'm in town I actually got to see it in print for once. clicking away!