No respect for a WR

[br]

Once again, track and field gets shunned by the LA Times (and who knows how many other major newspapers). Despite crushing the WR in an event that many non-running fans appreciate, details of Tergat's marathon was treated as an afterthought in a one sentence "recap" back on page 13 in the Newswire section of the LA Sports section, under "Miscellany". The average reader would never know that Tergat was just one second ahead of his pacemeakerker Sammy Korir, and that Andres Espinosa ran 2:08.46 for a master's record.

"Paul Tergat of Kenya set a marathon world recordof 2 hours 4 minutes 55 seconds in winning the Berlin Marathon. Khalid Knannouchi had set the previous mark of 2:05.38 on April 14, 2002."

Way to go LA Times, keeping the public informed !!

[dl]

Re: No respect for a WR

I dunno why, but I made a point of watching the local sporst news just to make myself angry when they failed to mention the record. What should I expect on a football Sunday?

Well, I SHOULD expect more, but I don't. Lame!

[Guest]

Re: No respect for a WR

>details of Tergat's marathon was treated as an >afterthought in a one sentence "recap" back on >page 13 in the Newswire section of the LA Sports >section, under "Miscellany".

"Paul Tergat of Kenya set a marathon world
>recordof 2 hours 4 minutes 55 seconds in winning
>the Berlin Marathon. Khalid Knannouchi had set
>the previous mark of 2:05.38 on April 14,
>2002."

Hey, don't sell the LA Times short. That was 2 sentences!!

[Guest]

Re: No respect for a WR

BTW, the LA Daily News out-did the Times with a one sentence synopsis buried in the "Briefly" section on page 29.

"Paul Tergat broke the marathon world record by 43 seconds, winning the Berlin marathon in 2 hours, 4 minutes, 55 seconds to shatter Khalid Khannouchi's record."

[Guest]

Re: No respect for a WR

Nothing changes. Unless it was the NY or Boston Marathon, no one in the newspaper business will ever want to give up their precious type space to cover an event that isn't a big money sport. Swimmers face the same problem.

[MJD]

Re: No respect for a WR

As I pointed out on another thread, the grey lady had 13 paragraphs but the content is getting bashed on that thread. You can't win with this crowd. The first thing that happens when you get some rare TV coverage of track is everybody comes on here and says how incompetent the announcers are.

[Guest]

Re: No respect for a WR

The US sport's press is closed minded to sports that are not "American". It is sad this provincial attitude exists within the US sports media.
Contrary to popular belief people in Europe don't care about the Dallas Cowboys.

[Guest]

Re: No respect for a WR

>As I pointed out on another thread, the grey lady
>had 13 paragraphs but the content is getting
>bashed on that thread. You can't win with this
>crowd. The first thing that happens when you get
>some rare TV coverage of track is everybody comes
>on here and says how incompetent the announcers
>are.


Althoough I feel your pain, what does this tirade have to do with newspaper coverage?

[Guest]

Re: No respect for a WR

I can never understand why anyone would ever complain about the coverage that any event ever gets. What are they? Professional spectators! Participate in life - don't watch from the sidelines. I say good on the newspapers and TV stations - cover whatever you want and whatever sells. If it don't sell I wouldn't cover it. If people are really interested in specific news they track it down - there is coverage somewhere.

Stop winging

[Guest]

Re: No respect for a WR

>I can never understand why anyone would ever
>complain about the coverage that any event ever
>gets. What are they? Professional spectators!
>Participate in life - don't watch from the
>sidelines. I say good on the newspapers and TV
>stations - cover whatever you want and whatever
>sells. If it don't sell I wouldn't cover it. If
>people are really interested in specific news
>they track it down - there is coverage
>somewhere.

Stop winging


I'll stop "winging" once newspapers give us a fair shake. Sure, they can cover whatever they see fit, but it is not like br was demanding they stop the presses and devote an entire section to the marathon (as they do for soccer). All we want is something a little more explanatory than a one or two line recap, that can tell you somethiing about the race, the conditions, the competitors. Sure, I don't expect every major newspaper to have a reporter on the scene, they just get their results and stories from wire services. So, when you say "If it don't sell I wouldn't cover it. If people are really interested in specific news they track it down - there is coverage somewhere", it is OK for newspapers to report the end result of an event without giving any specifics? In this particular case, it is like reporting that Barry Bonds broke the home run record, and not provide any key elements that led up to the moment. Sure, I can look up on the internet more specific information about the marathon, but what if I had no access to the internet? I am at the mercy of a sports editor, like they have at the LA Times, that won't give T&F a fair shake, simply because they (the editors) don't like track. Now do you seriously think that the 2-line summation of a major world record by the Times was all the public needed to have?

[MJD]

Re: No respect for a WR

>Sure, I can look up on the internet more
>specific information about the marathon, but
>what if I had no access to the internet?

Who doesn't have access to the internet that would be real interested in this sort of thing?

>I am
>at the mercy of a sports editor

Cancel your subscription if you really feel that you are a victim.

[MJD]

Re: No respect for a WR

Althoough
>I feel your pain, what does this tirade have to
>do with newspaper coverage?

No pain and no tirade and if you don't understand my point, I'm not going to explain it to you.

[Guest]

Re: No respect for a WR

Now do you seriously think that the
>2-line summation of a major world record by the
>Times was all the public needed to have?

The public need to have? What the? Since when does the general public need to know that someone ran very fast over 42.2k?? Holy moly there are much more important things going on in this world that people should be campaigning about getting media attention then athletics.

Why does athletics need more publicity? Where is the link between coverage and participation? There may be a link between coverage and sponsorship - but I don't think there needs to be more money in track for the athletes or anyone else. That is the bueaty of athletics - it is basically free bar purchasing a pair of joggers. It also is not a sport that takes a lot of time in training - so possible to work as well as train.

Once again - quit winging from the sidelines. If you don't like what the editors print - become an editor - see how long you last devoting space to the sports you love instead of the sports that folks want to read about.

Quit talking - start chalkin!

[Guest]

Re: No respect for a WR

Who doesn't have access to the
>internet that would be real interested in this
>sort of thing?

My father for one. He may be old fashioned but he relies on the newspaper for his information. He doesn't want to bother with computers, and I am sure there are more people like him who feel the same.

[Jnathletics]

Re: No respect for a WR

The public
>need to have? What the? Since when does the
>general public need to know that someone ran
>very fast over 42.2k?? Holy moly there are much
>more important things going on in this world
>that people should be campaigning about getting
>media attention then athletics.

Where are you from? Papers have a specific section called "Sports", that section has a given amount of pages. If we athletic fans complain about an athletic's story not given its proper respect and coverage it takes nothing away from your important media events. We are just say that Targets marathon race should get more "Sports" coverage then Jerry Rice's hangnail.

As for the rest of your tirade. Why are you on this web site? Why aren't you chalkin?