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Complaints About Blue Jackets Coverage
by Alanah McGinley on 11/20/08 at 01:19 PM ET
Comments (2)
From Ben Marrison, Editor of the Columbus Dispatch:
The caller said she is “sick and tired” of our negative coverage of the team, and said we’re trying to drive them out of town. She was particularly irked by the large photo we ran of goalie Pascal Leclaire in Wednesday’s paper, who gave up 7 goals in a loss Tuesday. She said we had the worst coverage of an NHL team of any newspaper.
Worth a read, given that the matter of “negative” coverage is something that fans around the league often have strong feelings about. And the fact that the ownership company behind The Dispatch also happens to own a 10% stake in the Columbus Blue Jackets and their arena, is another interesting twist.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Columbus Blue Jackets, NHL Media | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: media,
Comments
Perhaps that caller should move to the motor city where the MSM is
afraid to criticize the Wings for fear their publishers will lose all that
advertising that the Ilitch empire controls.
Detroit Tigers,Fox Theater, Little Ceasar Pizza, etc…
I would welcome some honest coverage
Posted by HockeyTownTodd from upset when blogs don’t live up to my expectations on 11/20/08 at 03:24 PM ET
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I think this is an excellent post by Marrison. He really handles the situation well, especially with the comment at the end that it’s the opinion of the BJ’s fans and the paper’s readers that really matters.
Having read at least one or two posts per week from the Dispatch’s website and Puck Rakers blog for a couple years now (thanks to KK’s front page, of course), I have to admit that as someone with no subjective interested in the success of the BJs, I think that the fan is overreacting. One reason I read at least a couple posts a week on the Dispatch’s website even though I don’t really care about the BJs is because their writers do a real nice job talking hockey, and do a nice job diligently covering their team. It’s just plain good work.
With that said, though, it makes perfect sense that the fan overreacted. I would too. No die-hard fan likes it when their team loses, and most of us have one of two reactions when our club goes out and lays a stinker—we either damn them to hell and curse them as the worst hockey team since that video of bears playing hockey, or we go into denial and try to come up with reasons why the loss/losses/losing streak isn’t that bad and things will work out.
In the end, I salute the Dispatch for having some of the better beat writers in the league—beat writers that are HONEST, ask good questions, and don’t fluff up the club they follow every chance they get, even when it’s clearly not the correct thing to do. Also, I give them credit for the way they’ve handled this fan’s comments and complaints. But I also give credit to the fan for being a good fan, being excited/fired up about her team. The unfortunate thing about a situation like this is this fan is the epitome of a good NHL fan. And there are lots of fans just like her in Columbus, Nashville, Atlanta, and Miami, just not enough to sustain clubs. If the BJs can get their act together, I think they’ve got the best fan base of the “questionable” clubs and could really be a popular team that has success the way the Dallas Stars or San Jose Sharks have done out west.
Posted by Nathan on 11/20/08 at 01:36 PM ET