I'm frustrated by the lack of coverage that The Beacons are getting this season. I realize that if the Beacons win the NCAA tournament, the Times will be willing to print what the AP puts out, but I'm wondering what can happen until that happens.
Currently we are in a chicken and the egg situation; the paper isn't printing articles as there isn't much interest in Beacon basketball, but it's tough to generate interest if no one in the region hears anything about the team. Yesterday's game yielded a 100 word story and a stock photo stuck on the bottom of page 2 between a story of Colts named to the Pro Bowl and the announcement of the new Oakland A's manager.
Since the editors have no idea that I am reading about Valpo as I subscribe to the print version, I decided to go to the online edition to click on the story. In that edition, I could only click on the page, so the editors may have thought that I was interested in Oakland management moves rather than Kevion Taylor's hot shooting. I ended up entering "Valpo Beacons" in the Times search box and the results reminded me of how little the editors care about the Beacons.
Maybe this is a question for pgmado, but what can we do as supporters of Beacon basketball to convince the editors that there is interest in the team? As individuals on this board can we take steps to act as a catalyst to increase attention for ARC (and other MVC venues) happenings?
Are you inferring to the local news source, for which many in this country are fiscally suffering?
Quote from: usc4valpo on December 23, 2021, 07:12:47 AM
Are you inferring to the local news source, for which many in this country are fiscally suffering?
Yes, I maintain a print subscription to support local news coverage. I just wish that the local news that is chosen to be covered would be news that I care about.
To me the University has to beef up their internal communication about the program. It is almost as non existent as the paper. No advance marketing or communication is anywhere. No one outside Of die hard valpo fans know when games are.
We are very lucky to have the quality and depth of coverage PO provides. He is the best in the Valley by far. USH is phenomenal.
Quote from: Chairback on December 23, 2021, 08:48:37 AMWe are very lucky to have the quality and depth of coverage PO provides. He is the best in the Valley by far. USH is phenomenal.
Absolutely! His fine work deserves a larger audience.
Let me offer an out-of-the-box suggestion. While I agree that the university needs to boost its communication about the program (internally and externally), they also need to find a solution to getting local media coverage. Since it seems that the northwest Indiana papers' resources are so low and stretched so thin, bring on several Valpo journalism students as interns (unpaid or minimally paid) to write articles on games. If there is concern about insufficient coverage in the Torch, the students could write articles that are posted in both. Great experience for the students, a low cost solution for the newspaper, and better exposure for the program. Please note that for the newspaper that PO writes for, this would be intended to complement his fine work.
I noticed the lack of coverage this morning as I read the newspaper, and I thought it especially annoying since yesterday's game day was a special outreach to the community with free admission to those under 18, discounts to all adults, a t-shirt giveaway, free family photos with Santa, etc. Of course, few in the area would have known about the promotion since it wasn't reported with an advance story in the paper, but I would expect at least a mention in the paper about such a goodwill effort with a holiday theme in the morning edition after the event and two days before Christmas, especially as a follow-up to build on momentum from the enthusiasm witnessed for the volleyball tournament championship game.
Obviously, if there were a substantial loyal general following of VU in the region, economics would dictate more local media coverage. That there isn't speaks to a period of disconnect that has only grown in recent years. I have spoken to friends and VU alums who have lived in Valparaiso for more than 60 years, much longer than I have, and they inform me they have never seen such a gap between the university and community as there appears to be now; that split extends beyond and might even be rooted in areas other than sports. The lack of media coverage either reflects this situation or only exacerbates it. I know Pres. Padilla has mentioned connecting with the community as one of his goals; clearly much needs to be done.
Excellent comments and suggestions above. Additionally, President Padilla needs to sit down with the Times and PT managing editors and editorial boards for a larger discussion about how the university can better connect to the community, support regional development, help drive the economic engine, elevate educational opportunities, etc. Position the university as wanting to make a difference right here where it resides. If he can build that kind of relationship, they will improve their sports coverage with the snap of a finger.
My frustrations are the same as your frustrations. There's a lot of inside baseball going on. The Times (and the Post, which has completely punted on VU coverage) has a desire to serve preps first and foremost. Staffing is down at both papers, with The Times not even having a fulltime sports writer since James Boyd left. That means a ton of the daily minutiae has fallen to correspondents. Long and short of it, preps is always going to win out. I'm exploring avenues right now where I can continue VU coverage or maybe even beef it up a little. What this means, I'm not entirely sure. Perhaps a substack site. I'd imagine I could easily get a handful of people excited about that. Whether it means enough to support an endeavor is another question. Something to think about over the holidays to be sure.
Thank you all for reading and listening over the years. I know we don't always agree, but we also don't have to. Covering college basketball/athletics is all I've ever wanted to do.
And you do it well PO!!! You have created a historical legacy of valpo basketball.
Our community is lucky to have both you and Todd associated with Valpo athletics.
I'm as disappointed as anyone. And I have quite a history with the paper.
I'm on the verge of canceling my subscription.
Quote from: Pgmado on December 23, 2021, 12:20:30 PM
My frustrations are the same as your frustrations. There's a lot of inside baseball going on. The Times (and the Post, which has completely punted on VU coverage) has a desire to serve preps first and foremost. Staffing is down at both papers, with The Times not even having a fulltime sports writer since James Boyd left. That means a ton of the daily minutiae has fallen to correspondents. Long and short of it, preps is always going to win out. I'm exploring avenues right now where I can continue VU coverage or maybe even beef it up a little. What this means, I'm not entirely sure. Perhaps a substack site. I'd imagine I could easily get a handful of people excited about that. Whether it means enough to support an endeavor is another question. Something to think about over the holidays to be sure.
Thank you all for reading and listening over the years. I know we don't always agree, but we also don't have to. Covering college basketball/athletics is all I've ever wanted to do.
Thanks Paul, we appreciate you, even though the Packers will always suck. Forever Elway!
Quote from: Valpo89 on December 23, 2021, 03:26:00 PM
I'm as disappointed as anyone. And I have quite a history with the paper.
I'm on the verge of canceling my subscription.
You wrote great stories on Valpo basketball in the good old days.
Until 2 years we had 2 newspapers carrying pregame and postgame articles for every game, plus regular feature stories. Suddenly, the Post Tribune bowed out. Now, more shockingly, the Times has discontinued coverage. Paul Oren would fix this problem if he could, but as a free lance sports writer he can't influence anything. It's up to these people to figure this out and get it solved:
• President Padilla
• Mark LaBarbera - Director of Athletics
• Sarah Pruess - Executive Associate Athletic Director/Senior Woman Administrator
• Erik Weiler - Senior Associate Athletic Director for Internal Operations
• Aaron Leavitt - Assistant Director of Athletics for Media Relations
• Brandon Vickery - Assistant Director of Athletics for Media Relations
If these people worked for me and held up their hands and said, "What can we do?," I would fire them on the spot and find people with the ability to think off the script. FIX THIS!
I don't think you're seeing the forest through the trees. Brandon and Aaron do a great job every year of pitching stories and providing the local media (myself included) with storylines for the teams. Those two should be commended for the work they do.
None of those people listed have anything to do with the changing media landscape and the idea that people don't read the newspaper to read about the games.
If I had the answers, I would've solved the equation by now, but to think that this is an issue because people at Valpo aren't doing their jobs is incorrect.
I hear a lot of people wanting more and better coverage. I also hear from Paul that the reason for reduced coverage is the media companies losing readership and reducing staffs. But what I haven't heard is how we can support Paul and his basketball content. Can Union Street hoops be supported by members of this forum and perhaps others interested in VU sports? Could this be done through Patreon or other methods of monetary support? I don't currently support other media/YouTube content producers via Patreon but might be willing to do that for more Union Street Hoops content. What do other's on this forum think about supporting Paul and VU basketball/sports coverage in general in this fashion?
Quote from: FWalum on December 24, 2021, 09:45:25 AM
I hear a lot of people wanting more and better coverage. I also hear from Paul that the reason for reduced coverage is the media companies losing readership and reducing staffs. But what I haven't heard is how we can support Paul and his basketball content. Can Union Street hoops be supported by members of this forum and perhaps others interested in VU sports? Could this be done through Patreon or other methods of monetary support? I don't currently support other media/YouTube content producers via Patreon but might be willing to do that for more Union Street Hoops content. What do other's on this forum think about supporting Paul and VU basketball/sports coverage in general in this fashion?
*Crickets* Really nobody has an opinion or idea about this??
Quote from: Pgmado on December 24, 2021, 09:25:54 AM
I don't think you're seeing the forest through the trees. Brandon and Aaron do a great job every year of pitching stories and providing the local media (myself included) with storylines for the teams. Those two should be commended for the work they do.
None of those people listed have anything to do with the changing media landscape and the idea that people don't read the newspaper to read about the games.
If I had the answers, I would've solved the equation by now, but to think that this is an issue because people at Valpo aren't doing their jobs is incorrect.
The changing media landscape is "the forest." The NWI Times discontinuing coverage of VU men's basketball is "the tree." You're at 30,000 ft. I'm at ground level. I get it.
If you would, kindly humor me while I examine the trees down here a bit longer. Sometime within the past week or so, the Times discontinued coverage of VU men's basketball. They didn't go out of business. They didn't eliminate the sports section. They didn't discontinue local sports reporting. Presumably, they didn't save newsprint. As far as I can see, all they are saving are a few $50-$100 payments to a freelance writer over the next couple of months. This is pocket change of no value toward saving the ship, and yet they did it anyway. Why?
More specifically, no other program in NWI, HS or college, received as much coverage as Valpo men's basketball - regular feature stories, game day build-up stories, and postgame stories. How does the king of coverage go not to less coverage but no coverage of any kind, seemingly overnight. How exactly did that happen?
Since no news outlet covered the William & Mary game, what purpose was there in having a postgame press conference? You were the only reporter there, and you had no story to write. Presumably, that's the next thing to go, correct?
BTW, congratulations on a nice feature story about the IU Northwest RedHawks women's basketball team. Apparently, having you cover a D-2 women's sport at an extension school in Gary is still in the Times' purview.https://www.nwitimes.com/sports/basketball/college/region-rivalries-set-aside-history-to-help-redhawks-soar/article_13fc0dc4-d885-5c43-b441-c60f91176ec9.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-1
I believe that IU-Northwest is NAIA D-1, and have to believe that PO was asked to cover, due to all of the local connections on the team.
Quote from: valpotx on December 26, 2021, 04:17:18 AM
I believe that IU-Northwest is NAIA D-1, and have to believe that PO was asked to cover, due to all of the local connections on the team.
The kings of coverage in NWI sports abandoned in the blink of an eye, and our apparently former beat reporter is now covering girls basketball where? State powerhouses Crown Point or Lake Central where a few hundred people might give a crap? No, lowly IUN where exactly 13 families even remotely care. This is the "changing landscape" of global communications at work? This is survival of the fittest in a declining media market?
From Paul's comment, I don't think there has been a decision to never cover VU sports again, it's just going to be a low priority.
I did notice that the latest Union Street Hoops link was independent of NWI Times.
If PO would include obituaries and sudoku with articles about VU, I could drop my subscription to NWI Times.
The university should fund the coverage if there is none. Or getting moving on their own communication.
Quote from: Chairback on December 26, 2021, 09:28:13 AM
The university should fund the coverage if there is none. Or getting moving on their own communication.
I can only imagine how well that would work out. Look at the track record for "Valpo Weekly," a 5-minute internally produced video interview of our head basketball coach conducted by Brandon Vickrey.
Brandon opens every interview with these words, "Welcome to another edition of Valpo
Weekly." Men's basketball season is beginning it's 10th week. To date, the Athletic Department has published exactly 2 Valpo "Weekly" interviews - one in October to kick off the season and one since. This takes "over promise and under deliver" to a whole new extreme.
It's painfully obvious that there is little to no accountability for behind-the-scene performance in the athletic department. The signs are everywhere. Chairback, one of your recent posts showed the glaring contrast in game day experience from past to present. Add to that the blatant disregard for a broken PA system for years and more recently the broken overhead scoreboard. Then consider the adage that for every rat you see, there are 10 you don't see, and it's not a big stretch to envision a rudderless, captainless ship with people doing just enough to keep it afloat. The current workforce can be thankful it's not my problem to solve.
In any event, there's not a person that's part of the current culture over there that I would let within sniffing distance of rolling out a new internal media platform.
I see the logic of favoring high schools as the top priority in these local papers its their bread and butter. I have seen that across the country when I travel. Pro and major colleges will always dominate the larger papers.
However, I do wonder how "regional universities" compare with our local coverage. I am pretty sure I have seen more Bradley coverage in Peoria and Illinois State coverage in that city. Drake, Evansville, and others would be interesting to know.
We've wondered for 15-20 years about the Valpo regional enigma. While there were good historical theories like race, white collar-blue collar, Chicago's shadow, and most of all very bad VU basketball for a decade or more. But the team started winning in the late 90s and 2000s, the demographics weren't as stark,but little changed. Now the new media landscape need to focus locally would suggest that more not less coverage go to a local university that is so large in ratio to its town. Just a real puzzler. But it would likely correlate to poor community attendance.
very bad VU basketball for a decade or more
I am not saying that it is great now (but could be as this season progresses), but you need to consider the following over the last decade:
-NCAA tournament births in 2013 and 2015
-NIT run in 2016
-NIT birth in 2017
Perhaps what may have changed (within the community and beyond) are attention span, alternatives for entertainment, and loyalty.
I mean "bad basketball" in the 80s and early 90s when the community wasn't bonding with the team.
Since then it has typically been a very good team in a small town, and sometimes its been very impressive such as the 1994-2003 decade.
[size=78%] [/size]
Ironically, I finally got a notice from The Times about Beacon Basketball last night -- kind of a pre-game, I guess. It announced that the game had been canceled.
There was a good article by Paul in this morning's paper offering a review of Valpo's development as a team during non-conference play.
Quote from: valpopal on December 29, 2021, 09:58:02 AM
There was a good article by Paul in this morning's paper offering a review of Valpo's development as a team during non-conference play.
I have already sent a message to The Times thanking them and encouraging more such stories.
Valpo basketball in the 80s under the munchkin were very rough times.
Quote from: valpopal on December 29, 2021, 09:58:02 AM
There was a good article by Paul in this morning's paper offering a review of Valpo's development as a team during non-conference play.
A sub heading in his article was (Krikke and Kithier better on their own). We touched on this (more from the offense side) early in the season while reaching no firm conclusions. The problem with both playing together has been that if the opponent goes small and if Matt stays man to man then neither can adequately cover a smaller, quicker fourth guard. We have surrendered a lot of easy dribble drive baskets before removing one from the floor or less frequently going with some zone.
How will Matt and the team approach this during the Valley schedule? Is there enough offensive chemistry between the two which could offset the defensive negatives? Will we have to play more zone to enable two of our best players to occupy the floor together?
Quote from: valpopal on December 29, 2021, 09:58:02 AM
There was a good article by Paul in this morning's paper offering a review of Valpo's development as a team during non-conference play.
For those keeping score:
The NWI Times began this season's coverage of Valpo men's basketball with its long-standing tradition of pre-game, postgame, and feature stories. Somewhere over the past 8 weeks, feature stories disappeared, followed by game day previews. Finally, unexpectedly, our most recent home game went uncovered for presumably the first time in decades. Our beloved beat reporter described it as a horse-and-buggy moment in the evolution of global media (my paraphrase).
In the midst of our despair, suddenly and equally unexpectedly, a miracle happens - a feature story appears out of thin air. Not a postgame story, or a game preview, but the least likely of all candidates - a feature story - rises from the dead.
This is a bizarre turn of events that begs the following questions:
Why the sudden change of heart?
Is this a temporary reprieve or a complete reversal?
Did someone from the university get involved?
Perhaps they got wind of this thread of Valpo fans.
I've always enjoyed Paul's stories on the team and hope there's a venue for them in the future. That being said, the decline of The Times has been quite a long time in the making. We can talk about local news in general, newspapers specifically, etc, but The Times lost my subscription years ago during the city of Valpo's odd dalliance with China at the beginning of the last decade. Story after story of our Mayor and city officials traveling to China, looking for a 'sister city' and bringing Chinese exchange students to both Vu and VHS. The stories in The Times may just as well have been press releases from the mayor for how they were worded, with nary a critical question to be asked. I actually wrote an email to a couple of reporters/editors on the topic and never received a response. Probably nothing wrong with the whole thing but it just felt odd that nobody in the local media felt the need to ask questions about the motivations behind it.
Quote from: wh on December 29, 2021, 11:12:21 PM
Quote from: valpopal on December 29, 2021, 09:58:02 AM
There was a good article by Paul in this morning's paper offering a review of Valpo's development as a team during non-conference play.
For those keeping score:
The NWI Times began this season's coverage of Valpo men's basketball with its long-standing tradition of pre-game, postgame, and feature stories. Somewhere over the past 8 weeks, feature stories disappeared, followed by game day previews. Finally, unexpectedly, our most recent home game went uncovered for presumably the first time in decades. Our beloved beat reporter described it as a horse-and-buggy moment in the evolution of global media (my paraphrase).
In the midst of our despair, suddenly and equally unexpectedly, a miracle happens - a feature story appears out of thin air. Not a postgame story, or a game preview, but the least likely of all candidates - a feature story - rises from the dead.
This is a bizarre turn of events that begs the following questions:
Why the sudden change of heart?
Is this a temporary reprieve or a complete reversal?
Did someone from the university get involved?
I have absolutely no inside information on this, but as a former employee/correspondent here are my educated guesses to your questions:
W
hy the sudden change of heart? - I don't think it's a change of heart. I think the new, young, not-from-area sports editor is doing what he can to shift the focus from post-game coverage to featurized coverage. The article by PO was basically just his thoughts on what he's seen so far this season. If you notice, there were no quotes from anyone as it was probably written during the Christmas hiatus.
Is this a temporary reprieve or a complete reversal? I don't think it's either. It's just part of the new philosophy - less game coverage, more "in-depth" analysis or features
Did someone from the university get involved? Absolutely Not. No one at the university is going to change the mind of anyone at the newspaper on how things are covered. Not a chance.
I'm as dismayed as everyone at the lack of coverage. The guys in charge are all about online "clicks." VU basketball does not generate the same number of clicks as most local prep sports.
There's only so much money in the correspondent budget to pay PO. So, they have to decide, will we get more bang for the buck if we have PO write a volleyball feature on three Crown Point graduates, or cover Valpo U. against William & Mary.
I'm not saying I agree with it, but that's the way it is now.
And I believe WH was mentioning pre-game articles this year - actually, I think those ended quite a while ago.
When I was covering the team as a correspondent (which ended in 2015), I was able to write pre-game articles and cover the games. When I was a full-timer, I would cover the games and write columns with Sean Hayden writing game stories and other features. Unfortunately, there are no longer any full-time writers. NONE. Only editors and a stable of correspondents. Newspapers have been in a downward spiral for a long time. I would venture to guess that most of you on here are well over 30 years old and still care about newspapers. Well, most people under 30 don't care. They care about Twitter and other social media platforms, and they don't care about reading a whole game story. Yes, I agree that's sad. But it's the way it is and makes me happy that I left the newspaper business as a full-timer almost 23 years ago.
Quote from: NativeCheesehead on December 30, 2021, 01:44:07 PM
I've always enjoyed Paul's stories on the team and hope there's a venue for them in the future. That being said, the decline of The Times has been quite a long time in the making. We can talk about local news in general, newspapers specifically, etc, but The Times lost my subscription years ago during the city of Valpo's odd dalliance with China at the beginning of the last decade. Story after story of our Mayor and city officials traveling to China, looking for a 'sister city' and bringing Chinese exchange students to both Vu and VHS. The stories in The Times may just as well have been press releases from the mayor for how they were worded, with nary a critical question to be asked. I actually wrote an email to a couple of reporters/editors on the topic and never received a response. Probably nothing wrong with the whole thing but it just felt odd that nobody in the local media felt the need to ask questions about the motivations behind it.
https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/porter/valparaiso/plan-to-enroll-chinese-students-at-valparaiso-high-withdrawn/article_c8f229bc-6fe5-5c9a-94a9-970366252b0a.html
https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/ct-ptb-valparaiso-promenade-st-0308-20170307-story.html
https://www.ci.valparaiso.in.us/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/2145
https://www.pressreader.com/usa/post-tribune/20140211/281479274308643
Quote from: Valpo89 on December 30, 2021, 03:09:01 PM
Quote from: wh on December 29, 2021, 11:12:21 PM
Quote from: valpopal on December 29, 2021, 09:58:02 AM
There was a good article by Paul in this morning's paper offering a review of Valpo's development as a team during non-conference play.
For those keeping score:
The NWI Times began this season's coverage of Valpo men's basketball with its long-standing tradition of pre-game, postgame, and feature stories. Somewhere over the past 8 weeks, feature stories disappeared, followed by game day previews. Finally, unexpectedly, our most recent home game went uncovered for presumably the first time in decades. Our beloved beat reporter described it as a horse-and-buggy moment in the evolution of global media (my paraphrase).
In the midst of our despair, suddenly and equally unexpectedly, a miracle happens - a feature story appears out of thin air. Not a postgame story, or a game preview, but the least likely of all candidates - a feature story - rises from the dead.
This is a bizarre turn of events that begs the following questions:
Why the sudden change of heart?
Is this a temporary reprieve or a complete reversal?
Did someone from the university get involved?
I have absolutely no inside information on this, but as a former employee/correspondent here are my educated guesses to your questions:
Why the sudden change of heart? - I don't think it's a change of heart. I think the new, young, not-from-area sports editor is doing what he can to shift the focus from post-game coverage to featurized coverage. The article by PO was basically just his thoughts on what he's seen so far this season. If you notice, there were no quotes from anyone as it was probably written during the Christmas hiatus.
Is this a temporary reprieve or a complete reversal? I don't think it's either. It's just part of the new philosophy - less game coverage, more "in-depth" analysis or features
Did someone from the university get involved? Absolutely Not. No one at the university is going to change the mind of anyone at the newspaper on how things are covered. Not a chance.
I'm as dismayed as everyone at the lack of coverage. The guys in charge are all about online "clicks." VU basketball does not generate the same number of clicks as most local prep sports.
There's only so much money in the correspondent budget to pay PO. So, they have to decide, will we get more bang for the buck if we have PO write a volleyball feature on three Crown Point graduates, or cover Valpo U. against William & Mary.
I'm not saying I agree with it, but that's the way it is now.
And I believe WH was mentioning pre-game articles this year - actually, I think those ended quite a while ago.
When I was covering the team as a correspondent (which ended in 2015), I was able to write pre-game articles and cover the games. When I was a full-timer, I would cover the games and write columns with Sean Hayden writing game stories and other features. Unfortunately, there are no longer any full-time writers. NONE. Only editors and a stable of correspondents. Newspapers have been in a downward spiral for a long time. I would venture to guess that most of you on here are well over 30 years old and still care about newspapers. Well, most people under 30 don't care. They care about Twitter and other social media platforms, and they don't care about reading a whole game story. Yes, I agree that's sad. But it's the way it is and makes me happy that I left the newspaper business as a full-timer almost 23 years ago.
I wrote the article from a business computer in the lobby of a hotel in Hudson, Wisconsin. I didn't bring my laptop on vacation and got the assignment after I had already left home.
I've got some ideas on things to do after the holidays.
Quote from: Pgmado on December 30, 2021, 05:56:10 PMI wrote the article from a business computer in the lobby of a hotel in Hudson, Wisconsin. I didn't bring my laptop on vacation and got the assignment after I had already left home.
It kind of read like that too! Maybe not your best effort but not bad for the time you were given and the space you were allotted. :thumbsup: Imagine what you could do if they allowed you to explore an issue in detail? We might actually learn something? ::)
Ruthless hedge fund manager and corporate raider Alden Capital took control of the Chicago Tribune in 2020 and gutted staff and local coverage at all its papers (including the Post Tribune). Now it's gutting Lee Enterprises holdings, including the NWI Times.
I now get it. Both papers are dead men walking the green mile. Local coverage of Valpo basketball is dead and buried. It's all explained in the articles below.
The Hedge Fund Vampire That Bleeds Newspapers Dry Now Has the Chicago Tribune (and PT) by the Throat
FEBRUARY 5, 2020 5:54 PM
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/02/hedge-fund-vampire-alden-global-capital-that-bleeds-newspapers-dry-has-chicago-tribune-by-the-throat/amp
Lee Enterprises (owner of NWI Times) Rejects Takeover Bid From Hedge Fund
12/14/2021
https://www.omahadailyrecord.com/content/lee-enterprises-rejects-takeover-bid-hedge-fund
Though unsuccessful in their takeover bid, Alden Capital is still the no. 1 share owner in Lee.
I was pleased to see that this morning's NWI Times contained absolutely no coverage of last night's Valpo game at UNI! ::)
Quote from: valpopal on January 06, 2022, 08:49:35 AM
I was pleased to see that this morning's NWI Times contained absolutely no coverage of last night's Valpo game at UNI! ::)
My thought exactly. As I opened the paper this morning, I figured there would be a 100 pt font about it. If it had been Drake, you can be sure that we would have read all about the performance of region Bulldogs players.
Quote from: wh on January 05, 2022, 06:38:28 AM
Ruthless hedge fund manager and corporate raider Alden Capital took control of the Chicago Tribune in 2020 and gutted staff and local coverage at all its papers (including the Post Tribune). Now it's gutting Lee Enterprises holdings, including the NWI Times.
I now get it. Both papers are dead men walking the green mile. Local coverage of Valpo basketball is dead and buried. It's all explained in the articles below.
The Hedge Fund Vampire That Bleeds Newspapers Dry Now Has the Chicago Tribune (and PT) by the Throat
FEBRUARY 5, 2020 5:54 PM
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/02/hedge-fund-vampire-alden-global-capital-that-bleeds-newspapers-dry-has-chicago-tribune-by-the-throat/amp
Lee Enterprises (owner of NWI Times) Rejects Takeover Bid From Hedge Fund
12/14/2021
https://www.omahadailyrecord.com/content/lee-enterprises-rejects-takeover-bid-hedge-fund
Though unsuccessful in their takeover bid, Alden Capital is still the no. 1 share owner in Lee.
The Chairman of Lee is a Valpo grad.
https://lee.net/about/executive-team/
In the late 90's and early 2000's, I subscribed (paid) to a newspaper that was mailed to me that had a hyper focus on VU athletics. From what I remember, it was written and published primarily by one guy, Dick Harlan. He was totally independent from the local media and the university, just a big Valpo booster. His son is still in the area and has been a high school volleyball coach since a short stint of writing about local athletics in the Times. Maybe Paul can do a hybrid approach for all Valpo Athletics with a focus on Men's Basketball? He could produce a weekly or monthly print newsletter, on-line daily articles, and his periodic podcast to cover all bases. It could be paid for via subscriber payments and local businesses. He did say, "Covering college athletics is all I've ever wanted to do", so let's see how resourceful he is. Anybody here willing to provide some seed money?
Or... the university can beef up its marketing and communication of the program internally.
If you are not a die hard Valpo fan, how do you know when there is a game? You'd have to search yourself. I know they send out emails the day of or before a game to a list they have of people who have purchased online before. But they are not Capturing new fans.
Why can't the University produce their own show on Valpo basketball. Not the five minute quick videos, but a true coaches show. Purdue produces one and promotes it internally and it's fantastic.
All they need to do is put a little effort behind it and it will go along way. The scary part is there's a lot of smart people there and they're not doing anything.
Quote from: Chairback on January 06, 2022, 10:22:50 PM
Why can't the University produce their own show on Valpo basketball. Not the five minute quick videos, but a true coaches show. Purdue produces one and promotes it internally and it's fantastic.
Purdue Fort Wayne has a coach's show much like West Lafayette, that is hosted and paid for by a local restaurant. No reason VU couldn't do something similar. I actually arranged for Homer and Todd to be on the local show one of the last times Bryce and the team were in Fort Wayne to play the Mastodons.
Quote from: valpo tundra on January 06, 2022, 04:31:36 PM
In the late 90's and early 2000's, I subscribed (paid) to a newspaper that was mailed to me that had a hyper focus on VU athletics. From what I remember, it was written and published primarily by one guy, Dick Harlan. He was totally independent from the local media and the university, just a big Valpo booster. His son is still in the area and has been a high school volleyball coach since a short stint of writing about local athletics in the Times. Maybe Paul can do a hybrid approach for all Valpo Athletics with a focus on Men's Basketball? He could produce a weekly or monthly print newsletter, on-line daily articles, and his periodic podcast to cover all bases. It could be paid for via subscriber payments and local businesses. He did say, "Covering college athletics is all I've ever wanted to do", so let's see how resourceful he is. Anybody here willing to provide some seed money?
I said basically this exact same thing much earlier in this thread. There are many ways to support Paul's production of content on VU basketball and potentially other VU sports. This can be done through Patreon and other methods of support. I really thought that this would be welcomed by this community, but instead not one single person, until now, said anything in support of this model to improve consistent coverage from a proven source. I love the Union Street hoops podcasts and would very much like for this to be expanded, potentially to YouTube videos or some other method of coverage , but the only way to do that is to actually make it worth Paul's while to produce more consistent coverage.
Many of us subscribe to ESPN+ so that we can watch Missouri Valley and Valpo basketball games. Wouldn't it be worth a few extra bucks a month to support Paul's excellent coverage?
Anybody see any advertising on todays game? How do people know there is a game today?
How does someone who has never been to a game, or local SIU alumni made aware.
This morning's NWI Times had no coverage (perhaps thankfully) of last night's loss to Southern Illinois, but there was an ad by the newspaper promoting upcoming "Times Family Night" VU games against Bradley and Loyola.
Quote from: valpo tundra on January 06, 2022, 04:31:36 PMMaybe Paul can do a hybrid approach for all Valpo Athletics with a focus on Men's Basketball? He could produce a weekly or monthly print newsletter, on-line daily articles, and his periodic podcast to cover all bases. It could be paid for via subscriber payments and local businesses. He did say, "Covering college athletics is all I've ever wanted to do", so let's see how resourceful he is. Anybody here willing to provide some seed money?
It seems that encouraging Paul to cover Beacon sports independent of The Times may be the only way that we can get his insights in print (other than what he shares with us on this board). I, for one would be willing to support such action financially -- at least as much as I support ESPN to get coverage. Perhaps commitment from others on this board would give him the necessary encouragement to follow the teams and provide us information and perspective that we appreciate.
Quote from: humbleopinion on January 09, 2022, 09:20:53 AMPerhaps commitment from others on this board would give him the necessary encouragement to follow the teams and provide us information and perspective that we appreciate.
Is the demand sufficient that it can be implemented and executed with a sufficient payout for Paul? If there is I am all for it but top of my head I'm somewhat in doubt. Younger fans need to figure this out for fossils like me to be drug along for the ride.
Quote from: valpo tundra on January 06, 2022, 04:31:36 PM
In the late 90's and early 2000's, I subscribed (paid) to a newspaper that was mailed to me that had a hyper focus on VU athletics. From what I remember, it was written and published primarily by one guy, Dick Harlan. He was totally independent from the local media and the university, just a big Valpo booster. His son is still in the area and has been a high school volleyball coach since a short stint of writing about local athletics in the Times. Maybe Paul can do a hybrid approach for all Valpo Athletics with a focus on Men's Basketball? He could produce a weekly or monthly print newsletter, on-line daily articles, and his periodic podcast to cover all bases. It could be paid for via subscriber payments and local businesses. He did say, "Covering college athletics is all I've ever wanted to do", so let's see how resourceful he is. Anybody here willing to provide some seed money?
If there is interest in doing something like this, we certainly already have the infrastructure on this site to do it.
When I created this site, I wanted a blog/article component and built it on a Wordpress platform to provide the needed backend to do it. We used to have some activity in the past: https://www.valpofanzone.com/blog/
I haven't done much to maintain it since there hasn't been any demand, but I can certainly update and modify it.
https://twitter.com/ValleyHoops/status/1480555106911330313
https://twitter.com/ValleyHoops/status/1480570548186984454
News coming later today.
For those that missed it, I stepped away from the NWI Times yesterday. It was a good run of 16 years, but all good things must come to an end.
What isn't coming to an end is my coverage of VU athletics. I'll be attending tonight's game and "covering" the game on Twitter. Give me a couple weeks to get this new venture off the ground and I'll be launching something toward the end of the month. I'm going out of town for a week in January (1/22-1/28) so I'm not going to launch anything until I'm back.
Thanks for all the kind words over the years and I'm excited to be able to continue VU coverage in what should be a fun way starting in a couple weeks.
So sorry to hear this news, Paul. It's certainly our loss and the Times' loss. Did you check your University voicemail from yesterday?
Very grateful you are still covering Valpo Basketball. I got worried.
You are the best in the Valley by far and bring so much to spot lighting the Valpo U teams.
Can't wait to see what is in store and will be a supporter for sure.
Quote from: Chairback on January 11, 2022, 01:10:32 PM
You are the best in the Valley by far and bring so much to spot lighting the Valpo U teams.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=ojQ-ED0gnL8&feature=share
Congratulations on your new venture and best of luck! I was very worried and wanted to hear more before commenting hoping that everything is all right. I'm glad to see that it is and that you will still be covering the team! As others have said you are the best in the MVC at what you do and Valpo is very lucky to have you in whatever capacity they can to cover their athletes! I'm very excited to hear what this new era entails for both you personally and for VU athletics coverage!
Quote from: justducky on January 11, 2022, 04:09:33 PM
Quote from: Pgmado on January 10, 2022, 11:53:40 PM
Quote from: Just Sayin on January 10, 2022, 02:21:17 PM
Quote from: Pgmado on January 10, 2022, 11:01:18 AM
News coming later today.
Bush league.
???
Just ignore him. Little by little this is sinking in for our majority.
Yep. In your profile section, click on modify profile and then on buddies/ignore. Put my handle in there and voila, you'll never have to read another post of mine.
Quote from: Just Sayin on January 11, 2022, 07:14:27 PM
Quote from: justducky on January 11, 2022, 04:09:33 PM
Quote from: Pgmado on January 10, 2022, 11:53:40 PM
Quote from: Just Sayin on January 10, 2022, 02:21:17 PM
Quote from: Pgmado on January 10, 2022, 11:01:18 AM
News coming later today.
Bush league.
???
Just ignore him. Little by little this is sinking in for our majority.
Yep. In your profile section, click on modify profile and then on buddies/ignore. Put my handle in there and voila, you'll never have to read another post of mine.
I'm just trying to figure out why you said "Bush league" when I said that some news was coming.
A sign of the times: Gannett to eliminate Saturday print editions across the country:
[tweet]1481407365316501509[/tweet]
Now that Paul has stepped away from the NWI Times, I will be curious to see the impact on VU sports coverage in the newspaper. Yesterday, following the Loyola game there was no story in the paper, which probably was to be expected because the double-overtime likely extended beyond the issue's deadline. However, today the absence in the paper continued, and the Loyola contest didn't even get a summary comment in the sports digest section, though there was a brief mention of the Valpo tennis team pre-season ranking of fourth place, which obviously came directly from a Valpo Athletics release since the wording is the same as on the VU homepage.
Once again, there was no story about VU sports in this morning's NWI Times. Just as after the Loyola game, the result of the men's game was only included in the "Sports Digest" section below a mention of the win in the women's game. The three main stories in the sports section were about high school video gamers, girls swimming, and high school wrestling. Given the recent play by Valpo, I guess the near total loss of local media coverage could be considered a blessing.
Quote from: valpopal on January 16, 2022, 09:52:09 AM
Once again, there was no story about VU sports in this morning's NWI Times. Just as after the Loyola game, the result of the men's game was only included in the "Sports Digest" section below a mention of the win in the women's game. The three main stories in the sports section were about high school video gamers, girls swimming, and high school wrestling. Given the recent play by Valpo, I guess the near total loss of local media coverage could be considered a blessing.
The less people that know how bad we have become, the better.
In what I guess could be seen as a positive sign, The Times sent a reporter to the post-game press conference and included a box score in the paper.
https://www.nwitimes.com/sports/college/valparaiso-university/watch-now-valparaiso-press-conference-following-loss-to-bradley-jan-26-2022/video_ca2f5dff-5480-5ba5-a7e6-ca315f752122.html?utm_source=nwitimes.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletter-templates%2Fnews-alert&utm_medium=PostUp&utm_content=aff3e3ab485e21d1b502abb394bb694f4c9e2b32
Quote from: humbleopinion on January 27, 2022, 07:24:36 AM
In what I guess could be seen as a positive sign, The Times sent a reporter to the post-game press conference and included a box score in the paper.
Here is a story that is on the front page of the sports section in today's print edition by Times sports editor Aaron Ferguson: https://www.nwitimes.com/sports/college/valparaiso-university/beacons-beat-taking-stock-in-valparaiso-halfway-through-mvc-play/article_2468f221-5ba9-5442-9b9f-e20042fd453d.html?utm_campaign=snd-autopilot&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter_nwi.
Actually, both stories on the front of the sports section this morning are Valpo related with the other being about Lloyd McClendon becoming the manager of the Toledo Mud Hens.
I'm posting the link here to hopefully drive some more traffic to the story as I know page views are an important piece of the coverage decisions for The Times. I met Aaron Ferguson for lunch last week and had a productive conversation with him about Valpo Basketball coverage. He's a hard worker and a very good reporter and editor, but the state of the newspaper industry overall is unfortunately much different than it was even a few years ago, causing some coverage limitations. Although coverage won't return to what it was when newspapers were booming, I'm hopeful that we'll see an increase in the coverage our fans desire and deserve as we move through the remainder of the season.
Thank you for your continuing interaction on this board, Brandon.
This says it all:
"Blending that experience is what I think takes a little bit of time. I actually talked to coach Drew — Bryce and I are still pretty close — and they brought in a bunch of transfers (at Grand Canyon) as well," Lottich told Andy Katz this week. "(Drew) said, 'My experience is, it's around January where everything starts to come together.' We're in January and it does feel like we're starting to take some positive steps forward."
So Bryce says it take till January because of all the transfers but GCU is 14-4 while we are 10-11. They are 10-1 at home while we are 6-6. GCU has, however lost their last two games, falling on the road at Sam Houston in front of a rowdy crowd of 602!!
Quote from: vu72 on January 28, 2022, 11:34:49 AM
This says it all:
"Blending that experience is what I think takes a little bit of time. I actually talked to coach Drew — Bryce and I are still pretty close — and they brought in a bunch of transfers (at Grand Canyon) as well," Lottich told Andy Katz this week. "(Drew) said, 'My experience is, it's around January where everything starts to come together.' We're in January and it does feel like we're starting to take some positive steps forward."
So Bryce says it take till January because of all the transfers but GCU is 14-4 while we are 10-11. They are 10-1 at home while we are 6-6. GCU has, however lost their last two games, falling on the road at Sam Houston in front of a rowdy crowd of 602!!
And, I believe Bryce may not have coached in either game due to Covid.
I don't believe Bryce's league competition comes close to the MVC from top to bottom and consistency over the years. While he may be a good coach, remember he lost his job at Vanderbilt and there was not a long line of schools waiting to hire him. And I will always remember how he bailed out while in New York for the NIT as I am not sure his heart was in it when he took us to the NIT for the final game then almost immediately afterword announcing he was leaving for Vandy. I am tired of hearing about the Drews...they did well and are gone...deal with it.
Yeah, you can't really compare the WAC to the MVC.
As many of these posts about the newspaper biz indicate, the challenges facing local and regional print journalism are national in scope and encompass the NWI Times. Here in Boston, I've been following the work of Dan Kennedy, a media critic and journalism professor, who has been doing very important work on the future of local news coverage. For those interested in learning more, Dan joined up with another journalist to create this podcast, "What Works: The Future of Local News": https://whatworks.news/podcast/ (https://whatworks.news/podcast/)
Two trends appear to be emerging: (1) new and existing papers transitioning into a non-profit model (the Sun-Times is the most prominent, big-city example); and (2) niche news delivery, such as packaging various integrated combos of Patreon subscriptions, Substack newsletters, podcasts, and blogging platforms. I'm guessing that option #2 may be what Paul Oren has in mind.
Paul Oren's long-awaited subscription service covering Beacon sports has arrived.
https://thevictorybell.substack.com/p/the-ball-is-tipped?showWelcome=true
Quote from: humbleopinion on February 04, 2022, 02:54:15 PM
Paul Oren's long-awaited subscription service covering Beacon sports has arrived.
https://thevictorybell.substack.com/p/the-ball-is-tipped?showWelcome=true
Thanks for sharing this!
Forgive me if this sounds preachy, but I'm a big believer in supporting journalists and journalism by compensating folks who provide the content. I hope that folks will consider a paid subscription.
PO, how protected is the payment method?
I happily recommend Paul Oren's new site, The Victory Bell. His first three pieces are up, and among other things, it's clear that this niche format of sports journalism allows for longer, more thoughtful articles.
For those of you who subscribe to The Athletic, you'll recognize the promise of this site for in-depth coverage and commentary in these initial pieces.
How did I miss this? Just got my annual subscription.
https://twitter.com/NWIOren/status/1489699726203174916
All the news you need to know for VU Basketball
Well Mom, we did it.
Very excited to launch TheVictoryBell.substack.com
This has been in my mind for the last several months and it was one of the reasons I walked away from The Times. I went back and forth on a lot of different venues for this and I landed on Substack. ValpoTx asked me about how protected the payment method is. Substack uses credit card payments via Stripe, which has a great reputation. One of the reasons I landed on Substack is because I've talked to some great journalists who stepped away from print journalism and transitioned to Substack. They've loved the experience and have heard no complaints on the other end.
The Victory Bell is a subscription-based newsletter and the subscriptions come in two forms. The first is Free Subscriptions and with that, you'll get in-depth game coverage on the website and in your email inbox. So, I'll cover tonight's game against Indiana State and write a story as I normally would for a print newspaper and it will get posted and sent out. Basketball and football games will fall under this umbrella. The second is Paid Subscriptions. The charge is $5/month or $49.99/year. With this comes feature stories (such as the 2,000 word story on Trevor Anderson/Preston Ruedinger/Darius DeAveiro that came out yesterday), a weekly column touching on all the happenings surrounding Valparaiso University athletics, Exclusive Q&A's and historical pieces. The historical pieces will be prevalent in the offseason as game coverage winds down. (I'm eager to write the oral history of the 2001-02 Valpo team, mainly because it was my senior year). Football is going to become a bigger focus for me (as evidenced by the Robert Washington piece yesterday) and I'll also provide coverage for sports that the NWI Times/Post-Tribune often ignored.
I'm sure I'll continue to experiment with all this as the days and weeks pass. I'm incredibly excited for this new professional journey and I hope you'll follow along.
Just the first two articles alone are well worth the subscription price. They were fantastic.
Looking forward to this and thanks PO. No more NWI Times restrictions on coverage. Can't wait for more!
The subscription price is a really good value for the quality PO produces.
I have to give credit where it is due. Maybe it's because high school winter sports are winding down, but The Times sent out a link to the post-game press conference this morning.
https://www.nwitimes.com/sports/college/valparaiso-university/watch-now-valparaiso-players-coach-react-to-74-69-win-over-evansville/video_7cf4cf63-35fd-5863-bb68-4ae122e6de9e.html?utm_source=nwitimes.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletter-templates%2Fnews-alert&utm_medium=PostUp&utm_content=aff3e3ab485e21d1b502abb394bb694f4c9e2b32
There is an excellent and well-deserved front-page story in this morning's NWI Times about Dot Nuechterlein as the first female official scorer for a men's basketball team with some fond memories of the Homer Drew years included during her experiences since 1984.