Bozeman Comical's Cat's Coverage

HelenaCat95 · Post by **HelenaCat95** » Fri May 07, 2004 7:48 am

It's finally in the Comical

http://www.bozemanchronicle.com/article ... zsprts.txt

I'm going the ask the question again, that we've been asking for years......Why is the Chronicle coverage of Bobcat athletics so bad??
I'll admit that it wasn't as bad as usual during Spring football, but come on. This story was in the Tribune over a week ago.
Rant over-

Note from kmax, I edited this only to fix the title after I split it from the original topic, the post was not modified.

Post by **kmax** » Fri May 07, 2004 9:34 am

You know, I was going to make a comment about having to learn about Bobcat news from the Great Falls paper last week when this came out. Then I decided I would save the time and just not. I and everyone else have complained very loudly about the Comical's lack of apparent desire to cover the Cat's and absolutely nothing has changed. At this point, it seems worthless to even complain to them as they just don't seem to care.

mslacat · Post by **mslacat** » Fri May 07, 2004 9:42 am

I mean this, I do not say this in Jest. The Comical should just elimnate most of their sports Department and work out a deal with the Trib. to carry their stories. There coverage of the Cats would improvr 200%

Post by **kmax** » Fri May 07, 2004 9:46 am

Totally agree, mslacat. In fact it is sad to say, but I think the Cats coverage would improve even if the Comical just carried the Cats stories from the Missoulian.

Post by **kmax** » Fri May 07, 2004 10:34 am

Okay, after saying it wasn't worth my time, now I have to have my rant.

After actually reading the short article in the Chronicle, I now know why they are one week late in reporting this, and it hits at exactly what is wrong with the Chronicle's coverage of the Cats. The tribune printed this a week ago because they actually have someone who is doing some research and printing original information that they can find. The Chronicle on the other hand only seems to print what "officially" is released by the Athletics department. Maybe the Chronicle just needs to hire a few more actual reporters rather than just copy editors who only seem to regurgitate what the official sources send out.

mslacat · Post by **mslacat** » Fri May 07, 2004 10:43 am

I get the "official" basketball info that is sent out directly to the media from the SID as I know some of you may. This is the stuff that eventually makes it on to their web site. When you read the Bozocomical write ups the next day it is mostly word of word what Lambery (MSU SID)wrote, but it will have a BozoComical "by line". The thing I hear is that the reporter they hire are ussually fresh out of school and they pay them dirt. Boy I tell you out sourcing to the Trib would cost so much less.

What do you Bozeman and Belgrade folks read. When I lived in Bozeman the paper was a little better I thought Yaserman (I think I am killing his name was pretty good), but I still read the Great Falls paper or Gazette regularly to find out what was going on.

Post by **kmax** » Fri May 07, 2004 10:58 am

mslacat wrote:I get the "official" basketball info that is sent out directly to the media from the SID as I know some of you may. This is the stuff that eventually makes it on to their web site. When you read the Bozocomical write ups the next day it is mostly word of word what Lambery (MSU SID)wrote, but it will have a BozoComical "by line". The thing I hear is that the reporter they hire are ussually fresh out of school and they pay them dirt. Boy I tell you out sourcing to the Trib would cost so much less.

What do you Bozeman and Belgrade folks read. When I lived in Bozeman the paper was a little better I thought Yaserman (I think I am killing his name was pretty good), but I still read the Great Falls paper or Gazette regularly to find out what was going on.

That is exactly what I am talking about. Like during the football season, they finally started doing "GameDay" features each Saturday. I thought that was great until I read it and realized it was nearly word for word(or was in some cases) of what I read on the bobcats website a few days earlier in the game preview. Even the "Player Spotlights" that they ran were sometimes copies of ones that had been done for the Game programs. Really is pathetic how little the local paper does to promote the Cats.

As for other papers, unfortunately I only get the Comical in print, but I do try to look at the online versions of at least the Trib and the Gazette as often as possible. Problem with that is that they don't always put everything online.

uascat2 · Post by **uascat2** » Fri May 07, 2004 11:16 am

DESPITE GEORGE GEISE BEING A DIED IN THE WOOL G---- FAN THE TRIBUNE HAS FOR YEARS PROVIDED THE BEST BOBCAT COVERAGE

THE CHRONICLE JUST PLAIN SUCKS AND THE GAZETTE IS CLOSE BEHIND. I HAVE A BROTHER IN LAW IN THE MISSOULA AREA AND IT'S A SCARY THING, BUT SOMETIMES THE MISSOULIAN HAS BETTER COVERAGE THAN CHRONICLE

iaafan · Post by **iaafan** » Fri May 07, 2004 11:47 am

Keep in mind that of all the newspaper writers in Montana - sports and other - few are MSU grads and that holds true for the upper management folks. The Chronicle's top positions have several UM grads in the fold and I'm told they were at the Cat-Griz game last year in UM colors and that's - I guess - their prerogative.
I don't know of any MSU grads writing sports, but there are several with ties to UM.

BelgradeBobcat · Post by **BelgradeBobcat** » Fri May 07, 2004 2:32 pm

I suppose the poor media coverage is somewhat related to the fact that the State's journalism school is located at the other university. Of course the media folks will never admit their bias-but then Brokaw or Rather probably think they're unbiased too. Thanks to the internet we probably get more information that we need anyway.

By a far and wide margin, Scott Mansch of the Tribune does the best job of covering the Cats. It's not even close.

BozoneCat · Post by **BozoneCat** » Fri May 07, 2004 3:56 pm

If the idiots at the Chronicle would ever get it through their thick skulls that perhaps people in Bozeman (and readers on the internet) want to read articles about the Bobcats, maybe they would open up a whole new marketing area for themselves to make money. If you can't appeal to their "fan sense," maybe we could appeal to their money sense! Look at the way the Missoulian covers the friz, it makes me sick! But, they do a really good job at it because they know it attracts readers. Another thing the Missoulian does that I like is they make the paper available on campus for 25 cents, which makes it nice and easy to purchase it when you are a poor student. They are just missing out on a huge area of reader interest when they neglect to cover the Cats, and their writers are missing out on a great opportunity to develop their skills as journalists. Nobody will ever top Mansch, but I wish some people would at least try...

HelenaCat95 · Post by **HelenaCat95** » Fri May 07, 2004 4:14 pm

I think this is one of those things that will eventually turn around.
The program has turned the corner, the facilities have turned the corner, the town of Bozeman has turned the corner, and soon the Comical will turn the corner and cover what it's readers want to read about.

Somebody from Bozeman please tell me that they at least covered the story on Junior graduating this weekend. It wasn't in the online version - it was just on the MSU webpage.

Post by **kmax** » Sat May 08, 2004 8:46 am

HelenaCat95 wrote:Somebody from Bozeman please tell me that they at least covered the story on Junior graduating this weekend. It wasn't in the online version - it was just on the MSU webpage.

Looks like they are stealing ideas from here too.

From today's Chronicle: http://www.bozemanchronicle.com/article ... bzbigs.txt

HelenaCat95 · Post by **HelenaCat95** » Sat May 08, 2004 9:26 am

Glad to know that they're listening

Catdad39 · Post by **Catdad39** » Sat May 08, 2004 1:40 pm

I haven't posted anything in over a week, but this topic caught my fancy...I have always been amazed at the poor coverage for the Bobcats. I have picked up a Missoula paper on Sunday and been blown away by a "real sports department" that knows how to really cover a major college football game. Their stats of the game are phenomenal...while we can't even get them to list tackles by the defense. A real sports department would have a feature article on the Bobcats almost every day of spring ball and fall camp. There is so much left to be desired. People in Bozeman should really organize some sort of protest against the pathetic coverage. There is no excuse. Feel free to check my postings on other subjects and one will see that I am not a negative person....in fact, just the opposite. The potential is there...lets hope for some real change!

gfallscat · Post by **gfallscat** » Sat May 08, 2004 2:57 pm

the lack of caverage is so true...

on sundays...i look foward to getting home and reading scott manschs article and what he had to say about the game.

hats off to scott!!

iaafan · Post by **iaafan** » Sun May 09, 2004 8:25 am

Yes, the Tribune does a great job covering both MSU and UM. Eventhough the Chronicle isn't staffed as well as the Tribune they should be doing more. I pointed out earlier that the Chronicle is basically run by UM grads, but selling papers should be their priority regardless of where their allegiance lies. The upper management is the responsible party in this case. The writers need guidance and supervision from the managing editor/publisher as to how they should be covering MSU sports. The writers at the Chronicle are certainly capable.
The Missoulian, Gazette, Standard and IR are all part of Lee Enterprises and probably get a good deal of direction from them. I believe the Tribune is affiliated with Gannett News Service (part of USA Today), but I'm not sure about the Chronicle and they could be stretched thin covering five area high schools and MSU with about 2-3(?) people.
I think posting complaints on this web site is pretty futile. Constructive phone calls to the Chronicle's editor or publisher would be a good start. I have to believe the MSU PR staff is pretty frustrated with the Chronicle just cut-and-pasting their stories, but anything they say probably doesn't carry as much weight as something from their subscribers.
I always gave the Chronicle the benifit of the doubt and just figured they put articles in the print edition, but not on their web site as I know some newspapers operate this way.

Post by **SonomaCat** » Sun May 09, 2004 11:39 am

I recently noticed a position listed for a part-time sports writer at the Chronicle... that might still be open. Even more proactive than calling the paper to complain, a Bobcat advocate could get that job and improve things from the inside!

HelenaCat95 · Post by **HelenaCat95** » Fri May 14, 2004 9:14 am

Maybe the Chronicle could do a little research, and tell us a little about our new transfer Blake Garrison. He is listed on the roster, so it's official now. Tell us a little more than height, weight, and transfer from U of Houston.

CARDIAC_CATS · Post by **CARDIAC_CATS** » Fri May 14, 2004 9:34 am

I was thinking the exact same thing HelenaCat. Its like they just pick stories up off the AP and run them through all the time. No Sportwriting/info at all in that paper.