Chris Carlson can't help himself

[Toga]

And that my friends, combined with 24/7 news channels and talk radio, = the dumbing down of America.

First of all how can we take anyone seriously who references Bieber fever in a sports article - for fu** sakes you have to be kidding me (this was like a week or two ago).

Second, the new post standard business model has a very negative built-in incentive to sensationalize and focus on shock value over quality of content. The company has essentially abandoned the subscription model which provides a steady (if slowly declining) stream of revenue that supports a degree of journalistic integrity because people get the opportunity to evaluate your 'product' over the long-term since it automatically arrives on their doorstep every morning regardless of the headline on the front page. Their new model is click dependent. To keep people clicking they need to say controversial things that will invite what can only vaguely be called 'discussion' in the comments section. There is literally no other metric that matters in that business model at least for the short-term. They have the additional problem of only going part way with the transition...so they have the legacy costs of a big newspaper with the printing press, staff, delivery, old reporters who have moved up the salary curve etc - with the revenue model of a blog. Blogs work because they are cheap to run and generally focus on one or two very specific topics. You have one or two content experts and then a bunch of interns working for college credit. But the post standard needs to keep covering local issues, public interest stories etc that cost a lot to do (in terms of staff) and generate very little interest (no clicks). so to compensate they are forced (in their short-sighted opinion) to be inflammatory in the two areas that will generate controversy - sports and politics. In the long-term you will see specialist sites take market share from the post standard because they have no focus and are choosing a click generating strategy that over time alienates the readership base. All it takes is one former sports reporter to open a local sports blog covering area high school sports in depth, one former city councilman to start a local politics site - etc etc. They are doing what they think will allow them to continue to exist...the problem is they are wrong and in the mean time recruits get to read all the garbage posted by the local paper who should theoretically have a vested interest in Cuse not being viewed negatively by recruits and the general public. Dumb dumb dumb. End of rant.

 

[SUFaninNJ]

And that my friends, combined with 24/7 news channels and talk radio, = the dumbing down of America.

 

[Scooch]

I talked with a reporter from the Syracuse Newspapers over the weekend about the changes that have gone on there.

They'd said that reporters are no longer measured on the merit of their reporting. They are now measured on the number of "hits" their particular articles receive. The more hits, the more successful they are.

For example, a niche reporter that had spent years writing on town/village government issues...or investigative reports...or op/ed pieces, now must write about Kim Kardashian's outfits in order to get "hits"

Reporters were once judged on the quality of their writing. Now it appears they are judged on whether they tell us what we want to hear.

Did their management actually call it "hits"?!

Geez, they're living in 2001.

 

[bnoro]

All of the writers there are complete trash. Poor Cohen tries, but seems to know less about the program then most of this board. Really miss Rahme.

Cohen did the same damn thing when he was at the DO.

Who could forget his line where he compared grades in school to Marrone's record. He's just as much of a clown.

 

[Moontan]

Did their management actually call it "hits"?!

They now probably refer to it as "Depo$it$".

 

[kirbivore]

his post draft article about how Nassib fell was awful

 

[EDSPARTEN]

My old HS coach in one of his pre-game speeches(we were 8-0 then) said "it doesn't matter now it only matters if we win". True here too. The PS and Syracuse.com are terrible on covering anything involing the CUSE both FB, BB and LAX as well. There were many issues about the dougie years and before that went un-touched. If the FB program wins I still wonder if the mentioned media will change. If it still matters how many hits a reporter gets then they'll look for poop from the program to write on and get reactions from us SU fans. These are the only means(local media) we have to get info on SU sports, since SU really is not a national item yet!! We are stuck with their nonsense like sometimes the nonsense I write about. SU needs to improve and with HCSS I see that. But SUFB's recent history shows lack of a great sucess rate. .500 is not great its average over 4 yrs or the yrs before that. I want to see negatives if they are true just as much as true positives. We/I'm stuck with this media monopally. I don't see a way out of it. Do you??? Or maybe just win baby!! And they will come!!!

 

[FAL]

My old HS coach in one of his pre-game speeches(we were 8-0 then) said "it doesn't matter now it only matters if we win". True here too. The PS and Syracuse.com are terrible on covering anything involing the CUSE both FB, BB and LAX as well. There were many issues about the dougie years and before that went un-touched. If the FB program wins I still wonder if the mentioned media will change. If it still matters how many hits a reporter gets then they'll look for poop from the program to write on and get reactions from us SU fans. These are the only means(local media) we have to get info on SU sports, since SU really is not a national item yet!! We are stuck with their nonsense like sometimes the nonsense I write about. SU needs to improve and with HCSS I see that. But SUFB's recent history shows lack of a great sucess rate. .500 is not great its average over 4 yrs or the yrs before that. I want to see negatives if they are true just as much as true positives. We/I'm stuck with this media monopally. I don't see a way out of it. Do you??? Or maybe just win baby!! And they will come!!!

For once I agree with Spurtin' Ed from Elmira.

 

[tep624]

Overly sensitive doesn't even begin to describe it.

Why is it wrong to mention that the draft didn't go as expected?

Because you need your ego stroked at every turn?

Nassib dropped like a rock in the ocean... Deal with it.

For anyone to suggest that this is article some sort of sensationalism or effort to obtain hits is wrong.

The abundance of thin skin around here makes me wonder how some of you survive Syracuse winters.

Are you friend with him or something? You seem to be taking this awfully personally.

 

[OttosBestFriend]

Are you friend with him or something? You seem to be taking this awfully personally.

I couldn't pick him out of a lineup in Taiwan.

I'm just so sick of whiners who take every last columnist to task for writing ANYTHING that's not complimentary of SU.

The draft didn't go well for Nassib... It's a fact.

Why should the writer be crucified for saying so?

And Shamarko slipped to the 4th round when many felt he was gonna go in the 3rd with a few even saying he could go in the 2nd.

Not a big deal until you consider that Marrone and the Bills PASSED on Shamarko in the 4th for a safety that many if not all "experts" had rater lower.

So no, the draft didn't go great for SU as a whole.

Yes, Justin Pugh made us all proud going in round 1, but the other 2 draftees didn't exactly go where they or we wanted.

 

[billsin01]

I love the outcries of "what happened to our beloved art of journalism" when I'd be 75% of people here haven't paid for a print newspaper in 2 years.

People don't want journalism. If they did, papers wouldn't be dying. And anyone who reads a newspaper (and I still read the Washington Post daily and both the Post and NYTimes on Sundays-- the *gasp!!* print editions) would know there is still great writing and reporting out there.

But the decline of newspapers is also not some sign of moral decay, the likes of which every single generation complains about as it gets into middle/old age. It's the simple ebb and flow of life. People are wealthier and have more access to technology and platforms. That means traditional papers are now competing not only with dozens (hundreds?) of platforms, but also with the very communities they service. We b!tch about the PS reporting but, as others have pointed out, you get a pretty good amount of inside info right on this site and it's generally in a form newspapers traditionally couldn't print due to lack of multiple sources, etc.

At the end of the day, it's disappointing that the PS can't produce a higher-quality product and I have no idea why Donnie Webb and Rahme were let go, but good God, people here also act like they're dating nassib or marrone or shafer.

I mean, Carlson's article is sort of a throwaway piece and terribly compelling, but his off-handed comment probably referred to Nassib being rumored to go as high as 8 and ending up in the third round. Is his comment accurate? I guess it could be argued either way, but it is exceedingly innocuous in the grand scheme of things. The scorned ex-boyfriend response on this board to stuff like this is off-putting and bizarre.