Collegian's attitude toward the hoop (and other teams)

padillaleskanic · Post by **padillaleskanic** » Fri Dec 06, 2013 12:19 pm

my only gripe was that a paper for mainly umass students wouldnt have umass as the leading story. now that i understand it may have just been a technical error, it does not seem like a big deal at all.

just trying to make sure were not getting hosed out there!

ShadesOf96and98 · Post by **ShadesOf96and98** » Sat Dec 07, 2013 10:55 pm

The type of ranting and raving about this issue is what made me a 19-year-old jackass when I was a Collegian writer trying to post on this board. I'm late to the party here, but a little of that is going to come out now, then I'll go back to being an adult again...I apologize in advance for this diatribe.

Some of you need to settle the fuck down. Imagine if every time you or someone working with/under you made a mistake, people were emailing you to piss and moan about it, and were searching on the Internet about who above you they could complain to about how incompetent you are. Then imagine you're a college kid and your job was essentially an internship that paid below minimum wage but required you to work just as hard as the people sending you pissy emails about trivial shit. Tell me you might not be guilty of sending a possibly-snarky email defending your competence and the good name of your organization to these people who always seem to be talking down to you and come across as believing they can do your job better than you. Such is the life that this kid is living, cut her a break.

I'm not picking on you Kosty, more just speaking in generalizations about the life of a student journalist, but part of the issue here is that this issue - and this thread - got off on the wrong foot because of ignorance and a lack of perspective from many people.

Re-read the first page of this thread, and look at how many of you rallied around anger at the fact that THE SCHOOL PAYS FOR THE PAPER AND IT DOESN'T HAVE ANY BIAS TOWARDS UMASS, HOW DARE THEY!

Then...oh, wait... the school doesn't "float the cash" for the Collegian "anymore???" Whoops....wait a second? Is "anymore" even accurate, or could we be completely mistaken, and maybe the school never paid for the paper and we just didn't know that? Maybe we've misread this situation a little bit.

Now, cooler heads have prevailed. We realize it was just an honest mistake, these are just kids, the hoops team is 8-0, everything is good. But meanwhile, we've already fired off a few pissy emails to the kids at the Collegian, made them feel sufficiently shitty about it, and in reality....was that necessary? Probably not. Luckily for them, and unfortunately enough, it's good training for a life of dealing with readers. Doesn't make it cool though, because it's not.

The Collegian is a financially-independent entity. The school doesn't fund it, and it has no responsibility to the school. Part of the problem with this thread is that it began under the assumption that the Collegian is a publication of the school that is financially obligated to serve as its mouthpiece, when in reality the Collegian is an independent newspaper that has done a damn fine job over the years of making sure that it has never had to answer to an outside entity, journalistically or otherwise. That's why there is an all-star roster of Collegian alums who are world-class journalists - because UMass has a real fucking newspaper, not a PR newsletter with a masthead.

Beyond that, a simple misunderstanding in regards to the word "bias" is what took this thread from a little complaining into a four-page discussion. The editor was trying to make the point that the Collegian isn't about being a fanboy publication, while many of you are upset because you think she meant that the Collegian shouldn't give editorial focus and preference to stories featuring UMass teams. In reality, both of those issues aren't even issues, because this was just a mistake that got blown way out of proportion and is not reflective of either issue.

Nonetheless, the irony of this whole situation is that when Crooks and I were the ones getting these emails, it was because people were complaining that we were too biased towards the team (we were). Now, they're not biased enough...go figure.

MassModestMouse · Post by **MassModestMouse** » Sat Dec 07, 2013 11:01 pm

Preach, shades. One of my summer interns writes for the collegian during the school year and she's the bomb and is constantly up until the wee hours of the morning when she has classes and homework due too to put out a quality paper in the morning. You guys rock and my biggest regret (like ktabz) is never getting involved with the collegian while I was a student.

78 · Post by 78 » Sat Dec 07, 2013 11:42 pm

Thanks, Shades -- Old guy who covered the baseball and softball teams for the Collegian in 77-78. Still have many of the papers that include my stories and was looking through them last night. Memories are great.

MullinsManiac · Post by **MullinsManiac** » Sat Dec 07, 2013 11:48 pm

<--- Collegian alum who stayed in the journalism biz.

The issue here isn't whether the Collegian should be rooting for UMass, but whether the Collegian website is in tune with its target audience.

When people visit the Collegian website for college basketball information, what college do you think they're looking for info on? It's called knowing your audience.

78 · Post by 78 » Sat Dec 07, 2013 11:56 pm

MullinsManiac wrote:<--- Collegian alum who stayed in the journalism biz.

The issue here isn't whether the Collegian should be rooting for UMass, but whether the Collegian website is in tune with its target audience.

When people visit the Collegian website for college basketball information, what college do you think they're looking for info on? It's called knowing your audience.

I lasted 5 years in the newspaper business. Often times I wish I had stayed longer.

ShadesOf96and98 · Post by **ShadesOf96and98** » Sun Dec 08, 2013 11:27 am

I got out of the newspaper biz as quick as I could once I realized that the life of a journalist was not the life I wanted for myself, but the time I spent in it - starting with my time at the Collegian - prepared me to embrace the blood, sweat and tears needed to succeed in any profession.

Without the crucible that is being on the Collegian staff, I wouldn't have been as prepared to be a professional journalist, nor would I have been as prepared to leave journalism and be a professional something else. This is why I ask for many people in this thread to have a little more respect and common courtesy for these kids who are busting their ass to be professional journalists and full-time undergraduates at the same time; these are kids who are going to grow up and represent UMass well in many different ways, shapes and forms....even if they once ran a UConn story above a UMass one by accident.

Uminuteman · Post by **Uminuteman** » Sun Dec 08, 2013 12:01 pm

UMass may not be the headline, but it should NEVER be uCON!! That's like a newspaper for Microsoft using the headline to announce the new iPhone. You can be unbiased without being stupid.

Minuteman4208 · Post by **Minuteman4208** » Sun Dec 08, 2013 12:08 pm

ShadesOf96and98 wrote:This is why I ask for many people in this thread to have a little more respect and common courtesy for these kids who are busting their ass to be professional journalists and full-time undergraduates at the same time; these are kids who are going to grow up and represent UMass well in many different ways, shapes and forms....

Appreciate your insight on the matter Shades, and I wholeheartedly agree with the quoted above. These kids are busting their butts preparing themselves for their professional pursuits. We should feel fortunate that they will soon be carrying the UMass torch into the world and, in the process, making the rest of us proud to be fellow alums.

Chris20 · Post by **Chris20** » Sun Dec 08, 2013 12:11 pm

They made a mistake, and some here, me included, made a mistake by reacting without really understanding what happened.

The core UMass hoops fans are a but over-sensitive, with reason to be, to issues like this....media coverage, respect, etc. So when it appeared that "our own" newspaper went Globe on us, it predictably got an emotional response.

By the same token, the Collegian and it's alumni seem to be a bit over-sensitive, probably with good reason, to the issues that the reaction brought to the surface....perceived bias, university control/funding, etc.

I think the immediate reaction was emotional, and when the facts were learned, it changed.

Seems like an occupational hazard in the world of journalism.

InnervisionsUMASS · Post by **InnervisionsUMASS** » Sun Dec 08, 2013 12:50 pm

InnervisionsUMASS wrote:Was the error just a technical glitch with their website or was the actual Sports section of the printed paper printed that way?

Can anyone who saw the print version of the paper answer this question?

78 · Post by 78 » Sun Dec 08, 2013 2:10 pm

ShadesOf96and98 wrote:I got out of the newspaper biz as quick as I could once I realized that the life of a journalist was not the life I wanted for myself, but the time I spent in it - starting with my time at the Collegian - prepared me to embrace the blood, sweat and tears needed to succeed in any profession.

Without the crucible that is being on the Collegian staff, I wouldn't have been as prepared to be a professional journalist, nor would I have been as prepared to leave journalism and be a professional something else. This is why I ask for many people in this thread to have a little more respect and common courtesy for these kids who are busting their ass to be professional journalists and full-time undergraduates at the same time; these are kids who are going to grow up and represent UMass well in many different ways, shapes and forms....even if they once ran a UConn story above a UMass one by accident.

Agree 100 percent. The Collegian and Howard Ziff are the two reasons I was able to succeed both as a journalist and later in public relations/marketing. The Collegian was a real job that taught me everything about deadlines and working as a team. Ziff taught me everything else.

jjmc85 · Post by **jjmc85** » Sun Dec 15, 2013 6:38 pm

We to read an article today on the hockey team. I think certain posters here are responsible for the pop up add I got. It was all about the Collegian being financially independent since I believe 1890.

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uz2b-len · Post by **uz2b-len** » Sun Dec 15, 2013 8:39 pm

We're still talking about this?

CrazyLegs · Post by **CrazyLegs** » Mon Dec 16, 2013 3:22 pm

Certainly seems like there's a heavy slant towards UMass in today's Collegian articles. So all seems well.

But I'm not sure "technical glitch" was the right explanation for what happened. That makes it seems like it had something to do with the software they were using to post the story. This seems like user error and an "unfortunate oversight" from someone on their staff.

Seems like pretty good coverage overall. Though, I will say, the site could definitely benefit from higher-res images. Very pixelated.