Topic: Gazette and Daily Mail merging

[W0lfman]

i hope Chuck gets an expanded role.  He is the best and I'd hate to see him become a second fiddle to vingle. Ugh...

http://www.charlestondailymail.com/article/20150719/DM01/150719226/1420

[HerdnClt]

Good grief. Loved reading the Daily Mail. Progressive WV Gazette.? WVU football would have to progress for them to be progressive.

[coalherd]

HerdnClt, "progressive" is the Gazette euphemism for "ultra left wing".  If you consistently follow their radical left wing editorial positions, usually penned by an 80 year old plus fellow traveler by the name of Jim Haught.  Haught must have burrowed deep in the slime in the early 50s McCarthy era, avoiding the stigma and fate of many of his Marxist oriented cohorts and "intellectuals" of that period.  Honest to god much of his editorial content is pure dogma out of the comintern playbook of the late 40s and 50s!!

[mckayt]

I think this was inevitable. I subscribed to both papers when one was delivered in the morning and the other in the afternoon. When they both started being delivered in the morning, I had to make a choice because I didn't need two newspapers being delivered at the same time. This could be a good thing, but time will tell. I agree with Wolf about Chuck McGill. Although he's a WVU grad, he's been great for The Herd. A true professional and a great proponent for Marshall.

[CJHerdgrad]

HerdnClt, "progressive" is the Gazette euphemism for "ultra left wing".  If you consistently follow their radical left wing editorial positions, usually penned by an 80 year old plus fellow traveler by the name of Jim Haught.  Haught must have burrowed deep in the slime in the early 50s McCarthy era, avoiding the stigma and fate of many of his Marxist oriented cohorts and "intellectuals" of that period.  Honest to god much of his editorial content is pure dogma out of the comintern playbook of the late 40s and 50s!!

Liberals began using the term "progressive" because of the negative connotation of word liberal.  This "merger" was tried about 10 years ago and ran afoul of federal anti-trust laws.  The Gazette was supposed to get permission to stop publishing of the the Daily Mail.  Does a merger count as stop publishing?  I give it 5 years and they will squeeze out the conservative voices at the paper.  Regardless of how "red" the voters have become in WV, they will be shoving the democratic party line down our throats.  The Gazette didn't help their own cause due to their fanatical stance against guns.

As to how this affects Marshall, I have always felt the Daily Mail gave Marshall more fair coverage than the Gazette.  This is both on the sports and academic side.  They kept Smock around for balance, but that was it.  Vingle never gave MU hardly any positive spin since we moved up to I-A in football, at least until Doc was hired.  This merger is a bad thing.

[biggreenarms]

Hopefully McGill, Smock and Redd all stay employeed. I saw a post from Smock on facebook he just lost his Mom last night. I'm sure this is a very difficult time for him. Prayers to all those guys and I hope they stay employed.

[Big City]

http://wvpublic.org/post/what-charleston-becoming-one-newspaper-town-looks

This post will be updated with more content soon. Keep checking throughout the day Monday for more.

Charleston, West Virginia is now a one newspaper town.

According to an announcement Sunday afternoon, The Charleston Gazette and The Charleston Daily Mail will become The Charleston Gazette-Mall effective Monday.

News of the merger comes on the expiration date of a final judgment from a settlement with the Department of Justice, stemming from anti-trust suit. In a document dated July 19, 2010, the final judgment was set to expire five years later.

[Buffalo Bop]

Hopefully McGill, Smock and Redd all stay employeed. I saw a post from Smock on facebook he just lost his Mom last night. I'm sure this is a very difficult time for him. Prayers to all those guys and I hope they stay employed.

Smock, Redd and McGill are all top notch. I hope they continue to write. And my condolences to Smock and his family for his loss.

[svherd]

Knew this would happen sooner or later. Most print newspapers are in trouble and many big city papers have ceased publication. Charley West just couldn't support two papers in this day and age. It's happened in many much bigger cities. sad.

[coalherd]

Smock, Redd and McGill are all top notch. I hope they continue to write. And my condolences to Smock and his family for his loss.

Echo the condolences to Doug Smock and family.  If any of above mentioned are, unfortunately, not retained in this merger, let's hope whomever is running the Huntington "Herald-Disgrace", (Marshall Reynolds' son??) has the sense and financial ability to try and hire one of these individuals at the Huntington paper (as a potential/actual replacement for Chuckie boy).  Such a hire would instantly improve the quality of the H-D at least 200%, not to mention possibly boost its readership.

[morpheus]

Younger guys will probably be gone and Herd coverage will drop big time with this buyout.

[pdunn]

Younger guys will probably be gone and Herd coverage will drop big time with this buyout.

Undoubtedly there will be some downsizing but remember that these guys all have journalism degrees, not sports writing degrees.  If there isn't room for them at the sports desk they could wind up covering city council meetings or such, or doing copy editing and production.  I doubt, though, that there will two Marshall beat writers, not in Charleston, which largely orbits the Morgantown axis.

[HerdnClt]

Undoubtedly there will be some downsizing but remember that these guys all have journalism degrees, not sports writing degrees.  If there isn't room for them at the sports desk they could wind up covering city council meetings or such, or doing copy editing and production.  I doubt, though, that there will two Marshall beat writers, not in Charleston, which largely orbits the Morgantown axis.

Hopefully Herd football will be so good they will need two. WVU won't be anything to write about.

[Herdman77]

In my opinion Doug Smock was the best reporter who ever covered Marshall sports. I don?t know why Landon was retained after the Daily Mail - Gazette merger and Smock let go. Smock was the best.

[Thundering In MD]

Why was a thread from 9 years ago revived?  Chuck is retired.  Smock has moved on.  ???

[miltonherdfan]

In my opinion Doug Smock was the best reporter who ever covered Marshall sports. I don?t know why Landon was retained after the Daily Mail - Gazette merger and Smock let go. Smock was the best.

doug was 1 of a kind b/c he gave it to ya straight.  all the other guys were 24/7 rainbows & sunshine regardless of the actual state of the program.  chuck could be critical, but you never knew if he was telling the truth or not. 

[MUther]

Liberals began using the term "progressive" because of the negative connotation of word liberal.  This "merger" was tried about 10 years ago and ran afoul of federal anti-trust laws.  The Gazette was supposed to get permission to stop publishing of the the Daily Mail.  Does a merger count as stop publishing?  I give it 5 years and they will squeeze out the conservative voices at the paper.  Regardless of how "red" the voters have become in WV, they will be shoving the democratic party line down our throats.  The Gazette didn't help their own cause due to their fanatical stance against guns.

As to how this affects Marshall, I have always felt the Daily Mail gave Marshall more fair coverage than the Gazette.  This is both on the sports and academic side.  They kept Smock around for balance, but that was it.  Vingle never gave MU hardly any positive spin since we moved up to I-A in football, at least until Doc was hired.  This merger is a bad thing.

If conservatives are still following any mainstream media they deserve whats being shoved down their throats.  Too many other ways to get actual news these days without having someone tell you how to think about it.

[HerdnClt]

Surprised to see a 9 year old post. 9 years later WVU still hasn?t progressed.😀Best of luck to Chuck in his retirement. Thanks for the articles over the years.

[Mako]

Surprised to see a 9 year old post. 9 years later WVU still hasn?t progressed.😀Best of luck to Chuck in his retirement. Thanks for the articles over the years.

ARISE!!  ARISE I SAY!!  The zombie thread shall arise again!!

[ChuckMcGill]

In my opinion Doug Smock was the best reporter who ever covered Marshall sports. I don?t know why Landon was retained after the Daily Mail - Gazette merger and Smock let go. Smock was the best.

GOOD MORNING HERD FANS!

I am awaking from my HerdFans slumber to clarify this post. I returned to West Virginia in 2009 as the Marshall beat writer and Chuck Landon was long gone from the Daily Mail, and there was no association between the newspapers in Charleston and Huntington at that time. There was even a beat writer in between the Chucks -- Jacob Messer -- so Landon probably avoided the Daily Mail-Gazette merger by seven or eight years.

Upon the combination of the two newspapers in Charleston, Doug Smock was definitely retained as the Marshall beat writer and Derek Redd was assigned to the Mountain East Conference beat.

IMO, Doug is the unquestioned GOAT of Marshall beat writers in the 21st century. He did it better for longer than anyone, and I dearly miss his coverage. The accurate part of the post I have quoted: Smock was the best.

GO HERD!

[Tim Hensley]

H-D Media sucks!  First, they did away with the Monday edition of the Huntington paper, then Sunday.  That means no up to date coverage of Marshall sports, much less a capable beat writer.  I was used to getting up early, having coffee, reading the paper and starting my day.  Then they decided they would mail the rag, which does not arrive until 11 a.m.; some people have told me they don't get their paper until after 4 p.m.  They have fugged up my whole fung cui.  I'm someone with a journalism degree (Class of '75) and personally don't care if they go out of business.

[Skidude]

If Marshall really wants sports reporting in the newspapers, on television and on the radio - they should hire 3-4 journalism graduate assistants to write articles to disseminate to the media outlets.  Those outlets will them have Marshall information at their fingertips and they can decide to use that information or not.  This information could (and should) be posted on Herd Zone. 

The grad assistants could write up-to-date articles on football, basketball, soccer, softball, baseball, etc.  They could write articles on individual players - where they're from, why they chose Marshall, their majors and other interesting information most fans would like to know about.

I believe other schools are doing something very similar to this.

This would be inexpensive go a long way in solving a lot of Marshall's lack of sports reporting.

[parshall2marshall]

IMO, Doug is the unquestioned GOAT of Marshall beat writers in the 21st century. He did it better for longer than anyone, and I dearly miss his coverage. The accurate part of the post I have quoted: Smock was the best.

GO HERD!

Let's not represent Smock as some kind of sportswriting GOAT. I found myself, being the "Hyper-sensitive Herd Fan" that I was (DShoe), often complaining at Smock's back-handed criticisms and put-downs of MU sports teams and results. Other Herd fans on here told me not to worry - that Smock just did that to appease his Charleston newspaper employers. That he really loves Marshall. Maybe kind of like growing up in a middle class family. My response essentially, "If you say so.".

Just thought I would come on here and spread some pre-Christamas cheer.

[Herdman77]

Why was a thread from 9 years ago revived?  Chuck is retired.  Smock has moved on.  ???

Because, over these past years, whenever reading an article by the Joe Biden of Marshall sports writers, Chuck Landon, I feel like I've been cheated in that I wasn't able to read the thoughtful, insightful, and informative articles that Doug Smock would have written. Now that Chuck Landon is retired, and God bless him, I know he loves Marshall, can we please bring back Doug Smock?