Topic: GazetteMail

[Ovaltine Jenkins]

I perused this morning's edition for the first time in years.  Why don't they just rebrand it as the West Virginia University Gazette-Mail.  Talk about inordinate coverage of the state's two largest schools.

[herd1990]

And still no substantial coverage of last Saturday's "open" scrimmage.  We get better coverage of high school football.

[wasbarryb]

I perused this morning's edition for the first time in years.  Why don't they just rebrand it as the West Virginia University Gazette-Mail.  Talk about inordinate coverage of the state's two largest schools.

How about Dominion Post South

[HerdEcon]

This would have been a good year for news coverage.  Build on the enthusiasm surrounding a new coach and expectations.  The sports information department should be pumping out articles/press releases every day to the local media outlets.  Capitalize on fans enthusiasm, sell more tickets. 

Seems like every season we get a bunch of feel good stories about players that have overcome some adversity to play college football.  Although its good to hear about people succeeding however, after a while all of the stories get stale.  Everyone has some story.  Football fans want stories about football not a bunch of personal interest stories. 

The stories don't have to give out top secret information but some information would be great.  Is Zban improving?  What about the defense after the loss of our top 2 defensive players and sack leaders?  How are the WRs and RBs doing? 

[coalherd]

Gazette has one WVU beat writer.  Basically the person who replaced the beat writer who was there when Mitch Vingle left. They've cut their sports staff significantly since the HD Media "merger".  One beat writer basically for High School Sports.  And the same sportswriter who covers the Herd for the Herald-Dispatch does the same job for the Gazette.  Mitch Vingle was basically a sports columnist but essentially he just covered WVU sports 99 per cent of the time.

Now Chuckie Landon is the "sports columnist" for both papers.  To his credit, Chuck gives Marshall a lot more coverage in his columns than little Mitch ever did.  The difference now is that the Gazette "borrows" or purchases articles about WVU from a privately operated fan publication, Blue-Gold News. and reprints them in the Gazette.  Many are by Greg Hunter, a WVU grad, and Tony Caridi's sidekick on the Metro News Statewide Sportsline radio show.  Another source of WVU articles in the Gazette is Bob Hertzell, a writer or former writer for a paper in the Clarksburg-Fairmont market.

There use to be a privately run sports publication about MU sports in the Huntington area.  Not sure it is still around.  One of those who was involved and did a lot of MU articles was a fellow name Greg Perry.  But basically the Gazette obtains a lot of its WVU related material from outside sources.  Not sure such sources are available for MU sports.  Hell, we're lucky if we can get current, relevant and up to date news about MU athletics from the Athletic Department's own sports information component, the Herd Zone site, such as it is!

[wasbarryb]

Gazette has one WVU beat writer.  Basically the person who replaced the beat writer who was there when Mitch Vingle left. They've cut their sports staff significantly since the HD Media "merger".  One beat writer basically for High School Sports.  And the same sportswriter who covers the Herd for the Herald-Dispatch does the same job for the Gazette.  Mitch Vingle was basically a sports columnist but essentially he just covered WVU sports 99 per cent of the time.

Now Chuckie Landon is the "sports columnist" for both papers.  To his credit, Chuck gives Marshall a lot more coverage in his columns than little Mitch ever did.  The difference now is that the Gazette "borrows" or purchases articles about WVU from a privately operated fan publication, Blue-Gold News. and reprints them in the Gazette.  Many are by Greg Hunter, a WVU grad, and Tony Caridi's sidekick on the Metro News Statewide Sportsline radio show.  Another source of WVU articles in the Gazette is Bob Hertzell, a writer or former writer for a paper in the Clarksburg-Fairmont market.

There use to be a privately run sports publication about MU sports in the Huntington area.  Not sure it is still around.  One of those who was involved and did a lot of MU articles was a fellow name Greg Perry.  But basically the Gazette obtains a lot of its WVU related material from outside sources.  Not sure such sources are available for MU sports.  Hell, we're lucky if we can get current, relevant and up to date news about MU athletics from the Athletic Department's own sports information component, the Herd Zone site, such as it is!

As a famous TV and movie star once said "It isn't easy being green."

[HerdEcon]

Gazette has one WVU beat writer.  Basically the person who replaced the beat writer who was there when Mitch Vingle left. They've cut their sports staff significantly since the HD Media "merger".  One beat writer basically for High School Sports.  And the same sportswriter who covers the Herd for the Herald-Dispatch does the same job for the Gazette.  Mitch Vingle was basically a sports columnist but essentially he just covered WVU sports 99 per cent of the time.

Now Chuckie Landon is the "sports columnist" for both papers.  To his credit, Chuck gives Marshall a lot more coverage in his columns than little Mitch ever did.  The difference now is that the Gazette "borrows" or purchases articles about WVU from a privately operated fan publication, Blue-Gold News. and reprints them in the Gazette.  Many are by Greg Hunter, a WVU grad, and Tony Caridi's sidekick on the Metro News Statewide Sportsline radio show.  Another source of WVU articles in the Gazette is Bob Hertzell, a writer or former writer for a paper in the Clarksburg-Fairmont market.

There use to be a privately run sports publication about MU sports in the Huntington area.  Not sure it is still around.  One of those who was involved and did a lot of MU articles was a fellow name Greg Perry.  But basically the Gazette obtains a lot of its WVU related material from outside sources.  Not sure such sources are available for MU sports.  Hell, we're lucky if we can get current, relevant and up to date news about MU athletics from the Athletic Department's own sports information component, the Herd Zone site, such as it is!

All the more reason the Marshall Sports Information Department should be cranking out several articles/press releases a week and sending them to local/regional media outlets.  It's the only way Marshall athletics are going to get coverage.  Make the job easy for the news media.  Write the articles for them.

It's really a win-win for both Marshall and the local or regional media.  The media doesn't have to hire another sports writer or make time for an existing sports writer to cover Marshall sports (cost savings) and gets pre-written articles to fill space or time slots.  Marshall gets more regional publicity (higher profile) which helps keep Marshall in the eyes and ears of donors, alumni, and fans.  It would also increase interest by people in the region who may be enticed to buy tickets to sporting events or buy newsprint with articles about Marshall sports.  Marshall would certainly benefit by increasing its community and regional presence.  It wouldn't hurt Marshall's ability to attract new students either.  Just like any business or product someone has to sell it because it's not going to sell itself.

[Always THE HERD]

All the more reason the Marshall Sports Information Department should be cranking out several articles/press releases a week and sending them to local/regional media outlets.  It's the only way Marshall athletics are going to get coverage.  Make the job easy for the news media.  Write the articles for them.

It's really a win-win for both Marshall and the local or regional media.  The media doesn't have to hire another sports writer or make time for an existing sports writer to cover Marshall sports (cost savings) and gets pre-written articles to fill space or time slots.  Marshall gets more regional publicity (higher profile) which helps keep Marshall in the eyes and ears of donors, alumni, and fans.  It would also increase interest by people in the region who may be enticed to buy tickets to sporting events or buy newsprint with articles about Marshall sports.  Marshall would certainly benefit by increasing its community and regional presence.  It wouldn't hurt Marshall's ability to attract new students either.  Just like any business or product someone has to sell it because it's not going to sell itself.

~
Try living in Beckley WV and you get even less coverage of MU......

[coalherd]

All the more reason the Marshall Sports Information Department should be cranking out several articles/press releases a week and sending them to local/regional media outlets.  It's the only way Marshall athletics are going to get coverage.  Make the job easy for the news media.  Write the articles for them.

It's really a win-win for both Marshall and the local or regional media.  The media doesn't have to hire another sports writer or make time for an existing sports writer to cover Marshall sports (cost savings) and gets pre-written articles to fill space or time slots.  Marshall gets more regional publicity (higher profile) which helps keep Marshall in the eyes and ears of donors, alumni, and fans.  It would also increase interest by people in the region who may be enticed to buy tickets to sporting events or buy newsprint with articles about Marshall sports.  Marshall would certainly benefit by increasing its community and regional presence.  It wouldn't hurt Marshall's ability to attract new students either.  Just like any business or product someone has to sell it because it's not going to sell itself.

Except the problem seems to be that MU doesn't appear to have a tradition SID (Sports Information Director).  Instead, Hamrick hired a former Charleston sports writer whose job is apparently to write one or two articles a month on Herd Zone!

[HerdEcon]

Except the problem seems to be that MU doesn't appear to have a tradition SID (Sports Information Director).  Instead, Hamrick hired a former Charleston sports writer whose job is apparently to write one or two articles a month on Herd Zone!

Agree.  Get an intern from the journalism department to push out a couple articles a week. 

[wasbarryb]

Agree.  Get an intern from the journalism department to push out a couple articles a week.

If we did that people might start asking why are we paying a former Charleston newspaper guy to write just one or two articles a month?

[TomBragg]

Gazette has one WVU beat writer.  Basically the person who replaced the beat writer who was there when Mitch Vingle left. They've cut their sports staff significantly since the HD Media "merger".  One beat writer basically for High School Sports.  And the same sportswriter who covers the Herd for the Herald-Dispatch does the same job for the Gazette.  Mitch Vingle was basically a sports columnist but essentially he just covered WVU sports 99 per cent of the time.

Now Chuckie Landon is the "sports columnist" for both papers.  To his credit, Chuck gives Marshall a lot more coverage in his columns than little Mitch ever did.  The difference now is that the Gazette "borrows" or purchases articles about WVU from a privately operated fan publication, Blue-Gold News. and reprints them in the Gazette.  Many are by Greg Hunter, a WVU grad, and Tony Caridi's sidekick on the Metro News Statewide Sportsline radio show.  Another source of WVU articles in the Gazette is Bob Hertzell, a writer or former writer for a paper in the Clarksburg-Fairmont market.

There use to be a privately run sports publication about MU sports in the Huntington area.  Not sure it is still around.  One of those who was involved and did a lot of MU articles was a fellow name Greg Perry.  But basically the Gazette obtains a lot of its WVU related material from outside sources.  Not sure such sources are available for MU sports.  Hell, we're lucky if we can get current, relevant and up to date news about MU athletics from the Athletic Department's own sports information component, the Herd Zone site, such as it is!

Hi gang I can probably provide some insight on this thread as a Marshall grad, former Gazette-Mail sportswriter and current person who covers Marshall sports.

1) Like it or not, and I know most of you won't like this, WVU sports coverage brings in WAY more traffic and advertising dollars to the CGM than Marshall sports. That's just how it is, and as long as it remains that way CGM is going to have more resources dedicated to WVU coverage. I used to complain about this all the time until I started working there and saw the numbers. It sucks for Marshall fans, but even at a place as bad at making money and good decisions as CGM the numbers the two bring in are impossible to ignore.

2) There was no "open" scrimmage last Saturday. I was there, and when the media's designated time to watch was up, most of us had to leave and come back when the scrimmage was finished for interviews.

3) CGM's WVU beat is currently in a weird spot. When Vingle left in 2018, I was promoted to the WVU beat and was on that job for two years until they laid me off as a cost-cutting measure a week into the pandemic. When that happened, CGM started picking up a lot of WVU stuff from Blue-Gold News and eventually promoted from within again to fill my spot. That guy is the "beat writer" but they pull WVU content from a lot of places other than him like BGN and Hertzel. For CGM Marshall coverage, you're getting the HD stuff from Grant and Chuck (and sometimes Tim Stephens) -- and that's it.

4) The Marshall sports info department works HARD, but good help can be hard to find and they just don't have the bodies they used to. That department is very understaffed and overworked. There is a lot on their plate and cranking out articles for the local media to copy and paste is probably low on the priority list. Could they do more? Yeah. Could they do better? Yeah. But a lot is asked of that department and they are stretched very thin as it is. Interns from the journalism school could help, but again good help is hard to find. Marshall's j-school simply does not prioritize producing good sports writers anymore. Pick up a Parthenon sometime and you'll see what I mean.

5) The former Charleston sportswriter who "only writes one or two articles a month for Herd Zone" does a TON of work behind the scenes in addition to his duties as the department's staff writer. Full disclosure: Chuck McGill is my friend, but to simplify all he does for the Marshall athletic department down to "writes a few articles every month" is just false.

As some of you probably are aware, I run Herd247 -- the new Marshall site on the 247Sports Network. A big part of my pitch to 247 when I was trying to convince them why they should hire me was about the sad state of Marshall media coverage. That's not a knock on everyone who covers the Herd, but not that long ago there was significantly more coverage of Marshall because there were a lot more people on the beat. The Charleston papers "merged" then that corpse was bought by the HD and in the span of less than five years you went from three (sometimes more depending on the year at the HD) beat writers from the three newspapers to just one writer covering the Herd for the majority of the state.

I hope none of this is out of line here, and I hope y'all will check out some of what I'm trying to add to the Marshall beat. Herd247 has a lot of coverage behind a paywall (how I make money), but there is a lot of free content there too. I just wanted to chime in here since I have some specific insight to some of the complaints in this thread.

Oh and to the poster complaining about lack of Herd coverage in Beckley -- I hear you. It's not much, but I'm helping out the Beckley paper with some Marshall stuff this fall. The Register-Herald is another paper that has had drastic cuts to its sports staff, and I always had a friendly relationship with their editor so I figured it could be a mutually beneficial relationship with the bonus of getting more Marshall coverage out to the southern part of the state.

I'll crawl back in my hole now. Please check out Herd247 sometime and keep an eye out for more Marshall coverage in Beckley. :)

[Always THE HERD]

Hi gang I can probably provide some insight on this thread as a Marshall grad, former Gazette-Mail sportswriter and current person who covers Marshall sports.

1) Like it or not, and I know most of you won't like this, WVU sports coverage brings in WAY more traffic and advertising dollars to the CGM than Marshall sports. That's just how it is, and as long as it remains that way CGM is going to have more resources dedicated to WVU coverage. I used to complain about this all the time until I started working there and saw the numbers. It sucks for Marshall fans, but even at a place as bad at making money and good decisions as CGM the numbers the two bring in are impossible to ignore.

2) There was no "open" scrimmage last Saturday. I was there, and when the media's designated time to watch was up, most of us had to leave and come back when the scrimmage was finished for interviews.

3) CGM's WVU beat is currently in a weird spot. When Vingle left in 2018, I was promoted to the WVU beat and was on that job for two years until they laid me off as a cost-cutting measure a week into the pandemic. When that happened, CGM started picking up a lot of WVU stuff from Blue-Gold News and eventually promoted from within again to fill my spot. That guy is the "beat writer" but they pull WVU content from a lot of places other than him like BGN and Hertzel. For CGM Marshall coverage, you're getting the HD stuff from Grant and Chuck (and sometimes Tim Stephens) -- and that's it.

4) The Marshall sports info department works HARD, but good help can be hard to find and they just don't have the bodies they used to. That department is very understaffed and overworked. There is a lot on their plate and cranking out articles for the local media to copy and paste is probably low on the priority list. Could they do more? Yeah. Could they do better? Yeah. But a lot is asked of that department and they are stretched very thin as it is. Interns from the journalism school could help, but again good help is hard to find. Marshall's j-school simply does not prioritize producing good sports writers anymore. Pick up a Parthenon sometime and you'll see what I mean.

5) The former Charleston sportswriter who "only writes one or two articles a month for Herd Zone" does a TON of work behind the scenes in addition to his duties as the department's staff writer. Full disclosure: Chuck McGill is my friend, but to simplify all he does for the Marshall athletic department down to "writes a few articles every month" is just false.

As some of you probably are aware, I run Herd247 -- the new Marshall site on the 247Sports Network. A big part of my pitch to 247 when I was trying to convince them why they should hire me was about the sad state of Marshall media coverage. That's not a knock on everyone who covers the Herd, but not that long ago there was significantly more coverage of Marshall because there were a lot more people on the beat. The Charleston papers "merged" then that corpse was bought by the HD and in the span of less than five years you went from three (sometimes more depending on the year at the HD) beat writers from the three newspapers to just one writer covering the Herd for the majority of the state.

I hope none of this is out of line here, and I hope y'all will check out some of what I'm trying to add to the Marshall beat. Herd247 has a lot of coverage behind a paywall (how I make money), but there is a lot of free content there too. I just wanted to chime in here since I have some specific insight to some of the complaints in this thread.

Oh and to the poster complaining about lack of Herd coverage in Beckley -- I hear you. It's not much, but I'm helping out the Beckley paper with some Marshall stuff this fall. The Register-Herald is another paper that has had drastic cuts to its sports staff, and I always had a friendly relationship with their editor so I figured it could be a mutually beneficial relationship with the bonus of getting more Marshall coverage out to the southern part of the state.

I'll crawl back in my hole now. Please check out Herd247 sometime and keep an eye out for more Marshall coverage in Beckley. :)

~
Thank you for a little more insight into all of this! I am the one who complains about MU sports (or anything else related to MU) coverage in Beckley. It is not just a "recent" happening. It has gone on for 30 or more years (except when BP was our coach and of course he grew up in Beckley). I look forward to any additional info you can provide to the RH.

[beau42m]

If you want to get a good deal on a digital only subscription to either the Herald-Dispatch or Gazette-Mail, I would check with them around Halloween time. They call the sale, "A Once in a Blue Moon Sale". I was able to get both newspapers digitally for $29 apiece annually, about the price one would pay for the Washington Post digital subscription annually.

[coalherd]

If you want to get a good deal on a digital only subscription to either the Herald-Dispatch or Gazette-Mail, I would check with them around Halloween time. They call the sale, "A Once in a Blue Moon Sale". I was able to get both newspapers digitally for $29 apiece annually, about the price one would pay for the Washington Post digital subscription annually.

That's my main complaint with HD Media.  So much of the Gazette's content is now duplicated in the Herald-Dispatch, and visa versa.  I have a subscription to the Gazette here in Southern WV, which includes the actual paper plus digital access.  Be damned if I'm going to pay the full price just to get the "digital" content in the Herald Dispatch.  H-D Media management should considered a reduced "combined" price to get a digit subscription to both papers.  Instead of $29 cost, make it 29 for one paper and perhaps half more, or $14 or $15 more for both. 

I note right now you can get a 3 or 4 month digital subscription to the Roanoke paper for ONE Dollar!  I'm thinking about getting it this week as they have a quality sports section and it would be well worth it for the football season (and start of basketball season too!).

[goherd73]

I subscribe to the digital HD for $49 annually which I think is a good deal for a daily product. I do it for 2 reasons:

1. I get good coverage of Herd sports plus Huntington/TriState news no matter where I'm located.

2. I support local journalism which has fallen on hard times. HD and CG both support the Marshall Journalism School by hiring many of it's grads. That's a good thing. We all need to support local if we can, no matter where we live.

I subscribe to Herd24/7 and Tom Bragg's efforts. You can get a good deal in subscribing. Lot's of good information and I admire Tom for doing this.

Also don't forget Paul Swann and The Drive on WRVC radio. I listen to the podcasts. Great source for not only Herd FB/BB but all Herd sports and CUSA. Kindred Communications is locally owned and not only has the Herd radio broadcasts but also supports many local events like the 4th of July fireworks and weekly music concerts downtown in the summer. Once again, support local.

.

[coalherd]

I subscribe to the digital HD for $49 annually which I think is a good deal for a daily product. I do it for 2 reasons:

1. I get good coverage of Herd sports plus Huntington/TriState news no matter where I'm located.

2. I support local journalism which has fallen on hard times. HD and CG both support the Marshall Journalism School by hiring many of it's grads. That's a good thing. We all need to support local if we can, no matter where we live.

I subscribe to Herd24/7 and Tom Bragg's efforts. You can get a good deal in subscribing. Lot's of good information and I admire Tom for doing this.

Also don't forget Paul Swann and The Drive on WRVC radio. I listen to the podcasts. Great source for not only Herd FB/BB but all Herd sports and CUSA. Kindred Communications is locally owned and not only has the Herd radio broadcasts but also supports many local events like the 4th of July fireworks and weekly music concerts downtown in the summer. Once again, support local.

.

I note that Paul was out for a work or so I believe for a vacation.  However, he's been gone for a couple weeks now and I notice that Woody Woodrum filled in some last week.  Hope no serious problems with Paul, illness, etc., and that he'll be back behind the mic shortly.  Enjoy hearing Woody again and he still apparently is involved some with broadcasting some of the local high school action around the City, Huntington High, etc.

[D1]

Hi gang I can probably provide some insight on this thread as a Marshall grad, former Gazette-Mail sportswriter and current person who covers Marshall sports.

1) Like it or not, and I know most of you won't like this, WVU sports coverage brings in WAY more traffic and advertising dollars to the CGM than Marshall sports. That's just how it is, and as long as it remains that way CGM is going to have more resources dedicated to WVU coverage. I used to complain about this all the time until I started working there and saw the numbers. It sucks for Marshall fans, but even at a place as bad at making money and good decisions as CGM the numbers the two bring in are impossible to ignore.

2) There was no "open" scrimmage last Saturday. I was there, and when the media's designated time to watch was up, most of us had to leave and come back when the scrimmage was finished for interviews.

3) CGM's WVU beat is currently in a weird spot. When Vingle left in 2018, I was promoted to the WVU beat and was on that job for two years until they laid me off as a cost-cutting measure a week into the pandemic. When that happened, CGM started picking up a lot of WVU stuff from Blue-Gold News and eventually promoted from within again to fill my spot. That guy is the "beat writer" but they pull WVU content from a lot of places other than him like BGN and Hertzel. For CGM Marshall coverage, you're getting the HD stuff from Grant and Chuck (and sometimes Tim Stephens) -- and that's it.

4) The Marshall sports info department works HARD, but good help can be hard to find and they just don't have the bodies they used to. That department is very understaffed and overworked. There is a lot on their plate and cranking out articles for the local media to copy and paste is probably low on the priority list. Could they do more? Yeah. Could they do better? Yeah. But a lot is asked of that department and they are stretched very thin as it is. Interns from the journalism school could help, but again good help is hard to find. Marshall's j-school simply does not prioritize producing good sports writers anymore. Pick up a Parthenon sometime and you'll see what I mean.

5) The former Charleston sportswriter who "only writes one or two articles a month for Herd Zone" does a TON of work behind the scenes in addition to his duties as the department's staff writer. Full disclosure: Chuck McGill is my friend, but to simplify all he does for the Marshall athletic department down to "writes a few articles every month" is just false.

As some of you probably are aware, I run Herd247 -- the new Marshall site on the 247Sports Network. A big part of my pitch to 247 when I was trying to convince them why they should hire me was about the sad state of Marshall media coverage. That's not a knock on everyone who covers the Herd, but not that long ago there was significantly more coverage of Marshall because there were a lot more people on the beat. The Charleston papers "merged" then that corpse was bought by the HD and in the span of less than five years you went from three (sometimes more depending on the year at the HD) beat writers from the three newspapers to just one writer covering the Herd for the majority of the state.

I hope none of this is out of line here, and I hope y'all will check out some of what I'm trying to add to the Marshall beat. Herd247 has a lot of coverage behind a paywall (how I make money), but there is a lot of free content there too. I just wanted to chime in here since I have some specific insight to some of the complaints in this thread.

Oh and to the poster complaining about lack of Herd coverage in Beckley -- I hear you. It's not much, but I'm helping out the Beckley paper with some Marshall stuff this fall. The Register-Herald is another paper that has had drastic cuts to its sports staff, and I always had a friendly relationship with their editor so I figured it could be a mutually beneficial relationship with the bonus of getting more Marshall coverage out to the southern part of the state.

I'll crawl back in my hole now. Please check out Herd247 sometime and keep an eye out for more Marshall coverage in Beckley. :)

Thanks for the inside perspective