PJS sports section

[BUSongwriter]

I don't intend for this to become a Bash the Journal-Star thread, but I sure don't understand the decision making in the sports section recently. I don't know the sports editor, Wes Huett, and I'm sure he's working with a skeleton staff because of the cuts of recent years. And I know these are the dog days of summer for sports.

But it seems the sports section has been reduced to a large, half-page photo of some high school sports athlete and a bunch of canned national features that few care about.

Last night I watched one of the most exciting St. Louis Cardinal baseball games of the year. A combined one-hitter against Milwaukee in a crucial series as three "local teams" -- the Cubs, Cards and Brewers -- battle for spots in the post-season. Paul DeJong hits a long home run that knocks out the lighted "M" in Big Mac Land. I look for the story in the morning paper, and there is one sentence (nine words) in a "Roundup" section at the bottom corner of the fourth page. This was NOT a late game.

Meanwhile, there was a half-page story headlined "Dealing with online trolls part of the job for MLB bosses." Something seems backwards.

I read the Champaign News-Gazette and there are at least two or three stories every week about Illini basketball . . . yes, even at this time of year. We get little if anything about our Braves even after the success of last year.

I appreciate this forum which is so educational on the Braves. But I still enjoy newspapers, too, and it is disheartening to see the direction the PJS is going.

[bradleyfan124]

I totally agree. I canceled my newspaper and buy it the gas stations sometimes. I purchased one this morning that reinforced my decision to cancel. The sports section was almost next to nothing

[BUSongwriter]

Not a word in this morning's paper about either the Cardinal or Cub games last night. If their deadline is now that early, what is going to happen to Bradley night game coverage?

[Da Coach]

I have noticed that. Even the online sports section does not have any articles about any of last night's baseball games (or any recent games!)-

https://www.pjstar.com/sports

The only mention is the Scorestream banner across the top of the sports page that has final scores, but no information beyond just the score. Scorestream is a online service that is independent and not part of the PJ Star.
Anyone can go to Scorestream yourself and look up any score of any game pro, college, or even high school, anywhere in the US-

https://scorestream.com/

And you can always get far more information about scores and games by simply going to the ESPN scoreboards, which they have for every sport. Simply select the date at the top, and click on whatever score you are interested in, and you can see a summary, a boxscore, or a play-by-play feed for the game, even video highlights.-

https://www.espn.com/mlb/scoreboard

[Da Coach]

...
Last night I watched one of the most exciting St. Louis Cardinal baseball games of the year. A combined one-hitter against Milwaukee in a crucial series as three "local teams" -- the Cubs, Cards and Brewers -- battle for spots in the post-season. Paul DeJong hits a long home run that knocks out the lighted "M" in Big Mac Land. I look for the story in the morning paper, and there is one sentence (nine words) in a "Roundup" section at the bottom corner of the fourth page. This was NOT a late game.

For those who haven't see it, here is the home run by Paul DeJong of the Cardinals that BUSongwriter is referring to-

https://deadspin.com/paul-dejong-pulled-a-the-natural-on-the-big-mac-sign-1837402291

[wily coyote]

My wife and I had the cancelling talk this morning. My renewal is coming up in Feb and unless there is a huge change in local reporting or a huge discount we will not be a renewal of that rag. I'm sure by the articles they are running with a skeleton crew but these articles are horrendous. Notre Dame just held their opening year golf tourney Monday and not one bit of information. Zero local information on golf scores or Cross country results. I sure hope Football gets better coverage than these two sports. It is a shame what has transpired with the PJS. It now takes me about a minute or two to scan for anything I would be interested in. RIP PJS

[Adam Duvall]

The Journal Star sports department went through yet another round of layoffs. Five part-timers were let go two weeks ago along with longtime do-it-all Joe Bates resigning.

This leaves the department with seven employees - three full-time: Wes Huett, Dave Reynolds & Dave Eminian along with part-timers: Stan Morris, Johnny Campos, John Komosa and myself.

I would expect to see feature stories from all the fall sports - girls tennis, golf, cross country, boys soccer, girls swimming & diving, football and volleyball. But I wouldn't expect to see the daily box scores or highlights like in the past. Also, the new deadline is unbelievable.

Unfortunately, we don’t have the manpower or part-time hours - you’d be shocked at that number - allotted to continue producing day-to-day box scores (they have to be typed up and put into specific styles) and game highlights (they need to be written). These decisions are dictated to Wes, not the other way around.

We do, however, have enough reporters to get out to 10-12 events a week and produce content off those games, matches, invites, etc.

Stringers have been mentioned to me. They are considered freelance reporters a paper hires to report usually on one game. Most stringer fees run $50-$100 per story.

An editorial explaining all this will run this weekend.

[Da Coach]

The Journal Star sports department went through yet another round of layoffs. Five part-timers were let go two weeks ago along with longtime do-it-all Joe Bates resigning.

This leaves the department with seven employees - three full-time: Wes Huett, Dave Reynolds & Dave Eminian along with part-timers: Stan Morris, Johnny Campos, John Komosa and myself.

I would expect to see feature stories from all the fall sports - girls tennis, golf, cross country, boys soccer, girls swimming & diving, football and volleyball. But I wouldn't expect to see the daily box scores or highlights like in the past. Also, the new deadline is unbelievable.

Unfortunately, we don’t have the manpower or part-time hours - you’d be shocked at that number - allotted to continue producing day-to-day box scores (they have to be typed up and put into specific styles) and game highlights (they need to be written). These decisions are dictated to Wes, not the other way around.

We do, however, have enough reporters to get out to 10-12 events a week and produce content off those games, matches, invites, etc.

Stringers have been mentioned to me. They are considered freelance reporters a paper hires to report usually on one game. Most stringer fees run $50-$100 per story.

An editorial explaining all this will run this weekend.

Thanks for the info, but sorry to say that it sounds to me like the PJ Star is waving the white flag and simply giving up on being a real daily newspaper.
What happened to coverage of the Cubs, Cards, White Sox? Can we expect the same blackout on Bears, Bulls, and other pro sports? What about Bradley coverage? Will that be cut back? Can't they even afford to post wire service stories/results?
Does management believe these bare-bones cutbacks will bring readers back?
I'll look forward to the editorial, unless I am blocked by your paywall.

[Mikovio]

I'm probably more sympathetic to the PJS workers than most because I have family that worked in TV news and saw this same thing happen with WEEK a decade ago, causing the exodus of icons like Mike Dimmick, McIntire, Ranson and everybody else who wouldn't take a big pay cut to stay. Granite even tried to outsource all its stations' weather to Indiana until it famously backfired.

What you're seeing is vulture capitalism. A New York hedge fund buys a property like this, cuts expenses to the bone -- regardless of profit/loss -- managing its decline and lining their own members' pockets in the process for "consulting" work. They bet against quality journalism, bet against the public noticing. A community suffers. If the profits turn to losses they'll just borrow in the host's name, continuing to pocket consulting fees. Like I said before, I've got a digital subscription and it's only $5/month but even that's getting harder to justify.

[Adam Duvall]

In case you missed this from Friday:

"We love sports. We know you do, too.

But change is hard. And as readers of this newspaper know, the Journal Star sports section has undergone plenty of change recently.

We’ve seen resources reduced. What’s more, we have an earlier press deadline. That means many of the scores and stories you’re used to seeing daily often don’t appear.

These circumstances have forced us to make some hard decisions. We will no longer be able to run most high school scores and statistics because of the deadline and the lack of resources to produce them.

That doesn’t mean we still aren’t going to bring you local sports. We’ll just have to do it in different and creative ways — and we have a sports staff with decades of experience ready to deliver.

For prep football, for instance, in Saturday editions we won’t be able to get in many final scores from the night before — but that edition will include features and photos about the players, coaches or fans.

We encourage all of our readers to head to our website, pjstar.com, on Friday nights to find final scores, stories, photo galleries and videos about the games you care about.

And we aren’t forgetting about our print subscribers when it comes to prep football. Sunday’s print edition will include more coverage, including a weekly page devoted to that weekend’s games.

Also remember, anyone who has a print subscription gets free access to us online. Visit pjstar.com/allaccess if you haven’t activated your digital subscription. Once you do, you can view our online content at no additional charge and with unlimited access to our stories, photos and videos.

We value your subscription and your time. We know you look to us for relevant information. That is why we are committed to making sure we provide it to you. This isn’t what you’re used to. Change isn’t easy. But our reality is, the newspaper business is moving online. It has been headed there for some time, and that is only going to accelerate as we head toward the future.

For the Journal Star to remain viable, we have to head there, too.

We invite our readers to come along with us — because we think you will like what you find there. Our dedicated reporters and photographers, although we are fewer, will continue to provide important and interesting content — journalism with impact. Their commitment hasn’t changed.

And we want your help, as well. You can be additional eyes and ears in your communities. We want to create a dialogue with our readers, make you part of the conversation. You know of story ideas or some cool and interesting info about the local team? Feel free to reach out to us via email at sports@pjstar.com.

We no longer are able to fully provide the day-to-day scores and statistics of your local teams as before, but we still want to tell their stories.

And we want you there along with us."

Here's the link: https://www.pjstar.com/sports/20190829/ ... ium=social

Not much more I can say about prep sports than what was said above. I don't have answers about the pro sports or Bradley, because I only cover high school sports. But with a 9 p.m. deadline, I think that tells you all you need to know.

[Da Coach]

Thanks for posting the editorial here, since the online paywall makes it impossible for a non-subscriber like me from reading it on the PJ Star website.
I would like to respond, but I hope this doesn't sound like I am beating a dead horse. I sympathize with the people like you who do their job well, but the staff and budget cuts are dictated from the corporate level.

Like most people, I can understand the budget issues that newspapers are dealing with and the trends away from printed newspaper.
But here are a couple things that don't add up to me. You say you now have a 9 PM deadline that keeps you from having scores and reports from night games, but why? Not many years ago reporters had much later deadlines, and they didn't have all the modern digital communication options and modern printing methods they have today. I recall reading the newspaper as a kid and they always had full reports and box scores of the local teams, plus nice summaries of all the others games and standings. The only exceptions were when the teams played on the West Coast. That means that even though games ended at 10-11 PM, the reporters then still had time to get back to their offices, type their reports on typewriters (or sometimes call them in to others who typed them up), get them to the editors, have the reports manually delivered to the print room where they had be typeset into the printing press character by character, then print them with the old-fashion mechanical printing presses, collate pages and sections, sort them, bundle them and distribute them to the delivery boys (I was one of those delivery boys), and have them delivered on foot or by riding their bikes. We would get the papers dropped off by 5AM, and have them all delivered to the houses by 6-6:30 AM regardless of the weather. I am sure there are others here old enough to remember all that. Why is newspaper printing the only profession that has gotten slower and less efficient despite all the modern advances in computer and digital communication, technology, and printing

And, why should that deadline affect the online version? I cancelled my online subscription because on many days even the online version stopped including reports of games from the night before.

And the final factor was the price. I know newspaper people hear that all the time, and reporters can't do anything about it. But, my online subscription nearly tripled in price in the short time I was a subscriber. Subscribers want more and better coverage if prices rise like that at 10 times the rate of inflation, but instead they get bare-bones coverage and more ads than real news reporting.

One other question- there are a lot of people who read mainly or exclusively the sports section. Why doesn't the PJ Star offer just an "all-access Sports subscription" like a lot of newspapers are now doing? I believe it would appeal to some people who don't want the other stuff or the political and editorial bloviating.

[Adam Duvall]

Thanks for posting the editorial here, since the online paywall makes it impossible for a non-subscriber like me from reading it on the PJ Star website.
I would like to respond, but I hope this doesn't sound like I am beating a dead horse. I sympathize with the people like you who do their job well, but the staff and budget cuts are dictated from the corporate level.

Like most people, I can understand the budget issues that newspapers are dealing with and the trends away from printed newspaper.
But here are a couple things that don't add up to me. You say you now have a 9 PM deadline that keeps you from having scores and reports from night games, but why? Not many years ago reporters had much later deadlines, and they didn't have all the modern digital communication options and modern printing methods they have today. I recall reading the newspaper as a kid and they always had full reports and box scores of the local teams, plus nice summaries of all the others games and standings. The only exceptions were when the teams played on the West Coast. That means that even though games ended at 10-11 PM, the reporters then still had time to get back to their offices, type their reports on typewriters (or sometimes call them in to others who typed them up), get them to the editors, have the reports manually delivered to the print room where they had be typeset into the printing press character by character, then print them with the old-fashion mechanical printing presses, collate pages and sections, sort them, bundle them and distribute them to the delivery boys (I was one of those delivery boys), and have them delivered on foot or by riding their bikes. We would get the papers dropped off by 5AM, and have them all delivered to the houses by 6-6:30 AM regardless of the weather. I am sure there are others here old enough to remember all that. Why is newspaper printing the only profession that has gotten slower and less efficient despite all the modern advances in computer and digital communication, technology, and printing

And, why should that deadline affect the online version? I cancelled my online subscription because on many days even the online version stopped including reports of games from the night before.

And the final factor was the price. I know newspaper people hear that all the time, and reporters can't do anything about it. But, my online subscription nearly tripled in price in the short time I was a subscriber. Subscribers want more and better coverage if prices rise like that at 10 times the rate of inflation, but instead they get bare-bones coverage and more ads than real news reporting.

One other question- there are a lot of people who read mainly or exclusively the sports section. Why doesn't the PJ Star offer just an "all-access Sports subscription" like a lot of newspapers are now doing? I believe it would appeal to some people who don't want the other stuff or the political and editorial bloviating.

Luckily for you, September is a new month, so your very limited page views will be reupped.

Absolutely. I understand those decisions are made way above my pay grade. You’re right, Wes Huett – the current sports editor – has zero control over how many part-timers he has – four – or hours – 75 – they must split weekly.

This answer to what keeps us from having scores and reports from night games is twofold.

The paper is no longer designed in-house. Stories are shipped to a design center in Houston. That’s the same with scoreboard page. For example, it used to be easy for me to run over to the scoreboard paginator and make a correction to the box score of the game I just covered. That option no longer exists. There's a chain of command to go through in order to make that change. National agate – scores, standings, stats, etc. – is pulled from the wire, while local agate must be inputted by staff working in the office on a given night. That brings me to the second part of my answer…

Manpower.

In the preps’ world, we rely solely – unless we’re out covering the game ourselves - on coaches/assistants/scorekeepers/ADs to report their scores. Some call. Some even still fax. Some email. Some text photos of their box scores. Regardless of how we get those stats, they must be inputted into our system and formatted with our own specific style. In previous years, for example, I would come back to the office from a volleyball match and spend up until deadline inputting those box scores and producing short game highlights. Weeknights it was usually 10-12 matches. Other times, like Saturdays, it would be close to 40 matches. Now imagine a staff of four – full-timers rarely do office shifts – with just 75 hours a week having to input boys & girls cross country, boys & girls golf, girls swimming, volleyball and boys soccer box scores for the 25 metro-area schools in the JS circulation area six days a week, plus football box scores on Friday nights. And on a 9 p.m. deadline. Back when there was five times as many part-timers with a nearly unlimited budget of hours, this wouldn’t have been a problem, even on the 9 p.m. deadline.

I imagine the thought process was:

We can use the 75 hours to produce the daily box scores and not have any hours remaining to produce real news reporting on games, player or coach features and breaking news.

Or

We can eliminate the daily box scores and use those 75 hours to deploy the four reporters we do have to do some real news reporting on games, player or coach features and breaking news.

The printing press at the Journal Star doesn’t just print the Journal Star. There are too many daily papers to name that are printed right here in Peoria - Springfield, Champaign, Pekin, Pontiac – along with all the daily national publications that have locals as subscribers.

I agree. The online version is underutilized and sometimes not kept up-to-date.

You must have been a subscriber back when the print and online versions were separate prices. Today, an online subscription is $4.99 a month with a trial month being $0.99. And if you’re a print subscriber, you also receive an online subscription for no additional charge.

I don’t have a good answer for the JS not offering a ‘sports only subscription’. I’ve heard this suggestion from several people. It’s something that I’m more than happy to suggest to management.