Lack of local media frustrating

[Toadie]

Where is the Yotes rookies news and updates or any Yotes news at all... All I can find is Doan going to be in a parade... We should be creating a buzz, how is the local coverage?

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[The Feckless Puck]

Where is the Yotes rookies news and updates or any Yotes news at all... All I can find is Doan going to be in a parade... We should be creating a buzz, how is the local coverage?

The local coverage is as terrible as it's always been. And the only way this team is going to create a buzz is if they start winning. A lot. Otherwise, the only rookies the Valley is gonna hear about are guys like Budda Baker and whoever got picked in the 38th round of the MLB draft.

 

[CC96]

I sure hope not.

 

[NSYote]

My guess is it's because the Coyotes are in California and all 2 of our reporters stayed in AZ to cover football/baseball.

 

[ClassLessCoyote]

I sure hope not.

Is she even a real journalist?

 

[Spirit of Lindgren]

This lack of marketing the team has to be intentional.
They hire Biznasty to be the spokesman and it looks like Chayka and Tochett are slowly backing towards the door as far as interviews.
I really don't expect Barroway to get on the radio and talk about his team..I don't think the other team presidents hit the media circuit.
Our team needs it and its incredible that they have left public realtions up to Biznasty.
Craig has a second job with the NHL now as the Coyotes beat reporter.
Sarah Mclellan does a good job describing what you saw at last nights game...
Dont count on any reporter HERE to dig for facts and protect the ticket buyer or potential ticket buyer.
I can't imagine that they don't think the fans notice.
Maybe a question for September 23rd..
Are you guys slowly backing out the door?

 

[RABBIT]

Yes she is still employed, and I sure hope she doesn't read these forums.

I wouldn't say she's the best by any means but damn you guys are harsh.

 

[Matias Maccete]

Doesn't she cover other sports too? I'd guess she's busy with them if so.

 

[The Feckless Puck]

Yes she is still employed, and I sure hope she doesn't read these forums.

I wouldn't say she's the best by any means but damn you guys are harsh.

Craig Morgan is the only one we know for sure that reads HF. Hi Craig!

 

[Coyotedroppings]

Dont count on any reporter HERE to dig for facts and protect the ticket buyer or potential ticket buyer.

Protection?

From what exactly?

 

[SniperHF]

Well clearly it's not her responsibility to promote the team, so I'm not really sure what the point is here . And I can't really blame The Republic for not paying someone to go cover prospects no one cares about except 50 people on HF among other die hards.

If you wanna bash the team for doing a crappy job at marketing I suppose you can go nuts. But they did just have the Diamondbacks night thing. Actually a decent chunk of Diamondbacks fans were annoyed at how much Coyotes talk there was on that broadcast

Unless it's the NFL, most fans don't actually care about the particulars of training camps in sports. Even spring training is mostly about hanging out outside and drinking more so than the game

 

[Plub]

50 people is quite generous.

 

[rt]

Sarah is fine at her job. I would like it if she asked tougher questions but I'm not surprised she doesn't. There is not accountability expected of teams and their officials by fans. What motivation does the media have to ruffle feathers? What a thankless thing to do.

 

[PhoPhan]

I'm not a fan of McLellan (or any of her predecessors on the Coyotes beat), but lack of coverage is due to her employer, not her. As is the case with every other local paper, the Republic has very limited resources, so it's no surprise they'd deploy her to cover Cardinals and Diamondbacks regular season games over a Coyotes pre-camp rookie tournament.

Support your local media.

 

[_Del_]

Maybe she's holding out for an NHL gig like Morgan was awarded for sitting absolutely completely silent on any actual important issue this offseason that broke elsewhere.
Maybe someone in the market could eventually be bothered to be brave enough to ask those real uncomfortable ball-busting questions like "Hey, why isn't Strome playing tonight" if they want the market's "support".

This goes right back to "don't provide a substandard/**** product and then complain that people aren't supporting you".

 

[Bonsai Tree]

I'm not a fan of McLellan (or any of her predecessors on the Coyotes beat), but lack of coverage is due to her employer, not her. As is the case with every other local paper, the Republic has very limited resources, so it's no surprise they'd deploy her to cover Cardinals and Diamondbacks regular season games over a Coyotes pre-camp rookie tournament.

Support your local media.

The late Jim Gintonio was a lot more objective in his coverage, IIRC. I agree with you about supporting local media. I just wish Sarah would leave the fluff to Walsh and report on everything, including the warts. News should break here, not in Toronto.

 

[Bonsai Tree]

As an aside, I bet there are people here who weren't even born when Bickley broke his last story.

 

[Toadie]

You are correct, I shouldn't call out Sara but really surprised with the lack of media on the Yotes preseason. Reading the forecasting magazines there is a lot of buzz on our rookies, one even calls Wood a sleeper pick for the Yotes but can't find anything local. Just was wondering if I was missing a local paper or something

 

[PhoPhan]

Sarah is fine at her job. I would like it if she asked tougher questions but I'm not surprised she doesn't. There is not accountability expected of teams and their officials by fans. What motivation does the media have to ruffle feathers? What a thankless thing to do.

She's been at this for years and has not provided a single bit of information that could not have been gathered from box scores and team-issued press releases. She's not a journalist. She's a stenographer, and not a particularly good one.

She doesn't have to "ruffle feathers" to be a good journalist. She could do some digging and find out literally anything about stadium plans. She could write features that detail the off-ice character of some of the players, or analyze gameplay from a tactical or statistical perspective. She could build relationships with front office personnel that would afford her some inside info once in a while. Instead, she seems content to publish nothing beyond publicly available information.

 

[jacobhockey13]

Yes she is still employed, and I sure hope she doesn't read these forums.

I wouldn't say she's the best by any means but damn you guys are harsh.

Agreed. This thread seems rather cruel. Loads of people do a fine job at work and don't have others calling for their head. Treat others how you would like to be treated.

As for being hypocritical in not applying the same sentiment to athletes and coaches, I'm not. Sports are a fantasyland. Hockey players and coaches can do other, normal jobs if things don't work out in what is a cutthroat fantasy. Being a sportswriter is an actual, realistic job though.

*The exception to this rule being Todd Walsh.

 

[Toadie]

Hmm, can't edit thread titles. Can someone change it to lack of local media frustrating

Please and Thank you

 

[Jormungandr]

Its still offseason, what the hell are you expecting? Nothing better coming from Morgan either. Better make a thread about him as well.

 

[RemoAZ]

Sarah is soft like all the rest of the local media. Hell, the teams are mostly soft as well. It's an Arizona thing. It took one of the meanest SOBs in baseball history to get the Dbacks a ring and even Randy Johnson is a nice guy now.

 

[CC96]

Is she even a real journalist?

No..

 

[TheLegend]

She's been at this for years and has not provided a single bit of information that could not have been gathered from box scores and team-issued press releases. She's not a journalist. She's a stenographer, and not a particularly good one.

She doesn't have to "ruffle feathers" to be a good journalist. She could do some digging and find out literally anything about stadium plans. She could write features that detail the off-ice character of some of the players, or analyze gameplay from a tactical or statistical perspective. She could build relationships with front office personnel that would afford her some inside info once in a while. Instead, she seems content to publish nothing beyond publicly available information.

She's limited by what the AZ Republic, Gannet and the sports department editor lets her do. Hockey gets very little real estate in the Sports section if at all on some days.