DC article

[ponystudent]

I just read that DC article on the homepage. Pretty generic Cavanisms.

My problems with the DC still stand. They know nothing. They bring nothing. The say that Kris Briggs shined in the spring...he did not even play this spring, he was injured.

Typical

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Go Ponies!

[Pony Up]

I can't speak to the accuracy of what was reported about spring ball (since I wasn't able to get up there in the spring, although I will be at every home game this fall). But what struck me about that article was that Feras Elghadamsi seems to be a good writer. I remember reading stories for the last couple of years by that guy who called himself "Skip Jones" (actually "Amit from SMU" for those who waste their time listening to the Ticket -- he got all giddy when the brain-dead morons on the station slapped him with a nickname, and then insisted that everyone use it). I don't doubt you, ponystudent, when you say the story was inaccurate. But at least it's much better written than those in the past. This actually sounds like it's written by someone who's seen a game and actually been to a class or two. Work on the reporting, maybe, but it's nice to see a good writer over and the Daily Compost.

[Ball Boy]

I am glad to see that you guys support our student newspapers. By the way if you don't like it, why don't you get up in the Daily Campus and write.

[ponystudent]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Ball Boy:
<B>I am glad to see that you guys support our student newspapers. By the way if you don't like it, why don't you get up in the Daily Campus and write.</B></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I am not afraid to say that I don't support the newspaper. In fact, I think they do a lousy job. I find about one decent article every two weeks, the rest of the time is spent looking at ads and police reports. I think I read two decent sports articles.

Maybe if our student newspapers supported athletics I would support them. They do nothing to help promote SMU athletics, in fact, they have trouble even getting facts straight. There were no previews or articles before big basketball games, etc, but the week after the game the DC would have two game reports. It is just lousy, typical SMU student support, or lack thereof.

I was not that big of a fan of Skip Jones, Trey Ditto's semiannual "from the bleachers" section stunk, and overall coverage of athletics stink, but hey, at least we can read about "I believe in Josh" or whatever.

And to your offer of me writing for them. First, I have no time. Second, I would be wasting my time trying to cover and promote SMU athletics just to see it get turned down. And third, as you can probably tell by this post, I am not a writer.

Hopefully the new reign of Medlin will help promote football and basketball, but so far in his reports I see too much about other sports than SMU athletics. I will say I did like the Moody article and it is a good start. The DC needs to realize, people do not read it to find out about the Mavs or Stars or Cowboys, they read it to find out about SMU because there is a shortage of SMU news out there. The DC has no chance of competing with the DMN or any major media source in the Cowboys, Stars, and Mavs news.

I want to see a revolution under Medlin's reign. Promote SMU Sports, the DC is the S M U paper. Cover SMU and cover it well.

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Go Ponies!

[Corso]

Not so fast, my friend!

The Daily Campus covers SMU, but to call it "the SMU paper" is a bit of a misnomer - it operates under a separate company (Student Media) and has no official affiliation with the school. (That allows it to be more independent.) Having said that, the DC does cover SMU, but its job is not to promote sports (or anything else at the university), merely to cover news and events objectively. How well the paper does that is a matter of opinion. But the university has an athletic PR office (sports information) whose job it is to promote the athletic teams. The DC needs to cover all sports, not just football and hoops. The men's soccer team has to be considered one of the favorites to win the national championship this year -- they're loaded.

[ponystudent]

okok, if you want to go by technicalities, that is fine. I know the DC is not part of SMU, but it is the "SMU Paper" unofficially. Just like this is PonYFans.com. It is not owned by SMU but it is for SMU. Does Ponyfans.com promote and report on the cowboys and stars etc? NO, because that is pointless. The DC is more SMU associated than any other media source, including this great site.

My point is, they should REPORT on SMU Sports accurately and often. And they don't have to run out and pump up each and every game or report when someone becomes player of the week etc. What they should do is help out SMU Athletics by promoting or reporting, whatever you want to call it, big match ups and events. Lets face it, Sports Info and Marketing have no money to buy ads all over the place, so why can't the DC write an article about what was the upcoming Fresno and UTEP bball game. And there was a story to it, we were undefeated at home and we were about to have a long streak of home games. That is news, but instead they did nothing before the game but wrote two game stories and published them after the games. And the result was poor student turnout and a flop of a season.

All I am asking is for the DC to start focusing on SMU. For the DC to get their facts straight. For the DC to hype up the school they are supposed to write for. The DMN does this on a small scale, they had SMU a top 25 team before the bball season started. It is ok to draw a little attention and have a little bias for the home team that you cover.

And to Corso...Not so fast...I don't give a rats [deleted] if the sentences are structured better or not. The bottom line is that there has been no change from Skippy to this guy because they both don't know what they are talking about. All I want is accuracy and coverage.

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Go Ponies!

[Texastang]

Ponystudent, you couldn't be more right. If you want accuracy and coverage out of the DC on football, you won't find it in the sports section. You'll find it in the intramurals, and you can bet your butt they'll have the Phi Pi's stats down the very inch. That's not a complete stab at the DC, it just that 90% of the students at SMU are more interested in what Little Sally and Mary Ann did on Wednesday night, than what the Mustangs did on Saturday. You can say what you want, but those are the facts and you can't argue them.

[This message has been edited by Texastang (edited 06-27-2001).]

[click]

PonyStudent,Did you go to spring practice? I did. I saw Briggs and he looked good,No, he looked great. He was held out of the late spring contact drills but he did practice and as the paper reported,He was a standout along with Vic and DD.

[Ball Boy]

Fellow Fans:
It is not a matter of what the Daily Campus wants to cover or not. The Sports and Information Dept. gives them the information to write on. All of you who are yelling at the paper for more football coverage should have realized by now that Medlin is a football player, therefore he can't write on football. The paper won't allow it.
Texastang, great point. The sad story is that SMU has more followers of the powder puff football in the spring then fall football. Hopefully they can turn it around.
Ponystudent, you are very critical of what is said in the Daily Campus, I would like to know if you know anything about journalistic style.

[ponystudent]

First to click-
I would not consider missing 2 of three weeks a standout spring. You can call it what you want to, but I did attend many spring practices. Now he did look great in that boot/stabilizer thing that he wore on his leg and he did look great when I saw him walking around watching his fellow players in the spring, but as far as him looking great playing, I will have to disagree with you. Another point to make is that Vic did not even practice this spring. I don't think he practiced once. So your credibility has just run through the tubes. I am finished with you click. If you were being sarcastic, then I am sorry, hard to interpret sarcasm in writing. But if you were not, sorry, I just nulled your post. (is nulled a word?)

Now to Ball Boy. I am beginning to think that you work or write are have some close association to the DC. Here is why. First, you defend them twice, and you are probably the only person I have heard of that has. Next, your skills of accuracy and detail lack. If you read my post earlier I say...
<B>And to your offer of me writing for them. First, I have no time. Second, I would be wasting my time trying to cover and promote SMU athletics just to see it get turned down. And third, as you can probably tell by this post, I am not a writer.</B> Now what is that last line? I am not a writer. Translation, I do not write well nor do I know much about it, nor do I claim to. Here is some more evidence passed up...<B>I don't give a rats [deleted] if the sentences are structured better or not.</B>
So Ball Boy, my question still stands, are you a writer for the DC? If you are, you fit in well.

Now I realize I am being a real jerk here. I am going to apologize right now. I am sorry, I just get on something and rant. I must realize that the DC writers are students and they don't do this for a living and I don't even know what they get out of it, money or credit wise.

Once again, all I want is more coverage of SMU Sports and accuracy. Now if there is politics involved in why there is a shortage of SMU Sporting news, then that is no surprise, this is SMU. But that does not explain why they print or post online two game stories for the same game.

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Go Ponies!

[Ball Boy]

Dearest Ponystudent:
Your out of your element!
Now, I don't work for the Daily Campus, but it is difficult for me to sit here and criticize them when we don't know that much about journalism. Grant it there should be more coverage, but we can't control the feelings of the SMU students. If they want more powder puff, that is what they'll get.

[ponystudent]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Ball Boy:
<B>Dearest Ponystudent:
Your out of your element!
Now, I don't work for the Daily Campus, but it is difficult for me to sit here and criticize them when we don't know that much about journalism. Grant it there should be more coverage, but we can't control the feelings of the SMU students. If they want more powder puff, that is what they'll get. </B></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Durn, I was hoping to show some journalistic research talent by picking you out of the DC, but I guess I failed.

As far as what the students want in the DC, it is a matter of reading what is in front of them. The DC is placed near SMU classes, so students pick them up and read them in class. I know very few who take it home with them and thoroughly read over it. The DC is a time waster. It makes classes go faster. I read pretty much everything in the DC, but only during class. Students read what is put in front of them. More SMU stories would by no means decrease circulation or readership of the DC. More SMU stories would just enlighten the students on what is going on in the SMU world of athletics. That is why no one knows what is going on...because they have to work to find out what is going on...and students are lazy--for the most part.

Lets face it, powderpuff rules the SMU sports section because that is what the people in the DC find interesting and that is what the people in the DC want to write about. The only articles I take home or really spend time reading are those few post game stories and the guest columns like Rogers Healy or Chase Schavrda. This is because these people want to write about SMU sports. They have an interest. That is why they are good articles and are accurate.

Just because I am not a journalist does not mean that I don't know when a fact is wrong or when more coverage is lacking. That is common sense. Now if you want to talk sentence structure and article layout, I cannot criticize, but accuracy can and should be criticized by anyone.

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Go Ponies!

[Corso]

To Ball Boy - not so fast my friend!

First of all, it is not the job of the sports information department to provide story ideas. Of course they're going to lob some softballs at the DC and other media outlets about David Page being a mature guy at a young age, or about Vic Viloria being an all-everything candidate at linebacker. But it is the job of the DC reporters and editors to uncover ideas, then go through the sports information department to set up interviews and get the facts to back up their stories.

Also, while it's true that Medlin shouldn't write about football (not necessarily because the DC won't allow him to, but rather because the fact that his being a member of the team should make readers realize that he has a naturally biased opinion), that does not mean that he can not come up with football-related ideas and turn those stories over to other writers and get the information out there. There's no reason he can't go to another reporter and tell him that the reason one aspect of the team isn't working well is because a player hasn't put in his time in the film room or something. Or, on a positive note, he could tell another reporter that a player is starting on the football team, carrying a 3.9 acerage and volunteering to read to school kids -- either way, he has access to information that the rest of us don't, and he can use his friendships with the players to set up interviews.

From everything I've heard about Medlin, he's a bright guy and I think he'll do a terrific job at the paper.

[Big D]

Hey, Ponystudent. I like your style. I've been reading and observing an awful lot, but I'm compelled to respond. I don't know you but would like to meet you. you seem like My kind of Fan. I remember a lot of links last season to the DC, and remember all to be very negative. I normally wouldn't respond, but I feel that they Rip the Football team pretty regularly. I think a University Newspaper is VERY important to the campus and community, and should be halfway Positive. I know journalism is supposed to be Informative and unbiased, but the local paper should be Pro-SMU, no matter what. I like your comments, and your stand for what you believe about the subject, stay with it.
I think it's wrong to not allow a football player to write about football, you would think he would have the most insight on the subject, and be the best source. Hey, Keep fighting off the naysayers, you have Friends here.

[ponystudent]

Thanks Big D! I appreciate the support. I know what I am talking about because I have a lot of friends and fellow students that feel the same way. It must be hard being a player because you have everyone against you. There is so much negativity on these boards, not too bad here but terrible at the other site, you have lack of press, poor student and facility support, and it just makes matters worse.

I also really had a problem with the DC when they printed a story on the front page about a friend that ran for a position in the government and the story had tons of falsities and there was--once again--a lack of accuracy. The only thing that stopped me from writing a letter to the editor was that person did not want me to.

I am not asking for much, I realize these are not real journalist, I just want a little research done before they go off writing falsities and having everyone believe them. My other demand is MORE COVERAGE of SMU ATHLETICS.

OK, I think I have beaten this topic to death. Back to my original statement, thanks Big D!

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Go Ponies!