Good News From The Tennessean

[ivolly]

I've been a little dissapointed with the local paper's lack of coverage in our sport (like everyone else). With all the great district action going on, you'd think we'd see some print in the paper. There was one article on Glencliff recently, but not much else in a while from our friends at the Tennessean. So, I nicely let them know my thoughts as a subscriber. Being one of the largest papers in the state, they could do better. Here is the response I got:

 

My name is Alan Whitt and I am the new sports editor at The Tennessean.

 

I've seen both of your letters and I agree with you 100 percent. The Tennessean has not done a good job covering other sports beyond football.

 

I want to assure you that will change. One of the reasons I was brought in is to beef up and broaden our prep coverage. Unfortunately, I've been on the job less than two weeks and I'm just geting my feet wet.

 

However, I've been in ongoing discussions with our editor, E.J. Mitchell, who just like me is committed to coverage of all high school sports and not just a select few. And that is a genuine comittment.

 

Does that mean we will be writing game stories from all events? Of course not. But there is no reason we shouldn't get all results in the paper. But that will require more cooperation from the schools. They need to call us the night of the event with the proper information. Too often people will call without details, or telling us "so-and-so beat so-and-so." We need the score, team records and a brief highlight from every game.

 

And results have to be called in the day of the event. There are times when an event is held on a Saturday and we get the call on Tuesday. We are a daily paper and do not report events more than a day after the fact. That is standard operating procedure at 99 percent of the daily newspapers in this country.

 

These are not excuses for the poor high school coverage of the past. But things will change and I'm sure you will see the difference.

 

So let's give Mr. Whitt the benefit of the doubt and help him and the writers at the Tennessean provide better coverage for our sport.