I just can’t
help it. Something that encouraged me to
read—and follow sports at the same time—is going belly up. Yes, I’m talking (again) about the Chicago
Tribune sports section.
Yesterday, I
should have been able to lose myself in the expanded coverage that typically
comes on a Sunday. Yes, the section was
twelve pages vs. the usual six, but 1-1/2 pages were given over to two ads,
with most of the rest devoted to college and pro football. The Bulls, losers in Portland late Friday,
were relegated to a wire story.
The truly sad
thing here is that the state high school playoffs culminated on Saturday. Not a word in the print section (unlike the
Sun-Times, which provided plenty of coverage) and nothing I could find
online. How are you supposed to
cultivate readership when you don’t bother to cover the sports young people
play? Lucky for us Clare played prep
softball when the Trib still cared enough to devote a few inches of space.
In the last
couple of weeks, a hedge fund by the name of Alden has become the biggest
single stockholder in the Trib. Alden is
known for buying papers and then squeezing a profit out of them by cutting staff
bigtime. Everything I’m complaining
about--no beat reporters on the road with the White Sox and Bulls, not even a stringers
to cover the high school football playoffs—pretty much predates the stock
acquisition.
That’s the sports
section that could be in line for further cuts as Alden takes over.
No comments:
Post a Comment