Poor Pre-game Press Coverage

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Figaro
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I am gob smacked at the poor pre-game press coverage in the Vancouver Sun. This is not a criticism of Mike Beamish and other football reporters - rather it is a criticism of the Vancouver Sun Sports Page Editors. Last week when the Redblacks were here in Vancouver, I bought the Sun to pick up on some background info, player changes and or commentary on tactics, needs etc. Where did I find ANY information on the game? Page 6! Yes buried on page six - on game day - was an article about the two back-up quarterbacks: Lulay and Burris. Super article, really enjoyed it but that was all there was about the BC Lions - you know the HOME team on a game day!

So this Saturday, after what was a great game against the Red Black in front of a small but appreciative crowd ( hard to get a great crowd when your home city newspaper buries you deep into onto Page SIX after preseason hockey, golf and such.), I look to my local paper again for some coverage of our team at this pivotal game in their season. Page ONE - page sized photo about some rookie for the New York Islanders from Coquitlam. Page Two: golf - Tiger Woods; Page Three: a full article on the Islander rookie who took up all of page one. Page FOUR: full page on Manny Malhotra of the Canucks. Page FIVE: article on the NFL TD celebrations.

Perhaps the Lions aren't playing this week.

Page SIX: side bar on the Riders' Redblack's game result plus Mayenknecht' column on Blue Jays and and other sports ( nothing about the Lions) Oh, the Lions are mentioned on Page SIX: an advertisement for the next home game. Page SEVEN: an article on some local teens coming up through the White Caps system. Page Eight: a great article on Andrew Harris.

There was literally nothing about the Lions! - other than a brief "Three Things to Watch" comment. No injury reports, no personnel changes, no commentaries on strategy - nothing!

Has the local press given up on the Lions? I am from Los Angeles - the pre-game articles for college ball can run the first four or five pages minimum. Now I know some will say that the press is just giving the community what it wants - if this is the case, then one can infer that the community does not really want or care about the Lions.

The local press is one of the main places where the hype and importance of a team are expressed. With what I see from the Vancouver Sun I am sadly disappointed.

I am a Lions fan starting way back in the early 70's. I love this team and I love this league. I remember when the paper was full of Lions' content. Now, it seems to be dying a slow death with no one watching. The local media has to take some responsibility for this - the product on the field this year has been exciting even breath taking at times and yet no serious coverage and discussion. These players deserve more consideration from their local media.
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Hambone
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I think newspapers in general as dying a slow death as advertisers are finding more cost effective ways of getting their message out through their own websites and other avenues. In downtown Vancouver I'd guesstimate there are more convenience stores that don't offer newspapers for sale than do.

I can't speak for the Sun as I rarely read it any more. I used to pick up a copy here in PG as a bit of a Saturday afternoon ritual. I'd then head for one of my favourite watering holes to read the paper and sip on a couple of beers. Haven't done that in a few years now. How about The Province? They were doing a very good job over the last few years IMO with their "Blitz" section in the issue prior to a Lions game, home or away if I recall. There was usually a solid 6 pages of good quality coverage. Have they dropped that now?
Last edited by Hambone on Sun Oct 09, 2016 4:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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JohnHenry
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Figaro wrote:I am gob smacked at the poor pre-game press coverage in the Vancouver Sun. This is not a criticism of Mike Beamish and other football reporters - rather it is a criticism of the Vancouver Sun Sports Page Editors. Last week when the Redblacks were here in Vancouver, I bought the Sun to pick up on some background info, player changes and or commentary on tactics, needs etc. Where did I find ANY information on the game? Page 6! Yes buried on page six - on game day - was an article about the two back-up quarterbacks: Lulay and Burris. Super article, really enjoyed it but that was all there was about the BC Lions - you know the HOME team on a game day!

So this Saturday, after what was a great game against the Red Black in front of a small but appreciative crowd ( hard to get a great crowd when your home city newspaper buries you deep into onto Page SIX after preseason hockey, golf and such.), I look to my local paper again for some coverage of our team at this pivotal game in their season. Page ONE - page sized photo about some rookie for the New York Islanders from Coquitlam. Page Two: golf - Tiger Woods; Page Three: a full article on the Islander rookie who took up all of page one. Page FOUR: full page on Manny Malhotra of the Canucks. Page FIVE: article on the NFL TD celebrations.

Perhaps the Lions aren't playing this week.

Page SIX: side bar on the Riders' Redblack's game result plus Mayenknecht' column on Blue Jays and and other sports ( nothing about the Lions) Oh, the Lions are mentioned on Page SIX: an advertisement for the next home game. Page SEVEN: an article on some local teens coming up through the White Caps system. Page Eight: a great article on Andrew Harris.

There was literally nothing about the Lions! - other than a brief "Three Things to Watch" comment. No injury reports, no personnel changes, no commentaries on strategy - nothing!

Has the local press given up on the Lions? I am from Los Angeles - the pre-game articles for college ball can run the first four or five pages minimum. Now I know some will say that the press is just giving the community what it wants - if this is the case, then one can infer that the community does not really want or care about the Lions.

The local press is one of the main places where the hype and importance of a team are expressed. With what I see from the Vancouver Sun I am sadly disappointed.

I am a Lions fan starting way back in the early 70's. I love this team and I love this league. I remember when the paper was full of Lions' content. Now, it seems to be dying a slow death with no one watching. The local media has to take some responsibility for this - the product on the field this year has been exciting even breath taking at times and yet no serious coverage and discussion. These players deserve more consideration from their local media.
Yep, the press has pretty much given up on the Lions & CFL. The problem is there is little local sports media left (Sportsnet recently closed their Vancouver bureau). The corporations have laid off most of the reporters and rely on American wire services for much their editorial content. CFL news isn't readily available on the wire. Stories need to be researched and composed by a journalist, which costs time and money...lowering the corp's return on investment.

Times have changed. I remember seeing the Sacramento Bee newspaper on the day of the first Gold Miners exhibition game in 1993, with 36 pages of coverage and that was full broadsheet pages! In the early 80's the Edmonton Journal's coverage of the Eskimos often spanned three sections of the newspaper. Now you're lucky to have 3 stories about the CFL, not 3 broadsheet sections. It's no wonder that new Canadians largely follow the NFL as the CFL is practically invisible unless you already follow the league.

Rather than whine and complain about the lack of coverage (the CFL is still the 2nd most watched and followed sports league in Canada), the only answer is for CFL teams to hire their own reporters and print/publish their own articles and social media stories. It's perhaps easier for the other leagues (save the MLS) as there is plenty of readily-available NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL babble to fill-in between the ads.


:juggle:
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B.C.FAN
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Hambone wrote:Can't speak for the Sun as I rarely read it. Of course newspapers as we knew them are going the way of the dodo bird which probably doesn't help. In downtown Vancouver I'd guesstimate there are more convenience stores that don't offer newspapers for sale than do. I used to pick up a copy of the Sun here in PG as a bit of a Saturday afternoon ritual. I'd then head for one of my favourite watering holes to read the paper and sip on a couple of beers. Haven't done that in a few years now. How about The Province? They were doing a very good job over the last few years IMO with their "Blitz" section in the issue prior to a Lions game, home or away if I recall. There was usually a solid 6 pages of good quality coverage. Have they dropped that now?
Blitz runs every Wednesday in The Province this season. It's usually about six pages, including a player Q&A by Jeff Paterson, several Cam Tucker features and Kirk Penton's excellent around-the-league coverage out of Winnipeg. I suspect most of Mike Beamish's pregame coverage appeared in the Friday Province and Vancouver Sun. The Province always carries at least two pages of coverage from Beamish on game day (it's published in Friday papers for Saturday games), including keys to the game, players to watch, etc., plus often an Ed Willes column on a separate page.
Dusty
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I don't read the print version of the Vancouver Sun, but subscribe to their on-line website. There ia a lot of crossover between the Van Sun and Province. For instance, the article by Mike Beamish was also published in the Province, even though he "writes for" the Van Sun. Over the years, The Province has been set up as the "Sports Paper" with the Van Sun doing more of the political/financial/Editorial type writing. The only reason to buy the Province would be for its sports coverage, which in the local market, is heavily skewed toward NHL.

I bought the Globe and Mail on Friday as I was away from the house and desperate for something to read over lunch.... $3.30..... a very surprising amount!!... No wonder print editions are dying a slow death... Its all on-line... that's where we now get our pre-game information, and I think its been more than a few years since got rosters, scratches etc in the paper..
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Hambone
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Dusty wrote:.... $3.30..... a very surprising amount!!... No wonder print editions are dying a slow death...
Lol. I got a bit of sticker shock too last weekend when I grabbed a copy of The Province out at YVR while waiting for my flight home. $2.75! It was the Sunday edition but :shock: ! When I delivered the Sun in our logging camp back in the early 70s a subscription for the month ran $5 I think.
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TheLionKing
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There is little content in both the Province and Sun. It's all advertising.
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Alputt
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Both these newsrooms have been decimated in the last 10 years. Both papers (sadly) are hollow shells of condo ads re-running CP news wires.

It's not a CFL thing it's an industry thing. Once Lowell U. was forced out we all knew it would be downhill...

Media is changing, Lions do pretty well online IMHO.
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BC 1988
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Figaro wrote:I am a Lions fan starting way back in the early 70's. I love this team and I love this league. I remember when the paper was full of Lions' content. Now, it seems to be dying a slow death with no one watching. The local media has to take some responsibility for this - the product on the field this year has been exciting even breath taking at times and yet no serious coverage and discussion. These players deserve more consideration from their local media.
Welcome to the board. I'm a bit more recent Lions fan (hence my username.)
Agreed that the on-field product the Lions are producing deserves more attention (heck, even most of their losses have been hugely entertaining this season).
Shoreline
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interesting I just posted my visit to Vancouver and couldn't say anything but the opposite. You got onto the online newspaper publications or the major network news sites and watch the local news. Its all Canucks and Lions

Even the newspapers have the Lions w/ the Canucks dominating the articles and news headlines.
Shoreline
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not sure what ppl expect but i went online today and saw lions and canucks getting equal share. and in fact lions were headlined right on top and had more of an appeal on the site than the canucks.

so i wouldnt say its bad
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