I do like the livestream option as it makes the transition more "seamless" between ESPN+ and YouTube for the press conferences. Ultimately tbe getting more reporters in the building comes down tk success of the program. Hopefully Rev can get the team to a point where more reporters show up. Ultimately I'm glad you and your crew are adamant on improving the viewing experience
I agree with the upgrades to the PC setting. Need to make it look good, have Paul ask a question Powell doesn't like and let the drama begin.
"So Roger....about your rotation....." followed by Powell declaring he's tired of the negative questions and storming out. We'll be on ESPN immediately. Any attention is good attention!
I agree with the upgrades to the PC setting. Need to make it look good, have Paul ask a question Powell doesn't like and let the drama begin.
"So Roger....about your rotation....." followed by Powell declaring he's tired of the negative questions and storming out. We'll be on ESPN immediately. Any attention is good attention!
See, and I was going to say that Paul should speak in different accents. He could go as Paul first, and then maybe an English accent from a reporter from the “London Times” named Nigel Higgenbottom, followed a reporter with a New York accent…maybe he’s really angry…that’s the one that can argue with Coach Powell?!? The sky’s the limit with this…of course, the reporters couldn’t be shown…just disembodied voices from off camera…
I agree with the upgrades to the PC setting. Need to make it look good, have Paul ask a question Powell doesn't like and let the drama begin.
"So Roger....about your rotation....." followed by Powell declaring he's tired of the negative questions and storming out. We'll be on ESPN immediately. Any attention is good attention!
See, and I was going to say that Paul should speak in different accents. He could go as Paul first, and then maybe an English accent from a reporter from the “London Times” named Nigel Higgenbottom, followed a reporter with a New York accent…maybe he’s really angry…that’s the one that can argue with Coach Powell?!? The sky’s the limit with this…of course, the reporters couldn’t be shown…just disembodied voices from off camera…
You two guys are hopeless but thankfully not as bad as our whole team was last January. I am so glad that last season is now in our rear view mirrors.
C'mon Duckster...we have to laugh sometimes. Better after a win than a loss.
But ya gotta admit that a post game presser with one, ein, uno, concerned member of the press is kinda…. ahhh, ……..unimpressive. I agree that, at a minimum, the Torch should be there. Why aren’t they?
But ya gotta admit that a post game presser with one, ein, uno, concerned member of the press is kinda…. ahhh, ……..unimpressive. I agree that, at a minimum, the Torch should be there. Why aren’t they?
Mara Thomas is the current sports editor of The Torch and she is an in-season athlete right now. The Torch is developing some other writers and hoping to get them in the mix. One of them just wrapped their season as well.
The issue is there just aren't students currently that are going into this field this year. We've had plenty in the past and I'm sure there will be plenty in the future. On the flip side, there are far more photographers/videographers than we've ever had before. Technology changes what the students want to study.
But ya gotta admit that a post game presser with one, ein, uno, concerned member of the press is kinda…. ahhh, ……..unimpressive. I agree that, at a minimum, the Torch should be there. Why aren’t they?
Mara Thomas is the current sports editor of The Torch and she is an in-season athlete right now. The Torch is developing some other writers and hoping to get them in the mix. One of them just wrapped their season as well.
The issue is there just aren't students currently that are going into this field this year. We've had plenty in the past and I'm sure there will be plenty in the future. On the flip side, there are far more photographers/videographers than we've ever had before. Technology changes what the students want to study.
Well, then it’s up to you, how’s your English accent???
I very much appreciate the replies by Brandon and Paul in this thread. However, upon reading Paul's perspective that the Torch has nobody from the campus student population currently available to cover sports, especially the school's traditionally premier sport, I was surprised. So, I checked today's issue of the Torch and, sure enough, noticed not a single mention of men's basketball. For the school newspaper, the men's team might as well be hidden in a witness protection program.
Since we are at the beginning of the home season schedule with one home game won convincingly on Friday and another against a former conference competitor tomorrow night, it seems remarkable that the university's newspaper has a complete blackout—no articles, no ads, no score update, no photos, no PSA, zilch—on any news concerning the team or the upcoming game to engage students, increase enthusiasm, and revitalize attendance.
This is not encouraging.
I very much appreciate the replies by Brandon and Paul in this thread. However, upon reading Paul's perspective that the Torch has nobody from the campus student population currently available to cover sports, especially the school's traditionally premier sport, I was surprised. So, I checked today's issue of the Torch and, sure enough, noticed not a single mention of men's basketball. For the school newspaper, the men's team might as well be hidden in a witness protection program.
Since we are at the beginning of the home season schedule with one home game won convincingly on Friday and another against a former conference competitor tomorrow night, it seems remarkable that the university's newspaper has a complete blackout—no articles, no ads, no score update, no photos, no PSA, zilch—on any news concerning the team or the upcoming game to engage students, increase enthusiasm, and revitalize attendance.
This is not encouraging.
It's a sign of the times. As I'm sure many of you know, enrollment and revenue is down. There are few corners of the university that haven't been touched by this.
In terms of The Torch, the issue has multiple side effects. The first is we have likely the smallest staff we've ever had. Not only is it small, but it's incredibly young. We have a senior EIC, a junior designer, and the rest of the editorial staff is comprised of sophomores. The second issue is we've had to cut the amount of pages to save money. What was at one point a 16-page issue along with an 8-page A&E section, is now an 8-page issue. That means everything gets cut in half or in thirds. Where we used to have three or four pages of sports, we now have room for one.
An additional issue is the printing company we've used for so long has folded. We used to put the paper to bed late Thursday night into early Friday morning and deliver it to Home Mountain by 8a. The paper would then be printed and back to us by 2p at the latest. Now when we submit the paper, the printer can't turn it around to us until Monday late morning/early afternoon. Our press night is still on Thursday. In the case of men's basketball, we've got a paper going to press the night before the home opener and having it come out the day before the Cleveland State game.
I've argued we should be sending reporters to the games and writing them up for ValpoTorch.com. The issue there is simple finances for the students whether we like it or not. We pay our students per every article and photograph that goes into the print edition, but we don't have a payment system in place for the online articles. It also goes back to our staffing. Mara wasn't able to cover either of the basketball games last weekend as she was playing on the road. My hope is we develop some new writers (and we have several who have expressed interest). When I was a student I beat out five other reporters to become the men's basketball beat reporter. I had to audition to get on The Torch and WVUR. We don't live in that world anymore.
We can't get students interested in things they aren't interested in.
All that being said, in defense of the students, it's not as if they're not working. We had numerous students or recent grads working the football sideline as photographers this weekend. Just as I'm a content creator, they are as well. It's just their content is different than what we're used to seeing.
I very much appreciate the replies by Brandon and Paul in this thread. However, upon reading Paul's perspective that the Torch has nobody from the campus student population currently available to cover sports, especially the school's traditionally premier sport, I was surprised. So, I checked today's issue of the Torch and, sure enough, noticed not a single mention of men's basketball. For the school newspaper, the men's team might as well be hidden in a witness protection program.
Since we are at the beginning of the home season schedule with one home game won convincingly on Friday and another against a former conference competitor tomorrow night, it seems remarkable that the university's newspaper has a complete blackout—no articles, no ads, no score update, no photos, no PSA, zilch—on any news concerning the team or the upcoming game to engage students, increase enthusiasm, and revitalize attendance.
This is not encouraging.
I mean... Its as Paul said. The current sports editor has prior obligations. Also, its not as if the MBB team is getting 0 coverage. Simply, the engagement practices have shifted from pen and paper, to Camera and editing in recent years. Take Mason Rifle for example. His videos(more properly known as "edits") and coverage of VU games and athletes are quite popular on Instagram and TikTok. As well as his ongoing documentary of Jack Smiley. Modern kids simply aren't as interested in a newspaper as they are in "edits" as us kids call them. The World of content creation has shifted drastically. In my opinion for the worse. Everything has to be a cool video edit with a catch sound added on it.
This genesis of Short Form Media would probably be better explained by Paul or someone else who knows a little more about content creation, but on another not the Womens team has really hit the ground running with short form media. Their Instagram, Twitter, and now TikTok are chalk full of this short form media.
Thanks again, Paul, for your informative reply. I certainly do not intend to diminish the good products by the student writers and editors, especially since Torch staffers have been among my best students and advisees over the years. Also, I appreciate the limitations due to budget and staffing cuts. For that reason, I wondered why not even include just a brief PSA promoting the upcoming game on Tuesday, a minimal reminder that would not require much column space or any staff coverage of the game.
As for the process, I am curious why the Torch continues to produce a paper physical edition in a world where few people, especially students, rely on such a source. I can't remember the last time I have read a physical paper—perhaps picked up one on a counter at an airport at least a half-dozen years ago or more—and I know students are more likely to respond to electronic media.
As you and Rez have both noted, the trend is towards visuals, videography, v-blogs, and podcasts—on X or YouTube and elsewhere—which I follow regularly as well. The online edition could include from student videographers such materials as Mason Rife and others create. For example, make more use of the Torch website, especially its "multimedia" page, and update to current stories on its "sports" page, which seems no more recent than February 2023.
Further, link to the the online edition could be delivered to everyone's mailbox immediately upon publication, just as public newspapers or newsletters appear in my e-mail each morning before I wake. Moreover, as you indicate, the print publication is costly and causes unworkable scheduling problems. Couldn't that cost be redirected more wisely, and doesn't the added delay by printing only exacerbate the staleness of the news? Hell, you and I are both former print creatures who are now Substack authors and e-publication editors. If we can transition to e-media comfortably, so should a university student publication.
Once more, I appreciate your replies and all your fine work.
