A Word of Thanks to the Sacramento Bee

by Tom Ziller on Jan 21, 2009 4:00 PM PST in Commentary

We all know The Bee's sports section has been great in terms of embracing the Kings blog universe, both by making writers/editors available to us and by providing great web-only content.

But the dedication the newspaper has kept to the local team in print deserves commendation as well ... especially considering the revelation that the Los Angeles Daily News has forgone sending reporters to at least some home Clippers games in favor of double-covering the Lakers. Over the summer, the Orange County Register moved its Clippers beat writer to a general NBA column spot and didn't replace him. (So the team has a Lakers beat writer, an NBA columnist and no Clips beat coverage.)

Our team is as bad as the Clippers, but The Bee has devoted more resources to the franchise as ever before, with Melody Gutierrez joining Sam Amick often in beat and notebook coverage, and with Scott Howard-Cooper and Ailene Voisin popping up on the road occasionally.

Without the resources to spend time at the practice court or in the locker rooms regularly (let alone road games), blogs like this one are useless without serious team coverage from the local news-gathering organizations. The Bee is obviously a local leader in this, and I'd personally like to thank the paper for doing a great, thorough job. Cheers.

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Well said TZ

As someone who doesn’t have access to the team living a 1000 miles away, it takes on a double amount of importance.

One thing I think that’s happening with the Bee is that they’ve embraced the blog, and the 4 you mention, Amick, Gutierrez, Voisin, Howard-Cooper are all doing a tremendous job putting time & effort into the medium. It’s enhanced their coverage by, at least 200% in my estimation, and better, it makes me want to go to their website to see whats new. A year ago I could never say that.

And, yes, definitely cheers to the Bee for their coverage. (I choose not to be cynical and point out any local daily in LA will always choose to cover the Lakers over the Clippers because of the market shares the Clippers don’t have. I would also point out the Kings are the only local team the Bee has to cover. They haven’t covered the A’s for years, themselves, while still keeping beats on the Raiders, 49ers, and Giants. So the Bee isn’t perfect here either. Its’ just that, this is the way the paper business is going.)

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by pookeyguru on Jan 21, 2009 4:08 PM PST reply actions

Your point about how you could have been cynical...

is exactly what I was thinking as I read the story. There’s really no comparison here. The Bee isn’t doing this out of the goodness of their collective hearts, they’re covering the Kings because they’re one of the few things that still sells papers and brings in web visits. The LA Papers have also given much better coverage to USC Football, as compared to UCLA football (one of their UCLA blogs is even run by a USC Alum!) – but that’s what sells for them.

I do appreciate being able to follow the team more closely, but pookey is right – this is just a reflection of their current business climate.

by cabz on Jan 21, 2009 10:17 PM PST up reply actions

It's a shame the media business is so much about money

Because, it doesn’t have to be. It’s also a shame it got caught up in the destructive “short term profit” mode it’s been on for the last 25 years. When I think of the press, I think of the writers with press passes in their hat band, wearing trench coats, working like dogs to get a story, staying up all night to get it right, and the next day, doing it all over again.

(I didn’t ever see all of the Paper until recently, but I thought Robert Duvall had it right. You don’t get in the paper business to make money. You do it because it’s something you really believe in. That’s why I have so much respect for the Bee, and what they are still doing. It would be easy to sell off the paper part, and just make it a full time blog. Papers still have their purposes, and, ultimately, their place. People my age, and younger, need to re-discover how important they are. And, to that end, consolidation of media has to end as well.)

No mistakes in the tango, darling. Not like life. Simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get all tangled up, you just tango on.....

by pookeyguru on Jan 21, 2009 10:44 PM PST up reply actions

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

Sometimes we like to kill the messenger, but at least they are still employing those messengers. And Amick rocks. He’s what I would have wanted to be had I ever grown up.

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by section214 on Jan 21, 2009 5:00 PM PST reply actions

It's not the Bee's fault that Brad Miller quit on this team

Or John Salmons has continued to sulk cuz he don’t get the amount of shots he wants.

No mistakes in the tango, darling. Not like life. It's simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get tangled, you tango on.....

by pookeyguru on Jan 21, 2009 5:13 PM PST up reply actions