The N&O takes on K

[CameronBornAndBred]

John Drescher has an article in the N&O (http://www.newsobserver.com/2711/story/1370883.html) today directly confronting Coach K's assertion that Duke gets too little attention in the media. All points seem valid to me, and since Krzyzewski fired the first shot it doesn't surprise me they responded.

[jv001]

Local media(Winston Salem to Raleigh) are unc biased. To not admit it is being unrealistic. The 4 unc grads on the N&O staff evidently have lots of influence with the other 17 writers. I know that the writers on the Journal here in W/S show unc favor. So to deny it is just ridiculous. Go Duke!

[hood7]

Considering that Drescher and the N&O still basically contend that their coverage of the Nifong/Mangum hoax was not a total failure of journalistic objectivity, I consider everything Drescher says to be the opposite of the truth.

[Devilsfan]

If he had any industry cred, would he be working for a small time rag in Raleigh, N.C.? Think about it.

[KandG]

I can see both sides of this story, though you wish the press outlets would be more forthcoming and (no matter what the number of UNC grads at a paper is) just acknowledge that they feel it's better to cater to the mass of UNC fans, rather than cover two of the very best programs in basketball equally.

From the column:

We thought you only cared about ESPN, Sports Illustrated and The New York Times.


As long as K keeps the locals at arm's length, he'll have this thrown in his face constantly. Again, I can see K's point of view (since 1981, he's had Carolina blue shoved in his face in all forms locally), but sometimes I wish he'd been able to cultivate more of a relationship with the local media. But I don't claim to know all the dynamics of the K and local media relationship (apart from what I read from Featherston), so if anyone has more meaningful insight, I'd love to hear it.

[brevity]

If he had any industry cred, would he be working for a small time rag in Raleigh, N.C.? Think about it.

Seems kind of dismissive of the entire concept of local media. Gotta start somewhere, right? And maybe he likes where he lives. Enough Duke alums could say the same.

Drescher's column echoes this inferiority complex; see the line that KandG quoted above.

I'm not sure why Coach K decided to pick this particular battle, but he's not wrong in his assessment. It's a big deal when an area team ascends to #2 in the rankings, especially when UNC was expected to be higher all season. The players, students, and local fans (and local high school prospects, for that matter) deserve to see better coverage.

This column, on its face, is a fair response. If the N&O has in fact been ignoring Duke this season, I'd like to think that this sudden attention will wake the writers out of their slumber. While I realize the economic reality of the pro-Carolina readership, a Triangle-area newspaper should really work harder on covering its bases when it comes to college hoops.

[JStuart]

Back in the days when Durham had a newspaper, I remember one of the sportswriters complimenting the Duke players -and the Duke SID system- for being helpful. Specifically, mentioning Alaa Abdelnaby staying as long as any of the local sportswriters wanted, and saying something like, 'do you guys (the writers) need anything more?' This particular writer was hugely impressed with the Duke players' helpfulness, and willingness to discuss things in detail, etc., as opposed to some of the other programs in the state. Now, this was before the back-to-back championships, and the frenzy that accompanied all that, and obviously K had to figure out a way to control it.
However, asking for a fight with a newspaper is like a p***ing contest with a skunk or, as someone on the Board said a few years ago, 'don't argue with an idiot; you have to get down on his level, and he will win from experience'.

[calltheobvious]

Back in the days when Durham had a newspaper, I remember one of the sportswriters complimenting the Duke players -and the Duke SID system- for being helpful. Specifically, mentioning Alaa Abdelnaby staying as long as any of the local sportswriters wanted, and saying something like, 'do you guys (the writers) need anything more?' This particular writer was hugely impressed with the Duke players' helpfulness, and willingness to discuss things in detail, etc., as opposed to some of the other programs in the state. Now, this was before the back-to-back championships, and the frenzy that accompanied all that, and obviously K had to figure out a way to control it.
However, asking for a fight with a newspaper is like a p***ing contest with a skunk or, as someone on the Board said a few years ago, 'don't argue with an idiot; you have to get down on his level, and he will win from experience'.


One more: Don't start a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel.

[jimsumner]

The N&O's coverage of the lacrosse fiasco was light-years better than that provided by the Herald-Sun. IMO.

Note that Drescher fails to address one of the major sticking points, i.e. moving Lucy Chavez off the Duke beat (out of sports, actually) and replacing her with Ken Tysiac, who also has responsibility for covering NCSU sports. In other words, Duke goes from having a writer all to themselves to having to share a writer with another school.

Duke perceives that as a demotion. Especially, when UNC men's hoops still has a writer all to themselves.

[slower]

The N&O's coverage of the lacrosse fiasco was light-years better than that provided by the Herald-Sun. IMO.

Note that Drescher fails to address one of the major sticking points, i.e. moving Lucy Chavez off the Duke beat (out of sports, actually) and replacing her with Ken Tysiac, who also has responsibility for covering NCSU sports. In other words, Duke goes from having a writer all to themselves to having to share a writer with another school.

Duke perceives that as a demotion. Especially, when UNC men's hoops still has a writer all to themselves.

I was just going to ask about Luciana Chavez. I always enjoyed reading her articles.

[DevilWolf]

To think this was actually about having more Duke coverage in the papers is just wrong.


Besides, the stuff coming out of Ol Roy's camp these days, I hope they get three beat writers assigned to that comedy.

[Acymetric]

He's right. For the record, I went to UNC and Duke but have State season tickets. (Don't ask -- it's a long story involving the woman I married who still talks about how great Terry Gannon was, 25 stinking years after he played for State. Terry this and Terry that. Will it ever end?)

So getting tickets because your wife is a State fan means you are unbiased and give balanced coverage? Interesting point.



As for Coach K's comments: We've covered Duke extensively in the past and will continue to do so. We even sent a reporter to China last summer to cover Krzyzewski's coaching of the U.S. men's team in the Olympics.

Thank you so much, N&O, for covering the Olympics. Really going the extra mile there. On the other hand, I don't think Team USA is Duke, is it? coverage of Team USA =/= to coverage of Duke.

The only valid bit of this article was the point that K hadn't made himself as available to local media in the past. On the other hand, he has publicly said that he is going to try to work more with the media, so give him a chance to put that to work, huh?

[CameronCrazy'11]

No team as good as Duke has been over the last 2 and half years has ever gotten as much negative press for it as Duke has. Now that Duke is playing well, the players deserve some credit. I think that was his point.

[devildeac]

The N&O's coverage of the lacrosse fiasco was light-years better than that provided by the Herald-Sun. IMO.

Note that Drescher fails to address one of the major sticking points, i.e. moving Lucy Chavez off the Duke beat (out of sports, actually) and replacing her with Ken Tysiac, who also has responsibility for covering NCSU sports. In other words, Duke goes from having a writer all to themselves to having to share a writer with another school.

Duke perceives that as a demotion. Especially, when UNC men's hoops still has a writer all to themselves.

That is correct only later on in the timelime when Joseph Neff(?) got involved and actually did some investigating and fact-finding and real reporting, eventually earning some sort of award for it. The initial coverage, by Blythe and some other arse-clown was not much better than the herald-sun. Ruth Sheehan also vilified the team. At least later, she apologized for it. Another total arse clown, barry saunders(?) has yet to admit his hatred for almost all things Duke and his bigotry in the issue.