thx for giving Blinebury credit. Call me a homey, indeed. That was probably the best piece I've read from Blinebury in awhile, or at least the most useful, hence all the rewrites. I thought you'd agree he deserves credit. I was also annoyed that the other journalists made the "buy-out" discussion out to be more than they were. Dream clearly states that that was a small remark amongst several with management last summer regarding his future. thx for compiling news outside of Houston for us Houstonians. It's nice having it in one place, and I'm sure you don't want to make links to the Chronicle all the time. In this case, since the article was generating more articles, I thought you'd want to give the full, original text on this one. [This message has been edited by heypartner (edited December 27, 1999).]
I have no expertise in sportswriting but plenty of expertise in media dynamics. One thing you should always remember is that reporters will spend a whole interview scrounging for a single nugget and then, if they get it, write a whole piece about nothing but that nugget. It's not evil. It's just like if you spend the whole day fishing and catch one fish at noon. Are you going to tell people about all the useless waiting you did after noon? Not a chance. So here's how this kind of interview usually goes down. Reporter asks star 30 or 40 questions on 15 different subjects. About 45 minutes in, star finally says something reporter hasn't heard or verified before. Reporter perks up and asks 5 or 10 follow-ups. Star adds a little bit more detail but doesn't think it's a big deal and doesn't have much more info. Star goes home thinking he didn't say anything terribly new or important. Reporter goes to his PC and types up a story that declares he has found something new and important. He leads with his nugget and works in a few more quotes. Context disappears. All other subjects in interview end up on cutting room floor. End of story.
and the recycling of the story by the other newspapers placed even more quotes on the cutting room floor.
