It’s always been interesting to me to see how two reporters covering the same event can come up with such different accounts — how one reporter can completely miss the mark while another takes deadly aim.
Such was the case with two newspapers’ coverage of Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive’s appearance Tuesday at the Kansas City Tiger Club meeting at the Westport Flea Market.
Fortuitously, I am in a position to compare The Star’s account against that of the Columbia (Mo.) Daily Tribune. I say fortuitously because, while driving around on Tuesday, I happened to hear, on the radio, either a lengthy excerpt of the event or a portion of live coverage.
When I tuned into the event, already in progress, I thought I was listening to a news conference, but the crowd was so boisterous and there was so much laughing and joking that I was thrown off balance. Only later, when I heard or read news coverage online, did I realize that it was an appearance before a large group of Missouri fans.
It was apparent from what I was hearing that Slive, who has been the SEC commissioner for almost 10 years, had the crowd in the palm of his hand.
Slive
He was answering questions confidently, and he was often droll and funny. It seemed like every other answer he gave drew a big, embracing laugh. It was clear that the crowd was enthralled.
So, when I saw a story about the event in The Star on Wednesday, I was eager to see if the reporter, Terez A. Paylor, would be able to re-create the energetic and enthusiastic atmosphere that permeated the Flea Market’s back room a day earlier.
I have to say, I was terribly disappointed. Here’s how Paylor, who recently succeeded Mike DeArmond as Missouri athletics reporter, started his story:
It didn’t take Southeastern Conference commissioner Mike Slive long to realize the passion of Missouri Tigers supporters in Kansas City.
Slive was greeted warmly by a crowd of a couple of hundred fans Tuesday, as he served as the guest speaker at the Kansas City Tiger Club’s weekly meeting at the Westport Flea Market.
“If this is the energy from the University of Missouri that’s going to come to every one of our events, I’m gonna have to go home and warn our guys to be careful,” said Slive, shortly after he was greeted with a standing ovation. “The energy in this room is phenomenal.”
And it remained that way over the course of an hour, as Slive, who came to Kansas City from the SEC’s offices in Birmingham, Ala., took questions and spoke about a number of pertinent issues, including the possibility of Kansas City playing host to the SEC men’s basketball tournament, the status of his conference’s television deals and the status of cross-division rivalries in football.
Paylor
It was a lame start, and Paylor went on to report, blandly, what Slive had to say about some of those issues that arose in the wake of Missouri’s decision to switch from the Big XII to the SEC.
Exactly where and how did the reporter fall on his face?
:: He talked about the passion of the fan club and the energy in the room, but other than noting the standing ovation, Taylor failed to show the reader how the interaction between the fans and the commissioner established the energy in the room.
:: He did not relate a single question that the fans posed to Slive, and he made no attempt to establish the humorous and convivial tone, which is what distinguished the event and spawned a strong bond between crowd and speaker.
Now, let’s set The Star aside and pick up the Columbia Daily Tribune.
Matter
Covering the event for the Tribune was a sportswriter named Dave Matter. I don’t know him, hadn’t read a thing he had written until I saw his story online this morning.
Here’s how Matter began his story:
Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive couldn’t have expected his biggest applause line yesterday to be a one-word answer.
A Missouri booster in the middle of a jam-packed crowd at the Westport Flea Market Bar & Grill asked Slive a perfectly reasonable question at the Tiger Club of Kansas City luncheon that sounded like this: Could you explain how the decisions were made to put Texas A&M in the SEC West and Missouri in the SEC East?
Slive’s reply came without hesitation.
“No,” he said.
The crowd, and Slive, erupted in laughter.
The 71-year-old Slive had the boosters rolling, but do not mistake the man for a court jester. Yesterday, he was feted like a king.
With several university and civic dignitaries in attendance, the SEC commissioner made his first public appearance in Missouri since November’s announcement that MU was joining Texas A&M as a 2012 addition to the SEC. For the 250-plus fans crammed into the booster club’s weekly watering hole, the buzz was still raging.
Look at some of the words and phrases that Matter uses to show, tangibly, how the bond developed and the energy burst forth.
— “…a jam-packed crowd”
— “The crowd, and Slive, erupted in laughter.” Note, it was a shared laughter.
— “…had the boosters rolling.”
— “…feted like a king.”
— “…the buzz was still raging.”
Raging.
And about that standing ovation…Paylor simply had it happening spontaneously, without explanation. But Matter…well, he framed the greeting by reporting that Missouri athletic director Mike Alden introduced Slive, calling him “the finest commissioner in all of college athletics and one of the most respected folks in all of sport.”
Now the reader can understand how a biased crowd could be catapulted into a near frenzy, can’t he?
Slive, as Paylor reported, later returned the favor to Alden, saying in answer to a question about the SEC’s $3 billion TV contract, “I am optimistic that we can make Mike Alden very happy.”
Another burst of laughter.
Everybody left happy…except those who weren’t there and had to rely on Terez Paylor’s reporting.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
Bad writing, or bad editing? Nothing to work with, or drained of emotion in the editing process?
Reporters like to pin the blame, as much as possible on the editors, but that won’t fly in this case.
Answer is obvious. Paylor met a certain employee profile and Matter met a certain journalistic profile. Sometimes things are black and white.
Until we can embrace that content of character versus color of skin ideal we can expect more journalistic mediocrity; especially from left leaning rags like The Star. I submit Jason Whitlock, Steve Penn and Jenee Ostertag, or whatever her name is as my introductory evidence to the jury.
You’re outta bounds there, Smartman…I would speculate that the biggest difference between Paylor and Matter is that Paylor is fresh onto a big-time sports beat, while Matter appears to have about a decade under his belt.
There are plenty of excellent African-American newspaper reporters and writers, including Charles Blow of The New York Times; Bob Herbert, formerly of the NYT; Leonard Pitts Jr., of the Miami Herald; and Mara Williams and Glenn E. Rice of The Star.
I realized when I posted those photos that I would open the gates for some racial commentary, so it’s not too surprising. Just disappointing.
Fitz,
Always enjoy your media commentary. But I’m wondering about the second reference to Mr. Paylor here:
And about that standing ovation…Paylor simply had it happening spontaneously, without explanation. But Paylor…well, he framed the greeting by reporting that Missouri athletic director Mike Alden introduced Slive, calling him “the finest commissioner in all of college athletics and one of the most respected folks in all of sport.”
Les Weatherford
Thanks, Les! You always have been and always will be a great copy editor…I’ll change the second Paylor reference to the rightful writer, Matter.
Fitz, I never said that there were not great African American writers. What I will say is that the Star has never provided any evidence of that.
Being a great writer, being able to put people in the time, place and moment as if they were there is like being a great singer. Either you have it or you don’t. Certainly age and experience allow you to discover new and exciting ways to deploy your craft and skill. All due respect to Terez Paylor he is not a great writer as evidenced by the sharp contrast you illustrated.
Remember Muhammad Ali standing over Sonny Liston? Ali, while much younger and inexperienced, “had it”.
In the matter of Matter vs Paylor, the KO goes to Matter!
This wasn’t terrible,
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2012/03/17/2039258/missouri-in-a-state-of-shock.html
dude was probably hungover.
Yep, all I got is a hammer and all my problems…
In fact, that’s a very well done story by Paylor, Chuck…I don’t think he’s necessarily a bad reporter or bad writer. I was just critiquing one story. The game story that you link to cried out for an all-out journalistic effort, seeing as how Missouri’s great season came to a crashing conclusion, and Paylor rose to the occasion.
My suspicion is Paylor went to the Tiger Club luncheon expecting a ho-hum session and he simply wasn’t prepared for the irresistible situation that developed before his eyes. He went in thinking it was going to be ho-hum, and, damn it, that’s the way he was going to write it! I know because I’ve seen it happen many times. I’ve gone to events with the same type of attitude, and more than once I failed to rise to the occasion.
I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it: Being a consistently good reporter demands incredible focus, flexibility and attention to business. You cannot let your guard down…And it’s a lot easier to see that in the rear view mirror.
Well, where do I begin? Jim, I think you’re certainly on to something when you mention the experience factor, Paylor vs. Matter. Experience, like size in many cases, definitely matters (pardon the pun). Then again, what are the expectations at The Star and at the Columbia paper in terms of covering these sort of events (assuming they’re deemed worthy of coverage in the first place)? I, for one, am not looking for Pulitzer Prize-winning material out of any sportswriter – just the facts, ma’am – and anything above and beyond the facts is icing on the cake. Of course, a well-written story needs to have the right facts in the right order. Recently The Star ran a sports story in which it took the reporter 8 paragraphs to tell the reader the final score of the soccer game. Far too much “framing” went on there. No, personally I’m not looking for a whole lot of “color” from Paylor in his stories (again, pardon the pun). Could he have connected the dots a little better in capturing the mood and flavor of this event? Probably. But at least it wasn’t a make-believe story like that ill-advised Fantasy Football League piece just before Christmas where the Chiefs were beating the Dolphins in the Dec. 25, 1971 playoff game. Can Paylor read the work of the competition and learn a thing or two in the process? Yes. Can I do with less sports in The Star and more news? Yes!!!
If a reporter finds that he or she can sleep-walk through stories, he or she will continue to do so until someone kicks their ass. If a whole slew of reporters can sleep-walk through stories, what have you got? A boring, awful newspaper.
Getting swept up in the mood of the moment can be a double edged sword. While you want to capture the excitement of the moment you don’t want to lose the ability to evaluate your surroundings objectively.
Smartman: Statements of fact for $500.00 Alex
Alex Trebec: Statements of fact for $500.00, the answer is……Boring Awful Newspaper
Smartman (buzzes in immediately), What is the Kansas City Star.
AlexTrebec:CORRECT! You remain in control
Smartman: Usless Mexican Bloggers for $100.00
Excellent points. The Star is a painful read. It really is. You can’t tell me that in this economy there aren’t people in LOVE with writing, and news and reporting that can’t raise the bar. I was told by a former Star employee that the news is supposed to be written for an audience with an 8th grade reading level. Adjust that for the KCMOSD scholars and that explains a lot. Nothing about the quality of writing in the Star suggests anybody is in search of excellence.
The former employee must have been on the ad side, because that business about writing for 8th-reading level is utter balderdash. I was in the business, in Kentucky and here, for 38 years, and no one ever said, “Hey, be sure to write down to the readers. Don’t use any words of more than three syllables and don’t flash your vocabulary around because we want to keep it real simple.”
There are actually some very good writers at The Star (fewer now than before, but still many good writers). For journalists, it’s a good gig. Steve Everly, the energy reporter, is absolutely great, and he is not writing down to anyone. Too often we focus on the political side, where The Star often clashes with its readers’ values and beliefs, but many of the real gems are in these specialty areas where people aren’t paying as much attention as they should. Now, whenever I log into The Star, I do a search for Everly to see what his latest gem is.
He’s a good one — one of the best (and a really nice and humble guy, too). He’s very professional — perseverent and takes a serious-minded approach to his work. You’d have a hard time finding a story that Steve “mailed in.”