Editorial: Tribune sports caters to readers

Published 9:57 am Thursday, November 5, 2015

Usually it’s reporters who ask questions, but sometimes readers in the community will call or email to find out why a newspaper does things the way they do.

One reader emailed recently to ask how the Tribune’s sports department decides which games to cover.

The Tribune’s sports scheduling strategy is no government secret. There’s no reason we shouldn’t be transparent.

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First, knowledge about the newspaper industry should be established.

The sports department, just like any other beat at a newspaper, has the duty and responsibility to provide accurate, interesting coverage for the readers. Readers in the community are the focus. Without the support of readers producing a demand for news, sports and entertainment, the newspaper industry would not exist.

To cater to our readers, members of the sports department have many duties at the Tribune. The most recognizable thing the sports department performs on a daily basis is game coverage with stories, photos and box scores. We also provide features on area athletes and coaches, preview magazines for the fall, winter and spring sports seasons and help out with other special sections and Albert Lea magazine.

For daily game coverage, the Tribune’s sports scheduling strategy follows the paper’s goal to cater to our readers.

Along with Albert Lea, we cover six other area schools: Alden-Conger, Glenville-Emmons, NRHEG, United South Central, Lake Mills and Northwood-Kensett. Albert Lea takes priority over the others.

However, it’s not that black and white. Every day has a different mix of events.

The first thing our sports editor does when determining the sports schedule is look at the location of the games.

Take Oct. 1 for example. Twelve area events took place. Albert Lea had a home volleyball match, a home girls’ swimming meet and a home girls’ soccer game. That couldn’t be an easier decision.

However, other days require a tougher decision.

Use Oct. 27 as an example. Albert Lea had no home or away games, but there were five area volleyball matches. Of those five, three were home: Alden-Conger, Lake Mills and Northwood-Kensett.

We previously featured Alden-Conger and Lake Mills with a story and photos multiple times. However, we hadn’t made it down to Northwood-Kensett for a volleyball game all season. We attempt to attend a game for each sport at each area school. Just because an audience may be smaller, it doesn’t mean it should be neglected.

In addition, newsworthiness factored into the decision. The Vikings were further into the playoffs than the Knights, and the matchups were better. Alden-Conger played a 1-24 Truman team, while Northwood-Kensett played a Rockford team that was .500. Although those weren’t the main factors in choosing to cover the Vikings, they played a part.

Covering Northwood-Kensett didn’t mean the four other matches had no coverage. A complete box score was available for all four. This is one of the ways the Tribune recognizes area student-athletes.

Our policy for postseason brackets was also a concern for a reader. As we did this fall, we aim to publish all of Albert Lea’s brackets.

Since the Minnesota State High School League seeds its brackets and they may be released only a few days before the postseason tournaments start, whether the brackets are published or not depends on what else is on the schedule.

The Iowa Girls’ High School Athletic Union does not seed its volleyball brackets, so they are released earlier than those for Minnesota teams. An earlier bracket release date means more time to find a gap in the schedule — a day without game coverage or a sports feature.

However, the IGHSAU’s early bracket release is not necessarily better. It allowed an 0-22 Postville volleyball team to get a first-round bye in the Class 2A Region 6 bracket, while a 13-9 Central Springs team and a 10-10 Belmond-Klemme team did not.

As it is for any business that strives to get better, constructive criticism is welcome at the Tribune.