Bee Bias?

[Phantom Hornet]

I frequent egriz alot (StingersUp) and am in a debate over there re: the Griz moving up.

Anyways, to make a long story short, SuperHornet jumped into the conversation I was participating in and made a comment that I hear on here a lot regarding the Bee's "bias" against Sac State.

I have to be honest, I've been following Hornet sports since the mid 80's, and I have yet to witness this "bias". Could their coverage be more in depth and more frequent? Definitely--I think we could all agree to that. But it just comes across as whiny and babyish, imho, to suggest that the newspaper is trying to make the school's sports program look bad. The truth is that the football and basketball teams have been horrible the last 8 years, and the Bee hasn't sugarcoated it.

The Bee in general over the last few years has taken a more negative-sells-slant on all of their stories, but I honestly don't see their coverage as over the top.

Perhaps I'm wrong and someone can convince me. I just think it looks bad when our fans are constantly claiming the newspaper is "out to get us".

 

[superhornet]

The idea that the Bee has been against Sac and blatantly for Davis has been accepted as a given on the various iterations of SacBuzz over the years. Perhaps it does come across as pouty if not whiny, but there has been plenty of precedent to support that. One poster (I forget who) noted that it goes back to the days of the old Sac Union, when the Bee took the role as the Davis fishwrap and the Union was the Hornet paper. When the Union folded, the perception has been that the Bee never fully embraced the Hornets and in recent years has gone out of their way to stick hatchet jobs on the Hornets by publishing strictly negative stories and ignoring positive stuff. (Case in point, as I mentioned on eGriz, would be the complete lack of ANY coverage prior to and after the Stingers tavern incident, but a full-court press on that.) If that is part of a general mud sells campaign (a la political campaigns), then so be it. It's merely enough to be noticed by die-hard fans.

That is perhaps contributing to our attendance problem. Theory being that if the local paper either doesn't care or outwardly hates the Hornets, then perhaps the Hornets are not worth the time and money to support. Given the outward bias of most Superior California papers for Cal and Stanford (this is a particular problem with the paper in Lodi, which continues to ignore both UOP and Sac for the most part). However, more to the point is likely (as you mentioned on eGriz) Sac's general orientation to pro sports. The Kings, to some extent the Monarchs, both minor-league football teams, and the RiverCats all outpace BOTH the Hornets and the Aggies. In our angst against the seemingly blatant anti-Hornet coverage in the Bee, most if not all of us have missed this important factor. (SacRat probably saw it, too, but he's a bit more prescient than the rest of us. ;-) ) I thank you for bringing it to our attention.

 

[ICanGrabRim]

I have to agree that there is a BEE bias. It's not just sports either. There's always articles bashing Gonzo or our facilities or academics (which is sometimes called for, but they don't go into details about improvements, causes, etc).

Now, don't get me wrong, I don't think they should be "Hornet Homers" all the time, but what do negative articles like that do to our image in the community. It would be nice to see them do a special on the fieldhouse (they practically held a fricken' parade when Davis finished their tiny new stadium).

As of late, there have been some great articles by Schumacher. He's done a decent job of reporting on hornet athletics.

 

[StungAlum]

It would be great if the BEE would cover the team through the end of summer, they havent even ran anything on this seasons schedule. They could do an in depth compare and contrast with the teams on our schedule or just let the community know who the Hornets will be playing. If you look at the sports column under local colleges, there is nothing about the local colleges i.e. Sac State, and as much as I hate to say it, Davis. They cover every other college except the two in their own backyard, they could be running articles about upcoming seasons and how the teams have improved or the problems that they may be facing this coming season.

The BEE, when it does report on Sac State, doesnt do much more than report the score of a game with little to no other coverage. Davis and Sac State should be the two colleges most reported on in the BEE, they give the most back to this community (Sacramento Metropolitan Area). Of course it's not only the BEE that is biased, it is also often because some students dont know what loyalty is. while attending Sac State I constantly saw people wearing Davis, Stanford, Fresno, Cal, UCLA, etc. apparel, I was always offended.

Just a rant from a guy fed up with the unsupportive people and businesses in the area.

 

[Green Cookie Monster]

That is why I moved to the other coast. Cali is so apathetic and chasing the Jones'es attitude, I couldn't take it anymore. Nobody cares about anything.

I hope the Bee cuts so many jobs that it devolves into a Green Sheet, which isn't too far away.

Blame part of this problem on the Hornet's athletic department. Why haven't they been producing internal articles? Why haven't they been updating the website with news, recent happenings, a camp blog, insider info, detail bios on the players, a Flash presentation of the completed Broad facility, changing the construction cam to the WREC, etc. etc. etc.

No part of the problem lies in the department, they are still a non-profit state beaurecratic agency that takes the whole summer off instead of running like a for profit business entity.

rant over

 

[iSac]

A negative bias? I don’t believe so… no more than they (and most other media outlets) seek out negative stories to garner attention. There have been plenty of articles which have a negative feel to them, but let’s be honest that there only so many ways to write about yet another loss in football or men’s basketball.

An apathetic bias? You bet… but it seems more towards local D-1 sports in general. I used to subscribe to the thought that Sac sports received less coverage than Davis; however, over the past year or so, I’ve been pleased to see Sac get more focus and attention than Davis in the actual paper. In the first half of last season, there were “human interest” stories related to the program which were refreshing. I would love to see the Bee do this and more for both D-1 schools as many papers do for their local D-1 programs. The investment in paper space can be mutually beneficial…. growth in coverage should grow interest in the program… and in turn grow a base of new Bee readers.

 

[Phantom Hornet]

Well, I was the one who originally said I didn't think there was a bias, but after seeing the story regarding Sac State's success buried, I now switch my vote.

Unbelievable!!!!