Modern Reporting

--- In Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com, "Husar, Charlie" <husar_charlie@...> wrote: > > From the Barnes news article: > > "Barnes' mother, June Dee Linn, broke into tears upon hearing he had > been rescued. "I'm just picturing him on the ship, and being grateful > that he's been picked up," she said. " > > "His sister, Beverly Smith, said she was thrilled and elated that he > would be coming home. " > > My comment: > > I guess we just can't get away from the modern "crying chick" theory of > reporting. Much easier and cheaper than finding out the facts. It's a new version of the partying high school girl who disappeared on Arruba, Natalie Holloway. The family did a good job of mobilizing the press to encourage the rescue. I don't blame them and the TV news loves these stories. The girl friend is nice looking and they were all over local TV and newspapers. The local papers no longer write knowledgeable stories on sailing. Al Lockaby, the long-time sailing writer here died some years ago and the interest is just not there anymore. The only people who get interest from the media are handicapped sailors, another stunt, or these disaster stories. Life in the 21st century. Mike Kennedy Conquest Cal 40 # 96 Charlie, I'm in touch with Juan Cameron who raced his Cal 40 out of Annapolis very successfully in the 60s. He's in his 80s now and lives in DC. He's looking up surviving members of his class. He told me that Arnie Gay sold six Cal 40s to guys in Annapolis and DC. Within two years, all six were divorced but still sailing. I thought that would appeal to you. His boat was Lancetilla, hull # 61, Sail No. 1636. It's not on the current owners' list. > > Cheers, Anyway > Charlie >

The reason nobody gives a damn about sailing except when there is a notable disaster is that we as a community do such a crappy job of making ourselves interesting and visible to the media. I am working very hard right now to begin a process that will change that. More on that later. \Rog Cal 29+ #1 Swiss Navy Cal 2-30 #77 St. Lori's Comet _____ From: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com [mailto:Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of mtkennedy1 Sent: Friday, January 05, 2007 8:53 AM To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Subject: [Cal_Boats] Re: Modern Reporting --- In Cal_Boats@yahoogrou <mailto:Cal_Boats%40yahoogroups.com> ps.com, "Husar, Charlie" <husar_charlie@...> wrote: > > From the Barnes news article: > > "Barnes' mother, June Dee Linn, broke into tears upon hearing he had > been rescued. "I'm just picturing him on the ship, and being grateful > that he's been picked up," she said. " > > "His sister, Beverly Smith, said she was thrilled and elated that he > would be coming home. " > > My comment: > > I guess we just can't get away from the modern "crying chick" theory of > reporting. Much easier and cheaper than finding out the facts. It's a new version of the partying high school girl who disappeared on Arruba, Natalie Holloway. The family did a good job of mobilizing the press to encourage the rescue. I don't blame them and the TV news loves these stories. The girl friend is nice looking and they were all over local TV and newspapers. The local papers no longer write knowledgeable stories on sailing. Al Lockaby, the long-time sailing writer here died some years ago and the interest is just not there anymore. The only people who get interest from the media are handicapped sailors, another stunt, or these disaster stories. Life in the 21st century. Mike Kennedy Conquest Cal 40 # 96 Charlie, I'm in touch with Juan Cameron who raced his Cal 40 out of Annapolis very successfully in the 60s. He's in his 80s now and lives in DC. He's looking up surviving members of his class. He told me that Arnie Gay sold six Cal 40s to guys in Annapolis and DC. Within two years, all six were divorced but still sailing. I thought that would appeal to you. His boat was Lancetilla, hull # 61, Sail No. 1636. It's not on the current owners' list. > > Cheers, Anyway > Charlie >

Husar, Charlie wrote: > > > > I guess we just can't get away from the modern "crying chick" theory of > reporting. Much easier and cheaper than finding out the facts. > I like the definition of local TV news I heard one critic give--"a ten-minute crime report with 20 minutes of ads." It's not really news. A person in danger is, one may argue, a news item, but the weeping relatives are not really relevant to news. Entertainment, maybe, if that's your bag. Local "news" is especially inclined toward this form of reporting. There's not much said about local and state financial issues, local and state policy debates, or local and state public officials' performance. But there's always a good set of visuals on car accidents and scenes of violence. I recall seeing a report on a murder in Flint. The reporter gabbed on while the camera was fixed on a pool of blood on the front porch. It did not do much to enlighten the viewer as to the issues of violent behavior or its impact on a family or community, and certainly added nothing to the story. But real blood...ooooooh.... And now this mode of "news" reporting has spread to the networks. It's why I don't have TV and do have a newspaper subscription for news, and a boat for entertainment. Chris Campbell

Rog Jones wrote: > > The reason nobody gives a damn about sailing except when there is a > notable disaster is that we as a community do such a crappy job of > making ourselves interesting and visible to the media. I am working > very hard right now to begin a process that will change that. > > > The public actually has an interest in boats. I sail on our local schooner, which earns her keep sailing around the Lakes and taking visitors aboard for dockside tours. We always get lots of interest, especially in the Tall Ships Challenge in those years when it's in the Lakes. We can have 2,000 people aboard per day. Local sailing events are like local golf, or tennis, or anything else--mostly of interest to the participants. The local iceboating club does have an annual open house to try to attract new people. Chris Campbell

Rog, one of the few hooks where sailing gets any general coverage is the America's Cup. That gets at least SOME press (or at least it used to when America was winning or competitive). However, in the AC match races, any particular race will most likely end up dull as molasses after the first 10 minutes. I would suggest for starters that the America's Cup adopt a regatta (more than 2 boat) format for the races. Even 3 boats make a BIG difference in tactics and potential interest. I've had some thoughts about how to start at the bottom of the chain instead of the top, but that does not seem to work well except with other sailors, and we already have them in the fold. Cheers Charlie From: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com [mailto:Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Rog Jones Sent: Friday, January 05, 2007 12:02 PM To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Subject: RE: [Cal_Boats] Re: Modern Reporting (Mike and Chas) The reason nobody gives a damn about sailing except when there is a notable disaster is that we as a community do such a crappy job of making ourselves interesting and visible to the media. I am working very hard right now to begin a process that will change that. More on that later. \Rog Cal 29+ #1 Swiss Navy Cal 2-30 #77 St. Lori's Comet From: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com [mailto:Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of mtkennedy1 Sent: Friday, January 05, 2007 8:53 AM To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Subject: [Cal_Boats] Re: Modern Reporting --- In Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com <mailto:Cal_Boats%40yahoogroups.com> , "Husar, Charlie" <husar_charlie@...> wrote: > > From the Barnes news article: > > "Barnes' mother, June Dee Linn, broke into tears upon hearing he had > been rescued. "I'm just picturing him on the ship, and being grateful > that he's been picked up," she said. " > > "His sister, Beverly Smith, said she was thrilled and elated that he > would be coming home. " > > My comment: > > I guess we just can't get away from the modern "crying chick" theory of > reporting. Much easier and cheaper than finding out the facts. It's a new version of the partying high school girl who disappeared on Arruba, Natalie Holloway. The family did a good job of mobilizing the press to encourage the rescue. I don't blame them and the TV news loves these stories. The girl friend is nice looking and they were all over local TV and newspapers. The local papers no longer write knowledgeable stories on sailing. Al Lockaby, the long-time sailing writer here died some years ago and the interest is just not there anymore. The only people who get interest from the media are handicapped sailors, another stunt, or these disaster stories. Life in the 21st century. Mike Kennedy Conquest Cal 40 # 96 Charlie, I'm in touch with Juan Cameron who raced his Cal 40 out of Annapolis very successfully in the 60s. He's in his 80s now and lives in DC. He's looking up surviving members of his class. He told me that Arnie Gay sold six Cal 40s to guys in Annapolis and DC. Within two years, all six were divorced but still sailing. I thought that would appeal to you. His boat was Lancetilla, hull # 61, Sail No. 1636. It's not on the current owners' list. > > Cheers, Anyway > Charlie >

Husar, Charlie wrote: > > Rog, one of the few hooks where sailing gets any general coverage is > the America's Cup. And the message this sends is that sailing requires millions of dollars, a crew of ultra-fit grinders, and perfect conditions at sea. I'm not sure that we need to make extraordinary efforts to attract people to sailing. It just crowds the marinas. Somehow, we seem to find it by ourselves--didn't we? Racing fleets probably need to keep their rosters up, and the skippers can try to include new people in crew slots in hopes that they'll like it and get their own boat. Cruising types can invite landlubbers along from time to time, and some of them may find the experience congenial. We can all be evangelists for sailing. There may be other reasons to advertise sailing, beyond attracting new sailors. Rog's reasons are good one: teaching skill, discipline, organization, endurance, and all that to kids. Sailing teaches a lot of valuable lessons, especially as people are growing up and learning to live in the world effectively. There's a wonderful little tale in Vol. 140 of WoodenBoat magazine (Jan-Feb '98), p. 106. It's about the author's experience in a youth sailing program and the retired doctor who taught it, and who wanted the kids to "develop an eye for God's fine woods, man's fine design, and the boatwright's skill in building these special little sailboats." They were sailing Rhodes Bantams. I can't read the story without getting all choked up. I just grabbed my notebook off the shelf to get that quote and had to compose myself a bit. But there are lots of people who would rather play golf or fertilize the lawn than go sailing, and even more who'd rather do anything than sand and paint the bottom. We can plead the joys of sailing all we want and they're still going to be happier at home or on the golf course. Chris Campbell

"If it bleeds, it leads" I am always impressed by the crisis mode generated by local news around 10 to 11, something you gotta know... I never watch, but in the paper the next day the story is usually on page 13. Jon On 1/5/07, Chris Campbell <cl… [at] charterinternet.com> wrote: > > Husar, Charlie wrote: > > > > I guess we just can't get away from the modern "crying chick" theory of > reporting. Much easier and cheaper than finding out the facts. > > > > > > > > I like the definition of local TV news I heard one critic give--"a > ten-minute crime report with 20 minutes of ads." It's not really news. A > person in danger is, one may argue, a news item, but the weeping relatives > are not really relevant to news. Entertainment, maybe, if that's your bag. > > Local "news" is especially inclined toward this form of reporting. > There's not much said about local and state financial issues, local and > state policy debates, or local and state public officials' performance. But > there's always a good set of visuals on car accidents and scenes of > violence. I recall seeing a report on a murder in Flint. The reporter > gabbed on while the camera was fixed on a pool of blood on the front porch. > It did not do much to enlighten the viewer as to the issues of violent > behavior or its impact on a family or community, and certainly added nothing > to the story. But real blood...ooooooh.... > > And now this mode of "news" reporting has spread to the networks. It's > why I don't have TV and do have a newspaper subscription for news, and a > boat for entertainment. > > Chris Campbell > > >

Jonathan Brush wrote: > "If it bleeds, it leads" > I am always impressed by the crisis mode generated by local news > around 10 to 11, something you gotta know... When I was at my Mom's house over the holidays, the local TV station kept warning us to watch their 11:00 pm news for information on the "snow emergency." It turns out there was a forecast of 1"-2". Now that may be a true traffic-stopper in Washington, DC and other southern spots, but this is Michigan. We usually get that much a couple times a week, between big snowfalls. It's not even worthy of a mention. But you're right, the local folks need to create a crisis so they can sell more advertising. As it turned out, no snow fell at all, and the temps never got much lower than the high 30s, so the crisis was averted. Close call, though. Can you imagine the havoc caused by an inch of snow.... Chris Campbell