Why no press on Shakir Bell?

[bent20]

I find it interesting that the Indystar has this story, which I can’t believe anyone cares about (although it’s one of their most read), on a former Indy area running back whose career is over at Indiana. Yet, the only thing you can find if you search for Shakir Bell on their site, is a brief mentioning his performance at WKU from last week. I know the Indystar doesn’t cover Indiana State athletics. I get that and am mostly fine with it, but you would still think they’d have something on Bell’s breakouts, if for no other reason than to spotlight a former Indy HS player.

http://www.indystar.com/article/201...Hoosiers-basically-over-?odyssey=mod|mostview

 

[IndyTreeFan]

Your post prompted me to email Jim Lefko, Sports Editor at the Indianapolis Star with the question about why we haven't seen something about hometown boy Shakir Bell and his incredible season. Here's the response I got:

Bart,

You think like an editor. We've already got something in the works about him.

Thanks for the feedback.

Jim Lefko

Sounds like they were ahead of us on this one. Nice to see!!!

 

[LoyalAlum]

Excellent! I was in Indy last Saturday night for a fundraiser, and NOBODY, I mean NOBODY (including ISU alumni) had any clue about the football team or their progress. No clue.

Your post prompted me to email Jim Lefko, Sports Editor at the Indianapolis Star with the question about why we haven't seen something about hometown boy Shakir Bell and his incredible season. Here's the response I got:

Bart,

You think like an editor. We've already got something in the works about him.

Thanks for the feedback.

Jim Lefko

Sounds like they were ahead of us on this one. Nice to see!!!

 

[bent20]

Your post prompted me to email Jim Lefko, Sports Editor at the Indianapolis Star with the question about why we haven't seen something about hometown boy Shakir Bell and his incredible season. Here's the response I got:

Bart,

You think like an editor. We've already got something in the works about him.

Thanks for the feedback.

Jim Lefko

Sounds like they were ahead of us on this one. Nice to see!!!

Cool. I guess I should have done that. Last time I emailed one of their writers though he explained that they don't cover Indiana State. He was quite respectful about it, but to the point.

 

[Jason Svoboda]

Excellent! I was in Indy last Saturday night for a fundraiser, and NOBODY, I mean NOBODY (including ISU alumni) had any clue about the football team or their progress. No clue.

As for the ISU alumni, that's totally on them. If they're on Facebook and have liked any of the Indiana State stuff, they'd be aware. I'm going to guess the alumni don't make the effort of staying connected.

 

[TJames]

The Indy media knows all about Shakir Bell and Indiana State football...

at least the Indy people that I know, like the people at Channels 13, 8, 59 and 6, the Indy Star and the sports radio stations. I do a radio post game on WIBC on a college football wrap up show each Saturday whenever possible to talk about the Sycamores. Channel 59 guys know all about ISU (Jeremiah Johnson worked at Channel 2 in Terre Haute and Larry Hawley is a big ISU follower). The news director at Channel 6 is an ISU alum. Channel 13 is so so, but several of their videographers are ISU alums because I talk to them all the time. Get nothing on Channel 8 for whatever reason.

But I will say again for all those ISU fans who live in the Indy area: write, email and call those media outlets and make your opinions known. Complaining here is one thing. But the Indy media dont read this website. Go to the source.

I wrote a note on Facebook about the Indy media on Sunday. Several Indy media people are Facebook friends and read it.

 

[treeman]

good news with the statemen.

the statesman is finally covering sports. on the front cover it said "sycamores are ranked" or something like that with a huge picture of the football game covering the whole front cover. if students don't notice that...:eek7:. also they had a nice little article on us being ranked along with a story about Shakir's day. i don't know what happened at the statesman but i'm so glad that they are finally covering sports again.:bigsmile:

 

[Chief_Quabachi]

IndyTreeFan,

a big "Thank You" for contacting the INDY STAR re:Shakir and ISU football.

Personally, I see their ignoring ISU athletics as unprofessional and a direct dereliction of responsibility of reporting of a state land grant university.

TJAmes, you have the contacts with THE INDY STAR to put a burr under their saddle………."Get er' Done". Ba a pain in their ass if need be.

 

[LoyalAlum]

As for the ISU alumni, that's totally on them. If they're on Facebook and have liked any of the Indiana State stuff, they'd be aware. I'm going to guess the alumni don't make the effort of staying connected.

It's indicitive of how apathetic our alumni have become re:ISU athletics. Obviously there are a diehard few, but as a whole, help from the Indy media would make a world of difference. As far as others in Indy, their dismissiveness of ISU is resounding. Any positive press in the Indy area is desperately needed.

 

[IndyTreeFan]

I got in a plug to Jim Lefko, after thanking him for the upcoming coverage of Shakir, for more coverage for ISU sports. Here is what he wrote. Once again, very candid, very professional and it gave me a lot more respect for the Star and their reasons for coverage issues with ISU:

Boy do I wish we could. Our company owns the newspapers in Muncie and Lafayette, so we get an abundance of stories on Ball State and Purdue respectively from them. Maybe Gannett will buy the Terre Haute paper one day and open the door for us to obtain Indiana State content. Unless and until that happens, we have to rely on the Associated Press for coverage of ISU and it's woefully lacking. Sometimes I wonder if the AP knows there are colleges in Evansville, Terre Haute, etc..

They have business constraints like every other business, particularly in this economy, and with their readership dwindling, their resources (writers, etc.) will be getting smaller and smaller. I would assume if there was a HUGE groundswell of appeals from ISU fans to them that they might cover us more often, but I can understand where he's coming from.

As with all else, keep winning, and win big, and they'll have to cover us...

 

[Bally #50]

I got in a plug to Jim Lefko, after thanking him for the upcoming coverage of Shakir, for more coverage for ISU sports. Here is what he wrote. Once again, very candid, very professional and it gave me a lot more respect for the Star and their reasons for coverage issues with ISU:

Boy do I wish we could. Our company owns the newspapers in Muncie and Lafayette, so we get an abundance of stories on Ball State and Purdue respectively from them. Maybe Gannett will buy the Terre Haute paper one day and open the door for us to obtain Indiana State content. Unless and until that happens, we have to rely on the Associated Press for coverage of ISU and it's woefully lacking. Sometimes I wonder if the AP knows there are colleges in Evansville, Terre Haute, etc..

They have business constraints like every other business, particularly in this economy, and with their readership dwindling, their resources (writers, etc.) will be getting smaller and smaller. I would assume if there was a HUGE groundswell of appeals from ISU fans to them that they might cover us more often, but I can understand where he's coming from.

As with all else, keep winning, and win big, and they'll have to cover us...

When I was more involved with the Indy Alumni, Jim and I would communicate back and forth from time to time and believe me, he is a striaght-up guy and always willing to discuss things when I approached him. Not once did he fail to respond to me. His responses always left me thinking that he was being very sincere in what he said. Like the paper or not, he is a one of the better reasons to read Star sports. Build it and they will come. Start winning on a REGUAR basis and they will cover it. They did pretty well in the 2000-02 years and I suspect as we head to the next level in 2011-12, they will be with us more.

 

[TJames]

To blame AP is an easy cop out.

I do some stringing for the Associated Press. They know all about what's going on at Indiana State and the football program. The sports editor, Mike Marot, is a good friend of mine. As a matter of fact, Mike and I talked about ISU and the football program on Monday. I was teasing him because he came down and did a story on the losing streak and on Trent a couple of years ago. I told him that he had better do something now since the program is back and very competitive. He agreed.

Also, it seems funny that the Indy Star didn't wait for AP to do a story on the Sycamores having the nation's longest losing streak. They sent a reporter over, Jeff Rebjohns, to do a story. There was even a mini-editorial whether Indiana State should drop football. They found the time and the space then. They can now as well.

 

[Callmedoc]

I do some stringing for the Associated Press. They know all about what's going on at Indiana State and the football program. The sports editor, Mike Marot, is a good friend of mine. As a matter of fact, Mike and I talked about ISU and the football program on Monday. I was teasing him because he came down and did a story on the losing streak and on Trent a couple of years ago. I told him that he had better do something now since the program is back and very competitive. He agreed.

Also, it seems funny that the Indy Star didn't wait for AP to do a story on the Sycamores having the nation's longest losing streak. They sent a reporter over, Jeff Rebjohns, to do a story. There was even a mini-editorial whether Indiana State should drop football. They found the time and the space then. They can now as well.

It's amazing how easy it is to run a negative story, a positive one gets pushed the wayside.THAT SAID, EVERYONE LOVES A COMEBACK.

 

[Westbadenboy]

Ok I'm lost here ....

I appreciate his response -- I think he's a good guy (used to be in Lafayette and lived in my West Lafayette neighborhood).
BUT ............in this day and age either the Star or ISU or both are ignoring technology.
ISU should be sending out press releases by FAX or internet directly to the Star for pre-Game and post-Game reports -- easily usable by the paper with little or no effort.
If ISU is sending those types of things to the Star then the Star has no excuse for not printing actual game stores (even ............wait for it ...............PICTURES).
They don't need to send a reporter and camera dude over I-70 to Terre Haute like its 1963.

The same is true for the Indy TV stations -- ISU should be sending game highlight videos that could be used with little or no editing on their evening/night sports segments. Every Indy station should have been showing video clips of last week -- especially the runs of Bell. If ISU is not doing that they need to get off their butts and do it. If they are, the Indy stations should be using it.

I've heard all the Indy excuses over and over and over again. "We ain't got no money" "We ain't got no space" "We ain't got no pictures" We ain't got no reporters" "We ain't got no time" Might have been true in 1963 ......irrelevant in 2011. Heck, they run pictures and fairly long stories about some Texas Tech vs Kansas State type game on many Sundays. Gotta believe there are thousands of Indianapolis Star readers getting up early Sunday morning to read about that stuff.

ISU ----- Send out the reports !

Indy Media ------ PRINT IT ! SHOW IT !

ENOUGH SAID !!!

 

[4Q_iu]

TJ is right!

IndyStar coverage of ISU was abysmal when it was still owned by the Pulliam-Quayle Dynasty (Central Newspapers, Inc).

I got a good chuckle from Letko pointing the finger at the AP, a very easy cop-out.

Does the Star "rely" on the AP for all of the coverage of gloomington?!

Yeah, didn't think so.

Letko's attitude is nothing new at the Star.

As to alumni apathy WRT State athletics; don't blame the Star, blame it on SEVERAL years of poor to middling teams AND the alumni themselves.

Media plays zero role in alumni apathy

BTW - When did we become the state's Land Grant school? thought that was west laffy...

 

[Jason Svoboda]

I appreciate his response -- I think he's a good guy (used to be in Lafayette and lived in my West Lafayette neighborhood).
BUT ............in this day and age either the Star or ISU or both are ignoring technology.
ISU should be sending out press releases by FAX or internet directly to the Star for pre-Game and post-Game reports -- easily usable by the paper with little or no effort.
If ISU is sending those types of things to the Star then the Star has no excuse for not printing actual game stores (even ............wait for it ...............PICTURES).
They don't need to send a reporter and camera dude over I-70 to Terre Haute like its 1963.

The same is true for the Indy TV stations -- ISU should be sending game highlight videos that could be used with little or no editing on their evening/night sports segments. Every Indy station should have been showing video clips of last week -- especially the runs of Bell. If ISU is not doing that they need to get off their butts and do it. If they are, the Indy stations should be using it.

I've heard all the Indy excuses over and over and over again. "We ain't got no money" "We ain't got no space" "We ain't got no pictures" We ain't got no reporters" "We ain't got no time" Might have been true in 1963 ......irrelevant in 2011. Heck, they run pictures and fairly long stories about some Texas Tech vs Kansas State type game on many Sundays. Gotta believe there are thousands of Indianapolis Star readers getting up early Sunday morning to read about that stuff.

ISU ----- Send out the reports !

Indy Media ------ PRINT IT ! SHOW IT !

ENOUGH SAID !!!

Ace, Pfrank and others within the SID/Athletics offices do send out press releases. Daily. I know this because I get them as I'm on the media list. Additionally, the Indianapolis Star and other Indianapolis-area media are on the press list as well. So in this case it wouldn't be an Indiana State issue.

 

[Callmedoc]

Ace, Pfrank and others within the SID/Athletics offices do send out press releases. Daily. I know this because I get them as I'm on the media list. Additionally, the Indianapolis Star and other Indianapolis-area media are on the press list as well. So in this case it wouldn't be an Indiana State issue.

I get them too because after my tenure as Indiana statesman editor in chief they just keep sending them. As much hell as I give to ace and others in the athletic department, (jokingly granted) they do their jobs and do them well.

 

[LoyalAlum]

IndyStar coverage of ISU was abysmal when it was still owned by the Pulliam-Quayle Dynasty (Central Newspapers, Inc).

I got a good chuckle from Letko pointing the finger at the AP, a very easy cop-out.

Does the Star "rely" on the AP for all of the coverage of gloomington?!

Yeah, didn't think so.

Letko's attitude is nothing new at the Star.

As to alumni apathy WRT State athletics; don't blame the Star, blame it on SEVERAL years of poor to middling teams AND the alumni themselves.

Media plays zero role in alumni apathy

BTW - When did we become the state's Land Grant school? thought that was west laffy...

The media playing zero role in apathy is entirely NOT TRUE. If alumni were reading/hearing about ISU athletics on a regular basis in Indy, ISU athletics would be on their radar. As it stands now, they see nothing, hear nothing, know nothing. The media plays a huge role in this.

 

[goindystate]

when will the story about Bell and the Sycamores be in the Star? Did they say?

:sycamores:

 

[TJames]

One other response to Lefko's email.....

The Associated Press office in Indianapolis has two people for sports -- Mike Marot and Cliff Brundt. They use stringers, like me, to help out sometimes (I do some Colts coverage for them on occasion). The Indy Star, even with recent layoffs, still has a pretty good sized sports staff. Maybe they can hire someone to string stories of the Indiana State games. Hey Lefko, give Chris Nelson a call. He is always looking for stringing work. Nelson already strings high school games for them.