News and Observer Missing Golden Opportunity

Monday's Front Page Of News & Observer (Courtesy N&O)

It’s no great secret that your average N.C. State is no fan of the N&O. Those who bear the strongest of opinions about the matter remember the way State’s athletics program was scrutinized by the paper during the end of the Valvano Era.

The coverage then was fast, scathing and loose on the facts.  State fans during that era remember the witch hunt vividly, and to this day many refuse to subscribe to the print edition. Some even refuse to patronize their advertisers.

I was too young and too far removed to remember how the N&O damaged its relationship with State fans. I was 12 in 1989, living outside of the N&O’s subscription zone in rural Cumberland County. When I enrolled at State, I began to hear the pointed opinions on the paper from State fans and alums. I read up on it, trying to get a better understanding of what they were feeling, but honestly there’s a difference between re-reading accounts and articles years later versus waking up every morning in the midst of the story to see a new scandalous article (the vast majority of which would later be proven false).  I suppose I’m afforded a somewhat-less vitriolic viewpoint of the N&O as a result.  

Flash forward some 20 years from the Valvano mess to today, where the UNC football program currently finds itself vigorously being investigated by the NCAA. No one on UNC’s campus is talking, but there are a lot of folks in the national media–particularly Joe Schad of ESPN–beating the bushes and talking to soures, trying to turn up the latest news of this potentially devastating investigation. And yet in the Sports section of the Sunday issue of the N&O, here’s an inventory of what ran related to area colleges:

• Dean Smith’s memory is fading but his legacy is solid
• Smith’s impact still felt in Chapel Hill
• Arm palsy doesn’t keep UNC prospect from football success
• Heels return to winning formula
• Pack’s recruiting is lagging behind

Two Dean Smith pieces, a story on how well UNC football recruiting is going, another fluff piece on UNC recruiting and a story on how State’s recruiting is struggling.

Noticeably missing? Anything at all related to the NCAA investigation.

And instead of going into “SEE DER’S YER N&O BIAS AGAIN RAWR!!!!11” beast mode, I think the N&O is missing out on a golden opportunity here.

For so long, they have been called “biased” by many State fans (and surely some of the 12 Duke fans in the area, as well).  Many realize that the Daniels* family no longer owns the paper, so most have given up the cries of “conspiracy,” but I’m sure there are still small pockets that believe that.

The N&O can prove these folks wrong by stepping up to the plate to cover this investigation thoroughly. That doesn’t mean Section A-1, front-page, above-the-fold smear pieces, but it does mean taking the initiative to take the point on covering it.

What does that mean? It means running a continuing series of articles to keep folks informed about the latest news. It means devoting a reporter to the story to dig for FACTS–not speculation–whenever they present themselves. It means being the place the rest of the college football world turns to for information on the story in their backyard, rather than having to rely on national folks like Joe Schad.

Now, let’s be clear what I am NOT asking: I’m not asking for the “an-eye-for-an-eye” treatment. I’m not asking for huge, A-1 pieces based on speculation and subsequent retractions buried in the classified section. That’s not “journalism:” that’s muck raking.

But the relative “radio silence” we’ve seen from the N&O to this point isn’t cutting it. This is THE biggest story in Triangle sports, bar none. Not the NC Pro Am. Not Dean Smith (bless his heart). Not in-state football recruiting. This is what folks are calling in to talk about and clicking on the N&O site to search for. Today, four days after the news broke, the initial investigation story that ran on Friday is still the 4th-most emailed story on their site.

Show us, News and Observer ownership and editors, that you are willing to pursue this story aggressively. Not passing mentions in the days after the news breaks or worse, nothing at all like we saw on Sunday with their biggest issue of the week. If you show State fans–and others–that you are at least WILLING to pursue the story, even if you don’t have new information every hour, then I think most reasonable State fans will say, “Ok, thank you. This is fair.” Some will never be pleased…they’ll want all that was done wrong to State to be done unto UNC. Forget those folks, because they’re a small, small minority.

But you–as a STRUGGLING organization–have the chance to win back a large number of subscribers who REFUSE to subscribe to the ONLY newspaper in the area because of the perception of bias. What would a couple thousand or so more subscribers mean to your bottom line? Instead of having to continue to fire writers and staff, and further trim pages to your already anemic paper, you could stem–or at least delay–the tide of what appears to be your imminent death.

The ownership of the N&O may be too far removed from the situation to care what State fans think about their paper, but I can imagine the N&O’s negative image among the largest fanbase in your local subscription area doesn’t help the bottom line they check each time they make the call to retain or fire another writer.

The best part? Changing this image would require you to simply DO YOUR JOB! Imagine that! Merely living up to your job requirements having such a positive impact! What an opportunity!

Thus far, however, it doesn’t seem like anyone over there is taking advantage of it.

*Edit: Thanks to @mtdukes for the catch…it was the Daniels family that owned the paper at the time of Valvano’s ouster. I was confusing “Daniels” with Mickey McCarthy, who was the sports editor at the time and I believe the point man for all the stories released on V at the time. Follow him on Twitter as a favor to me.