What is it with the sports editor at the West Australian, is he so out of touch with his readers that he cannot see that Australians winning on the World stage is of far greater interest than the novelty code of football he believes incorrectly is the only focus of sports fans.
On Monday we had two stories on the Wallabies but nothing on the other opening games at the Rugby World Cup. Then on Tuesday following Sam Stosur’s fantastic win at the US Open, her achievement was buried six pages into the paper rather than receiving the prominence it warranted. Cadel Evans Australia’s first ever winner of the Tour de France was another that was not big enough to grab the back page headline. On both occasions a nothing story about about two players from the ‘novelty code’ only played in Australia was deemed of more importance.
If the Sports editor is so out of touch with his readers, surely the editor isn’t, or is there some unwritten rule that the back page can only be used for other sports seven days a year?
Peter, agree re the viability and even more so in the economic current climate.
Cannot agree however with the total defence of your employer.
AFL may be what sells but how would the paper know when it never actually tries to cover other sport and rarely covers a story on these other sports that does not come from a press agency? The sad thing is the coverage of other sports is so poor there is no need to open the West as you will rarely learn anything you did not already know.
Example, the WA pearls won their third national Championship in a row, nothing in Monday’s paper they had to wait until Tuesday for the news, and the final was played here in Perth on the Sunday.
The time zone may have been an issue but again that argument does not hold weight, a decent story after the event could have been done. The Australian on Tuesday carried plenty of good stories on her victory, do they not have the same problem? I would have thought that their Tuesday deadline was earlier than the West’s?
Sadly we all know the lay of the land but the paper asks for criticism when it fails to acknowledge such events and buries them six pages in, why was it not inside the back page at least?
Interesting thoughts – but there is no commercial viability in a sports paper in WA, let alone Australia.
Readers alone in this state could not justify the spend – or a high cover price needed to balance the books.
And advertising is on the slide due to the global economy.
As much as many would hate to hear – AFL sells in this state and in Vic and SA. NRL does similarly in NSW and Qld.
Sam Stosur’s victory was superb – but it did happen in a US timezone that was completely out of sync with WA. Over 24 hours would have passed from her victory – and the online and TV coverage – before the next newspaper would have published.
In the 24-hour non-stop news world we now live in, timing is all important.
Kristian, I totally agree, actually had everything in place for such a paper but could not find the money to back it.
Thank you all White for stopping there, we don’t want any swearing or too harsh abuse here.
Why buy it? It only really covers that one sport, their journos know noting about other sports. You know what they say about mushrooms…
This is exactly why I’d like to see a Perth Sports Bulletin or something similar, which has fair coverage for all sports. I’m sure it would sell well because I think most A-League, NRL, Super 15, NBL, Tennis, Golf fans etc is tired of the AFL obsessed West Australian.