DaJuan Johnson visiting today

[IWB]

Here is the really bad part. Last night a guy that is over 70 years old comes up to me - "So how is Marquette going to do this year? Who will be their go to guys? I haven't read anything about them since that incident with the assistant coach."

It doesn't matter how old the guy is, the point is that there are a lot of people out there that are not on the message boards, that are not on the websites. These people depend on the newspaper and talk radio, and the Journal doesn't write about MU until yesterday (and get it wrong) or if it is something negative, and the sports talk radio stations are the exact same. They don't talk about MU unless it is pre-game or post-game or unless something bad happens.

It blows.

Dear ESPN 540 or WSSP: I would be happy to be on to discuss the positives with Marquette basketball any day. And, if needed, I can talk UWM, UWGB and Wisconsin too.

[CaribouJim]

Here is the really bad part. Last night a guy that is over 70 years old comes up to me - "So how is Marquette going to do this year? Who will be their go to guys? I haven't read anything about them since that incident with the assistant coach."

It doesn't matter how old the guy is, the point is that there are a lot of people out there that are not on the message boards, that are not on the websites. These people depend on the newspaper and talk radio, and the Journal doesn't write about MU until yesterday (and get it wrong) or if it is something negative, and the sports talk radio stations are the exact same. They don't talk about MU unless it is pre-game or post-game or unless something bad happens.

It blows.

Dear ESPN 540 or WSSP: I would be happy to be on to discuss the positives with Marquette basketball any day. And, if needed, I can talk UWM, UWGB and Wisconsin too.

IWB, during your tenure there, what was the vibe there about MU, if there was any vibe or were you doing your own thing so you didn't interact with them at all? Weird - their office is a stone's throw from the BC - they see the crowds they get - the businesses around the BC that benefit - the 7 NCAA's and 2 Sweet 16's in a row and they barely lift a finger in their coverage of MU? I don't get it.

[IWB]

Well - put it this way, in my first meeting with them before I ever worked there, we all sat down and a guy spoke up and said, "Before we get started, you run a Marquette website, right?" (Yes) "Let me ask you this, why are Marquette fans such whiners? I mean they whine and complain about everything. It's almost as if they get out rulers and measure how long their articles are as opposed to others. Why is that?"

I gave a completely politically correct answer, but what I should have said was, "instead of taking shots at them, why don't you give them what they want? Afterall, they are subscribers.

Truth is, their priorities rank as follows.....Packers are 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th. Behind them is the Brewers, at 6th & 7th, Badgers at 8th & 9th and Bucks at 10th. Marquette is in the also covering category.

The biggest problem is that they are now spread so thin it isn't even funny. Last year Enlund was the MU beat writer, but he also covered UWM. When I first started there the sports side of the newsroom was always active, always people there. By the time I left, there were never more than 2-3 people in there. Most writers wouldn't even go into the office as they didn't want to be there. "Hey can I talk to you about this?" Sure, where do you want to meet? "I'm in the office all week." Oh, no, let's meet somewhere off site. It was pretty weird, and I am sure it is only worse because there were more rounds of layoffs since I have been gone.

[Alan Bykowski, "brewcity77"]

It's not necessarily the lack of decent coverage that bothers me. It is the absolutely inept reporting last year and so far this year. Seriously, how can you consider yourself a reporter when you get *six* basic facts wrong in one article?

To be fair, those were spread over two articles. I believe 4 errors in the DaJuan Johnson article and two about MU grad Trent Lockett in the other.

[2012Warrior]

That's a shame about the JS. How many areas have two schools that have experienced the type of success MU and UW have had the past few years. I can't imagine many.

[TedBaxter]

That's a shame about the JS. How many areas have two schools that have experienced the type of success MU and UW have had the past few years. I can't imagine many.

That's the future of newspapers. Unless they adjust and possibly contract out with some articles being written by people from websites who have experience with certain programs and certain sports, I don't think you are going to see a daily newspapers in most areas of the country in 5 years. Kind of like the Sporting News did for years only with local people. Some newspaper just did a deal with BadgerNation to provide some articles and was that the Wisconsin State Journal? Either trade some advertising space on a website for contributions or pay the people from the website to contribute on an article basis, but there has to be a shift and in my opinion, there needs to be more indepth coverage about the person behind the uniform to bring in the people again as subscribers. Keep the people for the coverage of the Packers, Badgers and Brewers and even preps if you want to stay strong in house, but get some other people in on an article basis.

Human interest articles more than about only the games and I would advise this for Jim also in his future articles. I keep going back to an article in either late 1980 or early 1981 where the Journal or the Sentinel wrote a whole page or page and a half story about Dwayne Johnson and his return to New York's Mater Christi High School from 2 years at St. John's Military Academy and Johnson was an uncommitted recruit at the time. They sent a writer to New York and they had photos of the area around Long Island City and it still hits home for me after 30 plus years.

[TulsaWarrior]

TedB -- I agree with you newspapers are in a transition and most of the surviving reporters are in the fetal position worrying about the future. Management at the JS doesn't have a clue about the brave new world of journalism. I pay for content on IWB's site for a reason. He cares and works hard. I would pay for access to the JS if there was decent content. It's not like the old days when the JS had a monoploy and editors had to deal with column inch issues, in a print addition. The length of stories, pictures and dialog with fans is easier if a media outlet chooses to go that route. The survivors will get it and other newspapers across the country are doing just thatr. There are a ton of cost effective stringers that the JS could tap into but the management is stuck with a business model that is closer to 1970, with the radically lower 2012 subscriber base.

[Phantom Warrior]

J/S allows 20 free articles peer month. I have access to four different computers, so I can get up to 80 a month if I want, which is more than enough. In an average month I probably read 25-35 articles, and some of those end up not being worth the time. I will pay for a J/S subscription about the same time I pay for a premium subscription to BadgerNation.

[Nukem2]

J/S allows 20 free articles peer month. I have access to four different computers, so I can get up to 80 a month if I want, which is more than enough. In an average month I probably read 25-35 articles, and some of those end up not being worth the time. I will pay for a J/S subscription about the same time I pay for a premium subscription to BadgerNation.

Of course, those free articles will probably disappear in the near future. Thats not a sustainable businees plan as print subscribers keep declining.

[TheSultan]

Of course, those free articles will probably disappear in the near future. Thats not a sustainable businees plan as print subscribers keep declining.

You have to provide the free ones to draw people to the site. If they go all pay, then the bookmark is gone off my computer entirely.