Is the Tribune's Coverage of Mormonism Backfiring?

[Scott Lloyd]

1 hour ago, juliann said:

I think what is happening to news is going to have repercussions for society but I really don't get the paywall concept. It has to be obvious now that people aren't going to pay for news anymore. Nor do people rely on one source anymore so it is unrealistic to think they will pay each news source. So I'm trying to figure out why, if they are supported by advertising, they would block people from the advertising.  How many actually shell out the money when they hit the wall rather than going to another free source? I stop going to the newspaper at all. 

 

The paywall has worked in some instances, but they tend to be publications with national stature such as the New York Times and Wall Street Journal.

[Calm]

5 hours ago, churchistrue said:

Probably a slow news period, but I think PFS is probably following the blogosphere, Exmo Reddit, social media accounts of John Dehlin and other main people in the Progmo-Exmo world, and this was a story that got a lot of noise over the past couple weeks.

This story has been particularly annoying to me. It seems to be a remote, isolated incident where there's probably a dumb, local bishop and also I'm sure there's more to the story. This is not a global LDS issue. Dumb. 

 

 

 

PFS published a story on how a BYU vending machine was accidentally stocked with caffeinated coke one day and it was quickly emptied of its contents.  If I had paid for that story, I would be furious, I suspect.  But some probably had fun with it...enough to justify its existence?  Don't know.  I don't read or watch any particular news media for a reason, but use the internet to provide me with a variety of sources on the topics I am interested in...and trust that my never resting eye will catch important stuff referred to in side menus, etc.

Edited August 9, 2018 by Calm

[cinepro]

I'm just amazed that the story about the FLDS girls has been categorized as being about "Mormonism" and no one has complained.

[Calm]

5 hours ago, jkwilliams said:

I guess I see those folks you list as being newsworthy, if nothing else because they represent some current strains of thought within the LDS community. Would you prefer the Trib stick to summaries of conference talks?

They didn't report on the FM conference and they have been invited in past years to my knowledge, so there is definitely a slant to what they are choosing to cover (seriously, I get that FM has been niched and it would be a two day at least paycheck for coverage that most readers skip so I get the choice not to invest, but it's less newsworthy than a misstocked vending machine?).  

It is not just any LDS topic they are choosing to cover.

Edited August 9, 2018 by Calm

[smac97]

28 minutes ago, cinepro said:

I'm just amazed that the story about the FLDS girls has been categorized as being about "Mormonism" and no one has complained.

It's in the "emanations and penumbras" area.

Not about Mormonism, but close enough for jazz.

Thanks,

-Smac

[jkwilliams]

25 minutes ago, Calm said:

They didn't report on the FM conference and they have been invited in past years to my knowledge, so there is definitely a slant to what they are choosing to cover (seriously, I get that FM has been niched and it would be a two day at least paycheck for coverage that most readers skip so I get the choice not to invest, but it's less newsworthy than a misstocked vending machine?).  

It is not just any LDS topic they are choosing to cover.

I'm sure they make mistakes, but I have to say, as a BYU alum, I loved that story about the coke machine. It was a perfect allegory for the campus culture. 

[Atheist Mormon]

2 hours ago, smac97 said:

Journalism schools the world over spend quite a bit of time trying to quantify the concept of "newsworthiness."

An anonymous woman's disagreement with her bishop about her bearing her breasts to nurse her baby in the foyer is not, in my view, "newsworthy."  

An online petition from "Mormon feminists" to the leaders of the Church about the above item is not, in my view, "newsworthy."

I am a pretty staunch Mormon.  I am quite interested in "reading/hearing about Mormonism related stories," provided that they are newsworthy.

Thanks,

-Smac

I disagree with you but when you mention "Breastfeeding woman" that is over the top (and I did not read one sentence of it so far). Give people some credit...most of us don't waste time over sensational stuff......And FLDS news? it gets boring also....

[Scott Lloyd]

1 hour ago, Calm said:

PFS published a story on how a BYU vending machine was accidentally stocked with caffeinated coke one day and it was quickly emptied of its contents.  If I had paid for that story, I would be furious, I suspect. 

A paywall works like a print subscription. You pay one time for access to all of the content during the subscription period with the understanding you probably won't be interested in all of it but might like some of it.

[mrmarklin]

7 hours ago, jkwilliams said:

I guess I see those folks you list as being newsworthy, if nothing else because they represent some current strains of thought within the LDS community. Would you prefer the Trib stick to summaries of conference talks?

Coverage is fine and dandy, but the front page??  Not a Utah resident, but with all the national issues and I'm certain Utah also has issues, Church stories for the most part belong a few pages down.

 

 

[Calm]

1 hour ago, Scott Lloyd said:

A paywall works like a print subscription. You pay one time for access to all of the content during the subscription period with the understanding you probably won't be interested in all of it but might like some of it.

True, but the time that it took to research and write that story could have been spent on something else...and that is why I would feel it was a waste of resources as far as I was concerned.

[Scott Lloyd]

1 hour ago, mrmarklin said:

Coverage is fine and dandy, but the front page??  Not a Utah resident, but with all the national issues and I'm certain Utah also has issues, Church stories for the most part belong a few pages down.

 

 

I’m the last person one would consider an apologist for the Tribune. But I do know something about print journalism, and not since the early ‘70s have metro dailies considered the front page as being reserved for national/state news. These days, it is regarded as a “display page,” and editors fill it with what they consider the items most apt to get attention that day, local or not, grave or light-hearted, important or silly, the quirkier the better. 

The idea is to attract eyes.  And stories are almost never self-contained on page 1. They jump to the inside. The purpose is two-fold: to make room for more stories on the display page and to draw more people to the inside pages, where there are more stories and where the ads are. 

Edited August 10, 2018 by Scott Lloyd

[Scott Lloyd]

1 hour ago, Calm said:

True, but the time that it took to research and write that story could have been spent on something else...and that is why I would feel it was a waste of resources as far as I was concerned.

I was studying journalism in college when Prince Charles married Diana. Snooty members of my reporting class were ridiculing the media for all the attention they were giving the wedding.  Finally, the professor, a crusty,  seasoned newspaperman, said, “If you guys don’t think this is newsworthy, your news judgment stinks.” 

And he was right. I was reminded of this during the recent royal wedding when I watched family members almost get fanatical over it. I don’t understand it myself, but I can’t deny it. 

Edited August 10, 2018 by Scott Lloyd

[Calm]

5 hours ago, Scott Lloyd said:

I was studying journalism in college when Prince Charles married Diana. Snooty members of my reporting class were ridiculing the media for all the attention they were giving the wedding.  Finally, the professor, a crusty,  seasoned newspaperman, said, “If you guys don’t think this is newsworthy, your news judgment stinks.” 

And he was right. I was reminded of this during the recent royal wedding when I watched family members almost get fanatical over it. I don’t understand it myself, but I can’t deny it. 

Jkwilliams proved it had an audience.  If I was making decisions, the Trib would have probably been broke long ago.

Edited August 10, 2018 by Calm

[Robert F. Smith]

12 hours ago, smac97 said:

A letter to the Trib's editor:

I'm of two minds on this issue.  On the one hand, I do find the Trib's coverage of Mormonism to be . . . patchy.  It does seem to go out of its way to publish stories about controversies about the Church, some of which simply don't seem to be very newsworthy.  Take, for example, Peggy Fletcher-Stack's absurd story about the anonymous woman who was deprived of a temple recommend because she wouldn't cover up while nursing the foyer, and how this led to "Mormon feminists" launching "a churchwide letter-writing campaign, urging LDS officials to issue a 'statement of support for nursing mothers.'"  I've never met Peggy Fletcher-Stack, but I was actually embarrassed for her.  She seriously submitted this for publication?  This gossippy silliness?  A letter-writing campaign about "nursing mothers" is newsworthy? 

What's next?  "This just in!  Intrepid reporter Peggy Fletcher-Stack reports that Eliza Q. McMormon of Manti was just asked by his bishop to help with an assignment at the cannery!  With only two days notice!  Outraged supporters of Eliza are creating a Facebook page urging LDS officials to issue a statement to bishops telling them that at least three days notice should be given for cannery assignments!  Return to Peggy's column in the Tribune tomorrow for further updates on this developing drama!"

On the other hand, I genuinely do want to hear news about Mormonism, and there are times when the Trib's coverage is helpful.

But in the aggregate, I think the author of the above letter has a point about the Trib needing to "go back to printing real news."

Thoughts?

-Smac

There are a lot of Gentiles in SLC who deserve to have a non-Mormon newspaper to read with their coffee, so I do feel for the letter-writer.  He is probably a very rational, nice guy who just wants to read actual state, national, and international news the same way he would expect if he were living in Kansas City.

By the way, Peggy is a very good reporter and a great asset to the Trib.  Maybe the Trib needs a weekly Church News section to cover all the rumors and innuendo which is of interest to the antis, exMormons, and such.

[Bernard Gui]

15 hours ago, smac97 said:

What's next?  "This just in!  Intrepid reporter Peggy Fletcher-Stack reports that Eliza Q. McMormon of Manti was just asked by his bishop to help with an assignment at the cannery!  With only two days notice!  Outraged supporters of Eliza are creating a Facebook page urging LDS officials to issue a statement to bishops telling them that at least three days notice should be given for cannery assignments!  Return to Peggy's column in the Tribune tomorrow for further updates on this developing drama!"

Wow! That’s actually like another item of concern for my friend S. Heber Young over in Hurricane. They had a similar complaint from the Relief Society sisters about too short notice for missionary dinners. This could indicate a serious Church-wide problem. I might have to ask him to look into it.

[Bernard Gui]

2 hours ago, Robert F. Smith said:

Maybe the Trib needs a weekly Church News section to cover all the rumors and innuendo which is of interest to the antis, exMormons, and such.

Isn’t that what the Trib already does? Ever read the comments that follow every LDS story?

[Robert F. Smith]

1 hour ago, Bernard Gui said:

Isn’t that what the Trib already does? Ever read the comments that follow every LDS story?

Yes, but I think they need a more formal section which does not anger the straight Gentiles who want real news on their front page.

[jkwilliams]

12 hours ago, Calm said:

Jkwilliams proved it had an audience.  If I was making decisions, the Trib would have probably been broke long ago.

Just call me shallow. I don't think that story belonged on the front page, but it was still a fun piece about how things haven't changed much at my alma mater. Today's Deseret News has near the top of their home page "The characters in 'The Sandlot,' ranked," which, even for an entertainment story, seems like a waste of space. Heck, even when my house was broken into and my daughter made the newspapers and the TV news in Utah, I didn't think it was a story worth reporting. No one got hurt (except the perp and the police officer who got punched), and it didn't affect anyone but us, but we got phone calls from national TV programs wanting to send a crew to Utah to interview her, which was ridiculous.

[Calm]

8 hours ago, jkwilliams said:

Just call me shallow. I don't think that story belonged on the front page, but it was still a fun piece about how things haven't changed much at my alma mater. Today's Deseret News has near the top of their home page "The characters in 'The Sandlot,' ranked," which, even for an entertainment story, seems like a waste of space. Heck, even when my house was broken into and my daughter made the newspapers and the TV news in Utah, I didn't think it was a story worth reporting. 

Ah, but caffeinated products are now available on campus, so massive change can occur.

It is much cheaper to send a crew to Utah than it is overseas.  There is enough major news in the world to fill a 24/7 news cycle, but apparently not in the US.

[strappinglad]

30 minutes ago, Calm said:

There is enough major news in the world to fill a 24/7 news cycle, but apparently not in the US.

All day every day, 45 hiccoughs and people's hair goes on fire . ( 45 is a euphemism )

[Avatar4321]

Will it backfire? Probably.

dont most attacks on the church backfire?