Lehigh Valley Live Drops Lafayette/Patriot League Coverage

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Quietly, the Express-Times/Lehigh Valley Live group has dropped Lafayette and Patriot League sports coverage. In light of this fact, the need for a Lafayette Football Nation could not be greater.


https://lehighfootballnation.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-need-for-lafayette-football-nation.html

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

This is very sad! Lafayette is a long standing Division 1 athletic program. They deserve consistent, positive press in the Lehigh Valley and East Central New Jersey.

[RichH2]

Surprising choice by that publication. Puzzling but more than that sad. For their fans as well as the PL. Perhaps a commentary about current state of PL.

[dgtw]

Surprising choice by that publication. Puzzling but more than that sad. For their fans as well as the PL. Perhaps a commentary about current state of PL.

Probably more a comment on the current state of newspapers.


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[Neighbor2]

I my mind, both Lafayette and the Patriot League share a good part of the blame. Same, of course, for Lehigh's own lack of effort to promote their own brand. Yes, the traditional newspaper business is failing big time. There are VERY few local reporters involved anymore. To save money, many papers just reprint national AP (and others) stories. They are MORE than willing to run press release material from others, unchanged. Particularly, if the message fits their agenda.

Sadly, if a football player robs a bank in Easton, there will be PAGES of Lafayette coverage. Simply football . . not so much beyond a final score.

In any event, regular football news and promotion requires a special effort by the SCHOOL. Each school must do the work the newspaper once did. It helps if the school is a regular paid advertiser, by the way. I don't know how much work the league, or any of its member schools put into this. Probably not much. Social media has taken over. Newspapers are pretty much ignored by anyone under the age of 50.

[CHIP72]

Probably more a comment on the current state of newspapers.

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I think this is it.

Is the Express even printed in Easton anymore?

EDIT: It should be noted the Harrisburg Patriot-News, which has some degree of common website ownership with the Easton Express-Times (the former has its web content on PennLive.com), stopped printing on a daily basis about 3-4 years ago. The Patriot-News was about the 5th largest daily newspaper in Pennsylvania too, behind the Philadelphia Inquirer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Philadelphia Daily News, and Allentown Morning Call.

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[ngineer]

I think this is it.

Is the Express even printed in Easton anymore?

EDIT: It should be noted the Harrisburg Patriot-News, which has some degree of common website ownership with the Easton Express-Times (the former has its web content on PennLive.com), stopped printing on a daily basis about 3-4 years ago. The Patriot-News was about the 5th largest daily newspaper in Pennsylvania too, behind the Philadelphia Inquirer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Philadelphia Daily News, and Allentown Morning Call.

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The "E-T" is now printed somewhere over in the Newark, N.J. area. The only decent thing about the E-T was it's sports section. In ways, it was better than the The Morning Call. Problem is they have a New Joysey focus, so half the paper is irrelevant to me from a local standpoint.

[Bill]

The "E-T" is now printed somewhere over in the Newark, N.J. area. The only decent thing about the E-T was it's sports section. In ways, it was better than the The Morning Call. Problem is they have a New Joysey focus, so half the paper is irrelevant to me from a local standpoint.

ngineer,
Remember, the only people who pronounce NJ that way are from NY - perhaps Staten Island. And I agree, the E/T had a fantastic local sports section. It's too bad most of those fell by the wayside...as did the concept of the local newspaper.

[bonarae]

Meanwhile...

Are the Southern newspapers that cover the local FCS teams better off at the moment? It seems to me that there will be a time that the only local sources of small school information are from: subscription-based insider websites (that may cover a specific area e.g. Big Green Alert), student newspapers, or dedicated website / media teams with a small-school focus (think D3Sports.com network for the D-III community at large.)

[aust42]

ngineer,
Remember, the only people who pronounce NJ that way are from NY - perhaps Staten Island. And I agree, the E/T had a fantastic local sports section. It's too bad most of those fell by the wayside...as did the concept of the local newspaper.

As a NJ native it always annoyed me that people not from NJ think people from NJ have a Long Island accent. It probably didn't help that we had NY native Tom Kean as Gov. for 8 years back in the 80's.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yUsnESf3Ug

[Franks Tanks]

The "E-T" is now printed somewhere over in the Newark, N.J. area. The only decent thing about the E-T was it's sports section. In ways, it was better than the The Morning Call. Problem is they have a New Joysey focus, so half the paper is irrelevant to me from a local standpoint.


Agree, the E-T is now total garbage. Brad Wilson and the sports section were better than the E-T deserves, but now that's gone as well it appears.

The E-T appears to have about a half dozen full time writers at this point total, and is about a half step above one of those free community papers full of ads. There is no investigative journalism done at the E-T. Most local stories are reports on car accidents and school board meetings..important stuff in many cases, but they just report surface level stuff. The rest of the articles is local stuff that was in the Morning Call 2 days ago, and columns picked up from Penn Live or NJ.com.

[DFW HOYA]

The E-T is own by Advance Publications, which has been gutting newspapers for a while. Maybe they arrived later in Easton then they did elsewhere.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/inside-the-massacre-at-the-newark-star-ledger-the-paper-that-makes-chris-christie-squirm

[Franks Tanks]

It's been on a slow decline for years, but they've had some additional lay offs recently that have made a noticeable difference.

[walliver]

Meanwhile...

Are the Southern newspapers that cover the local FCS teams better off at the moment? It seems to me that there will be a time that the only local sources of small school information are from: subscription-based insider websites (that may cover a specific area e.g. Big Green Alert), student newspapers, or dedicated website / media teams with a small-school focus (think D3Sports.com network for the D-III community at large.)

Wofford has excellent coverage from Todd Shanesy of the Spartanburg Herald-Journal, and the Citadel has excellent coverage from Todd Hartsell of the Post and Courier in Charleston. Both reporters provide significant coverage in print, online, and on Twitter.

[Serpentor]

As a NJ native it always annoyed me that people not from NJ think people from NJ have a Long Island accent. It probably didn't help that we had NY native Tom Kean as Gov. for 8 years back in the 80's.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yUsnESf3Ug

I just always assume people from Jersey sound like Jay and Silent Bob.

[kdinva]

Wofford has excellent coverage from Todd Shanesy of the Spartanburg Herald-Journal, and the Citadel has excellent coverage from JEFF Hartsell of the Post and Courier in Charleston. Both reporters provide significant coverage in print, online, and on Twitter.

...and UTC gets very good coverage, too, from Mr. Henley......WCU deserves more....(not like UNCA has football...).

The Roanoke Times does VMI good......until the leaves start to turn and the losses continue..... xarguex

[bulldog10jw]

The NH Register laid off the Yale football beat writer a couple of years ago and don't even send anyone on the road to cover games, except maybe the Harvard game.

The blog hasn't been updated since the spring of 2016.

All resources go into covering UConn sports now.

[Sader87]

The Wisstahh Telegram still covahs HC sports but nowhere to the extent it once did. The Boston Globe and Herald barely know Holy Cross exists.

[DFW HOYA]

The NH Register laid off the Yale football beat writer a couple of years ago and don't even send anyone on the road to cover games, except maybe the Harvard game.


The Washington Post not only skips Georgetown road games, it skips home games. Associated Press reports are the only coverage.

[bonarae]

Well... frankly speaking, the Northeast FCS schools don't have much coverage as it used to. I believe my earlier reply may become true in the region. But in the South and Midwest and Intermountain West, it's still not that of an issue.... xcoffeex

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[ngineer]

As a NJ native it always annoyed me that people not from NJ think people from NJ have a Long Island accent. It probably didn't help that we had NY native Tom Kean as Gov. for 8 years back in the 80's.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yUsnESf3Ug

Mr. "Puuuurfect Together"????

[dgtw]

Meanwhile...

Are the Southern newspapers that cover the local FCS teams better off at the moment? It seems to me that there will be a time that the only local sources of small school information are from: subscription-based insider websites (that may cover a specific area e.g. Big Green Alert), student newspapers, or dedicated website / media teams with a small-school focus (think D3Sports.com network for the D-III community at large.)

The paper in Birmingham, Alabama used to do a good job covering FCS. Their main focus was, of course, Alabama and Auburn, but the smaller guys got plenty of attention. They had one guy who’s assigned beat was what they called “state schools”. Basically, it was FCS and DII schools in the state.

He did a really good job. He would write an article or two a week about a game or a player of interest. He even had a weekly column where he would spotlight an issue relevant to the lower levels and talk about upcoming games. On Saturdays he would cover a game or even two if the timing was right.

Sadly, his coverage was dropped and now their coverage is limited to an article written by someone looking at stats and a press release. The paper also only publishes three days a week now. The overall quality of the paper in general (and sports in particular) is not worth paying for.


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[kdinva]

The paper in Birmingham, Alabama used to do a good job covering FCS. Their main focus was, of course, Alabama and Auburn, but the smaller guys got plenty of attention. They had one guy who’s assigned beat was what they called “state schools”. Basically, it was FCS and DII schools in the state.

He did a really good job. He would write an article or two a week about a game or a player of interest. He even had a weekly column where he would spotlight an issue relevant to the lower levels and talk about upcoming games. On Saturdays he would cover a game or even two if the timing was right.

Sadly, his coverage was dropped and now their coverage is limited to an article written by someone looking at stats and a press release.

the website "al.com" is strictly Alabama and Auburn......Troy and UAB get a sniff.....the FCS teams there get 1/2 a sniff..... xsmhx

[Pards Rule]

Mr. "Puuuurfect Together"????

Recall that his original victory wasnt called until just before Thanksgiving as the final margin was a mere 1800 votes in Nov. 1981 over Rep. Jim Florio. Florio won in 1989 as Kean was term limited and beat Rep. Jim Courter handily. He lost a close re-election to Somerset County Freeholder Christie Whitman by 25,000 votes in 1993. She had a surprisingly close re-election by the same amount against a no-name state Senator and Woodbridge, NJ Mayor Jim McGreevey who won four years later over Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler (who Christie later FIRED as his Education Secretary), but had to resign due to a gay sex issue with an Israeli national who he had appointed state homeland security chief. Dick Codey, Essex County state Senator, became Acting Governor.

- - - Updated - - -


The E-T is own by Advance Publications, which has been gutting newspapers for a while. Maybe they arrived later in Easton then they did elsewhere.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/inside-the-massacre-at-the-newark-star-ledger-the-paper-that-makes-chris-christie-squirm

Should be renamed Retreat Communications??

[dgtw]

the website "al.com" is strictly Alabama and Auburn......Troy and UAB get a sniff.....the FCS teams there get 1/2 a sniff..... xsmhx

I follow them on Facebook. I don’t know what is on their website, but their football posts on Facebook is just about all Bama and Auburn. UAB does get a decent amount of coverage but other than that there is nothing.


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