Exactly this. I’ve said this before, but it is 100% true. Minneapolis radio station was interviewing a former sports writer for the Star Tribune. A question was asked about writing articles for head coaching vacancies. The writer said the editor would come in, say you need to list 5 people. 1 must be a national brand name, 1 must be a local person, and pick 3 that you think would make sense.
These writers have ZERO knowledge of who actually will be the new coach; editors give them a framework and make them write something so people can be drawn to their paper/site
I won't call crap on this. How could I?
For some years I worked as a sports journalist in Iowa, covered many Iowa games as a feature writer, not game reporter. Also, happy to say I reported on ISU football, too. Had a lot of fun.
I have never heard about a situation where such a thing has happened as the poster states occurred at the STrib. I am NOT saying it did not happen. I AM saying I was startled when I read this post.
If it happened at the STrib, it did not happen everywhere. I worked in a sports department where staffers worked their asses off to report what they discovered.