Can I have some help please!?!

[jumbo shrimp]

Quote[/b] (sufc_girl @ Sep. 21 2005,15:00)]Hey guys!

I was just wondering if you could help me with something. I'm doing media studies at A-Level and for one of my exams I have to do a case study and so I chose Sport and the Media.

My question is "How Southend United is presented in local news compared to national news."

So, as part of my research to get me a really good mark, I was wondering if you could just post your opinions on this question and stuff.

Thank you very much, really appreciate it.

Rachel

The bottom line is - and this is almost common sense - coverage is tailored to its audience.

The local paper will go into detail about goings-on at the club to reflect what readers want to know. Without being too partisan they're likely to present the club in the most favourible light as possible.

A national paper is more likely to conform to widely held perceptions and stereotypes about the club and will reflect the club as such. For instance reporters usually speak about Southend with a touch of disdain, whether this is because of the dilapidated stadium or the poor support, I don't know.

 

[Southendsleeper]

Local News - Complete access, stories on a daily(mon to friday) basis about the slightest thing (injuries, players/managers reactions to previous games, friendlies, reserve matches)
Stories not only on the back pages, related personal interest stories (such as the reporter/Blue Belle) means that Southend United related stories can turn up anywhere in the papers.
Immediacy, if something happens Southend related its usually in the Echo that night, it takes a while for the Nationals to catch up.

Nationals - Can be single paragraph (Sunday Mirror) or 3/4 of a page (News of the World), usually match report/managers comments and thats it, not as thorough. Players/Managers name spelt wrong sometimes. Usually only match reports, rare exception to have players linked to other club stories. Rare to have LDV matches mentioned unless its semis or final.

 

[sufc_girl]

Cheers for the help so far lads, much appreciated.

And as for what you get in return, you get the satisfaction of knowing you helped someone out today!

And in reply to your question FBM, not all A-Levels have come to this.  This is only a one part of my final grade, and I chose to do something I'm passionate about so I wouldn't get bored!

As for everyone else, keep your opinions coming, I need as many as I can get! Stuff like whether you think that there should be more coverage in national news regardless or its readership? If the local news should have more input? How good is the coverage on BBC Essex and do you think we get the mentions we deserve on channels like Five Live?

Cheers again

Rachel

 

[Xàbia Shrimper]

Quote[/b] (sufc_girl @ Sep. 21 2005,21:25)]How good is the coverage on BBC Essex and do you think we get the mentions we deserve on channels like Five Live?

We get mentions on the Costa Blanca's Coast FM on Saturday afternoons but that's only because I do a local football roundup then!

WS

 

[RobM.]

They get decent coverage in the Thurrock Yellow Advertiser.

 

[sufcintheprem]

I think that we should be in all the nationals, probably on the back page but maybe the front if we have a good win.

The problem is that most people disagree with me because most people perceive Premier$hite clubs as the only ones to support that are worth supporting and as a result, United, Arsenal and Chelsea will always get more coverage than even a 5-4 thriller at Ewood Park with the visit of Bolton (I know, Bolton scoring 4 is fantasy land!).

Hardly read the local papers and as a result almost all my information about Southend is collected via electronic media. BBC, Soccernet, The Official Site, here and the Shrimpers Online is pretty muh my hitlist after a game.

 

[OlvisIII]

To be fair - the coverage in the nationals doesn't exactly say much. The average match report consists of:

Southend 3 - 1 Tranmere

Southend took all three points yesterday. Goater scored twice and Lawson for Southend and Facey scored the consolation. Tilson was happy with the result.

The number of times I've bought a sunday rag to get a report on the game and seen something like the above. Don't they throw a dice for match ratings as well?!!

 

[Shrimper2thecore]

Pleased to help (even though i would never have asked this lot for help with my a-levels

)

As far as the local papers go, we are given good coverage.

We always have match reports and so on, and with the echo, we get daily updates, on what is going on at the club. Local papers can often look to sugar coat the truth compared to national papers. Take the Southampton game for example, the national press basically said we were terreible, run off the park, poor side, blah blah blah. I did not read the local report of the game, but i doubt it was that blunt.

National newspapers treat us unfairly in my opinion (no different to other clubs like ourselves though). Occasionally we get a small snipit of national newspapers, the telegraph more often than others from experience gives the odd southend united report in it. Even our game with Yeovil was in there.

National papers treat clubs like ourselves as (in my opinion) often as light relief for the reading sport fans. The Stan Collymore "will he wont he" issue was given more coverage nationally than out LDV final appearences.

Locally our press rteats us as the big fish in the small pond, which we are, being the best side locally. However the national press is obviously small fish in an ocean, "oh yeh southend played, o yeh and won".

So local papers give a more personal approach, like the nationals try to do with England

 

[Shrimper2thecore]

Quote[/b] (sufc_girl @ Sep. 21 2005,20:25)]Cheers for the help so far lads, much appreciated.

And as for what you get in return, you get the satisfaction of knowing you helped someone out today!

And in reply to your question FBM, not all A-Levels have come to this.  This is only a one part of my final grade, and I chose to do something I'm passionate about so I wouldn't get bored!

As for everyone else, keep your opinions coming, I need as many as I can get! Stuff like whether you think that there should be more coverage in national news regardless or its readership? If the local news should have more input? How good is the coverage on BBC Essex and do you think we get the mentions we deserve on channels like Five Live?

Cheers again

Rachel

In answer to your new questions (can thelp but feel we are writtin gthis for you!)

Of course i feel we should get more national coverage, because we are the best, but that will never happen, while we are at this level, as at the end of the day, newspapers are businesses, and if a national newspaper devoted its entire sports section to Southend United, it would find its national sales falling dramatically. Also they cant increase sports sections to please all football fans, or the sports section would be bigger than the news, and they just cant write and print tht much with the time restraints that they have.

The coverage on BBC essex is good, to the entent that they try their very best, the only downside is when they pop-off to Layer road, i mean seriously whe listening to the Southend game want to know how the U's are getting on?!?!?!!?

As for 5 live, when ever i have heard us mentioned on national radio, i have been appauled, its terrible!

Im not sure, but someone else might be able to tell you if the free suppliments that they give out in national newspapers contain League one, or anything useful about us.

 

[Technician]

I don't really have a lot to add to the previous posts, other than to say that the higher you go up the leagues, the more coverage you are likely to get from the national papers, since they have to cover more teams with the same amount of space you have to cover local news stories.

One thing I would like to point out, is that regional and national newspapers aren't providing (what I would call) specialist sports analysis in the true sense of the word, simply because they don't specialise in one field. So, it is no surprise that Barnet might only get two or three lines, whilst Bolton get a full page... they are providing a service according to where the demand is most likely to be.

Most sports fans would get their sports analysis from a sports newspaper like <span style='color:blue'>FOOTBALL FIRST</span>, where even the likes of Barnet or Grays Athletic would get a reasonable feature, even if it was just a normal game.

Hope this helps.

 

[Ulysses]

I hope this helps. I&#39;ve spent the last 10 years outside the county and during that time i found that finding information about southend was limited to the internet and my web searches. When i lived abroad (c1999) my local bar got sky and to be honest Southend had as much exposure as the other teams in the division. I don&#39;t remember seeing southend live on tv for about 10 years before the rush of games over the last 2 years but there were comments. National papers have tended to cover games more indepth depending on the opponents or occasion. I&#39;ve now returned to the UK and would like to point out the metro (the london free newspaper) did carry an article about Southends cardiff final last year it was a whole side. To be honest i think if you follow a lower league team your always gonna be stuck with the big boys getting more exposure. Best of Luck with your Course.

 

[HUTTON]

where i live, southend normally get a good back page spread in the yellow advertiser, nothing in the brentwood or billericay and wickford gazette just leyton orient and west ham. The essex enquirer as a little paragraph on the back page and more information about leyton orient and west ham for good sakes they are not even in essex.

As for nationals the news of the world and the sun with their supergoals pull out we normally have 3/4 of a pages as for the rest your lucky we get a mention

 

[Guest]

Quote[/b] (SUFCHUTTON @ Sep. 22 2005,20:24)]where i live, southend normally get a good back page spread in the yellow advertiser, nothing in the brentwood or billericay and wickford gazette just leyton orient and west ham.  The essex enquirer as a little paragraph on the back page and more information about leyton orient and west ham for good sakes they are not even in essex.

The Essex Enquirer has the same sports team as the Brentwood Gazette, hence many of the same articles (i.e. stuff on West Ham and Orient) appear and no real coverage is given to us despite people offering their services to report on the Shrimpers....

They're both a disgrace

 

[jamesmut2000]

Typical bloody student - wanting everyone else to do their work for them so they can spend more time drinking. mind you the drinking might explain the fascination with a certain short member of our squad&#33;&#33;&#33;