Coverage in Mercury/Chronicle

Holy Toledo, the biggest game of the year and the Merc buries the article on the high school sports page, with the bigger article going to Los Gatos defeating St. Francis in football! I would think the fact that over 20,000 tickets have been sold to tonight's game v. the Galaxy would justify a higher profile coverage. On the other hand the SF Chron had an article on page 2 AND an article on college soccer highlighting the SCU Broncos Womens' Team as well. I wish there was SOME consistency in the coverage. It is so arbitary . . . I'm writing the Merc once again and hope some others will continue to put pressure on the local press to give FAIR coverage. I don't expect GOOD coverage, just FAIR coverage. Hell, there was a bigger article on the Sharks exhibition game. What is up with that?

 

Here is the e-mail just sent to dylan hernandez (dhernandez@sjmercury) of the mercury:


I know it is not with you I have a "bone to pick". But please forward this to your editor (the weenie who does not have his/her e-mail listed in sports section). It is hard to believe or stomach the fact that with a 20,000 plus crowd on hand to see the Quakes win the division, that they bury your article on page 9D. The space is smaller than that for the Los Gatos h.s. football game and the meaningless Sharks exhibition. What a joke. The San Francisco Chronicle actually gave better coverage to the game! I'm not one for conspiracy theories, but I can't believe how much the mainstream media
consciously marginalizes the "world game" except at World Cup time. Please ask your editor to give the Earthquakes FAIR coverage reflecting the magnitude of the time of the season (finale for division championship and playoff time). I am a subscriber from Daly City, CA. (i think they take it more seriously if you put your name, where you live, and if you are a subscriber to newspaper)

 

Here is the response I received from Mr. Hernandez. No wonder the Merc sports page is screwed up:

Your message has been forwarded. Thank you for writing in.

Currently, our sports editor is working in the entertainment section as a
classical music writer. So if you have any comments in the future, please
send them to sports@sjmercury.com. Our assistant editors always check that
account, so they'll be sure to see it.

Again, thank you.

Best/Dylan

 

I have written positive letters on occasion, but soccer writers are changed like toilet rolls. They are not around long enough so that letters positive or negative have much impact. I've been at this for years. And no I really do not care too much about the after the fact coverage. I was at the game and do not need to read about it. The problem with the media in general is that they do not make a commitment to soccer with assigned personnel who know the game and report on it on a consistent basis. Every year it is a different person. One year Ann Killian reported. One year it was Dave Payne. And this year it's Dylan Hernandez. Who knows who the Merc will have reporting it next year. If you remember last year, the Mercury did not even send a reporter to the third Miami game (the one that sent the Quakes to the MLS Final. They absolutely do not cover the league at all, and do a half-assed job on the Earthquakes. The casual fan learns nothing of the MLS and little analysis on the Earthquakes. The SF Chronicle had a good soccer writer named Dan Geisin, but they reassigned him to the Sunday magazine I think. I read Soccer America myself. Oh yea, I'm just full of compliments for the sports editors who ignore soccer. I don't blame the writers because many times
they write good articles only to see them edited down to a "glass of milk" and relegated to the outskirts of the paper. I'm just a little bitter after all of these years . . .