The launch of a database

Months came and went. Friends told of a wild project. Superiors pitched an incomplete database. Idea transformed to reality.

Finally, a project, begun in September and continually undergoing updates, launched last Thursday in the form of the “Local athletes playing sports at the university level” searchable database. Every sport at every NCAA and NAIA member institution was meticulously checked. The information comes from the athletic department Web sites of more than 1,200 universities in the three divisions of the NCAA and more than 300 NAIA universities, with other sources filling in the gaps.

A user – be it a parent, athlete, athletic director or curious fan – can search among more than 1,500 former high schools athletes from the Sacramento area playing sports at the university level. Athletes are searchable by former high school, community college, current university, sport and/or last name. The first results page includes name, university, high school, sport and position of each athlete. The more details link displays hometown, class year, major, biography link and university division.

People have already taken to it – despite its plain look and lack of useful graphics to help disseminate what’s found within. The database is the fourth most-read “story” at Sacbee.com for the month of March. I couldn’t be happier about its initial reception.

The database has already been helpful in offering color to three stories, including a list of Loretto High School athletes for a story about the effects of the school’s closure on its high school athletes, a list of men’s basketball players on teams selected for the NIT and a list of men and women on team’s selected to the NCAA basketball tournaments.

I wanted to blog about how I came up with the idea, how I found the information, how I pitched the idea and how the information can be applied as a news resource. No other Web site among the top 100 newspapers (based on page views) has anything like it. It can be duplicated with hard work and an unyielding curiosity. It also takes a lot of hometown spirit.

Let me explain what motivated me to collect this information.

When The Sacramento Bee, or McClatchy, decided to end my previous project, SacLights.com, a handful of us were absorbed into the newsroom. I was elated and disappointed at the same time. We really believed in the project. Sacramento is still without a go-to resource for nightlife. For all its flaws, SacLights.com was the best local Web site to find out what was going on around town, with more event listings than any other Web site covering the area. Still, my goal was to work in the newsroom, and maybe start writing again.

The new position brought full time status, after working as a temp and paid through an outside agency. Better pay came my way and a two-page job description for my new title of online content developer. My duties include posting daily stories, arranging stories on the front page and section front, monitoring Web site statistics, evaluating flagged comments, keeping an eye on local media and combining related stories, photos, graphics, videos and fact boxes.

Some days are slower than others and I wanted to start a project that I didn’t think anyone else would have. I thought it would be interesting to compile a list of every local athlete playing sports at the nation’s universities. I wanted to create something unique and capitalize on what newspapers do best – know the community and provide information from a local perspective. The information would benefit reporters and users. Stories could be generated and users would have a tool to play with.

What stories could you find? Is Sacramento a baseball town or a women’s soccer town? What are the powerhouse high schools? What would an all-Sacramento football team look like?

The idea had ties to a college pet project, my first foray into computer assisted reporting.

I was a part of a team of reporters and editors at The State Hornet that broke a story about hazing on the women’s soccer team at California State University, Sacramento. The Athletics Department wasn’t happy with our coverage of an unannounced investigation and our relationship soured. Media relations told our reporters they would not release player contact information. They said they had never so before, which was untrue. One reporter, working on a feature profile, was asked to conduct an interview with a softball player in the media relations office. Multiple reporters were told they couldn’t use audio recorders while conducting interviews with coaches and athletes. It didn’t help that we criticized the department by mixing audio files within the frame of a staff editorial in a groundbreaking auditorial format.

I was frustrated by the mistreatment of our reporters, many of whom had nothing to do with the hazing investigation, and I didn’t want media relations to dictate communication with players. I responded by creating a Sac State-specific database that included the name, sport, major, year, hometown, high school, e-mail address, AOL Instant Messager name, Facebook (open, private or non-existent) and the MySpace URL of all 402 athletes.

(As an aside: Parents’ names and hometowns found in media guides can be cross-referenced online for publicly available phone numbers. I didn’t get that far.)

The database information could be applied in many ways. Aside from being a resource to contact athletes through social media networks, trends emerge. Stories jump out if you know where to look. You can see where most of the recruits come from, which can be mapped at the state and city level in a comprehensive look at recruiting. Sac State is commonly referred to as a commuter school, meaning the majority of the students come from the area. The sole student from Alaska must have a compelling story. You look for similarities and rarities.

The database ended as unfinished business. Besides some use here and there, leading to a story to be told later, most of the profile and investigation potential didn’t make it to print. I wanted to do it all over again – this time for the Sacramento region.

No one asked me to make this and I still don’t think it looks as great as it could. It’s the beginning, a first draft, and I’m going to keep chipping away, making sure it’s the best resource available.

I’ll talk in my next blog about what you should do in preparation if you want to create your own version.

Link: No more public editor at The Bee

I was saddened to see news that The Sacramento Bee will no longer have a public editor, otherwise known as an ombudsman.

Read "'Sac Bee' Drops Public Editor Position -- Trend Continues" by Joe Strupp of Editor & Publisher for more information.

The ombudsman job is to provide a link from the readers to the newspaper and the newspaper to the readers. They ask why a newspaper makes certain decisions and reports the decision-making process to readers in a regular column. It is also their responsibility to criticize when a newspaper makes a poor decision.

It's sad to see the newspaper decide this position is no longer needed. Editor Melanie Sill has written a regular column about the newspaper's print and Web redesign. Maybe the publisher felt her columns provided sufficient explanation of the editorial process.

"Times have changed since the era in which many ombudsmen and public editor jobs were established," Publisher Cheryl Dell wrote in a staff memo posted on the Poynter.org Romenesko Web site. "Readers now have multiple ways to be heard within the newspaper and in the community. Bee journalists are accessible via email, and we publish their phone numbers as well."

It's a tough call. Public editor Armando Acuna will be reassigned to an assistant features editor position. I'm sure the newsroom is happy to welcome him to their department. As disappointing as it is for the newspaper to lose the public editor position, Acuna will probably do more to help the paper in his new position.

Link: Can I get a raise? No.

Jon Ortiz of The Sacramento Bee reported that employee pay is set for at least one year. No one is getting a raise.

Read "McClatchy to freeze employees' pay for a year" for more information.

The move makes a lot of sense. Although, I'm not so sure any of the employees expected a raise after so many employees were let go a couple of months ago.

Hurry up! Come with me! What are you waiting for?! Get in gear!

Alisa Zykova at the Editors Weblog posted a short story on Aug. 8 about a Philadelphia Inquirer edict to hold some stories until the articles have appeared in print first.

Read "US: Philadelphia Inquirer managing editor takes "backward" step?" for more information.

The memo can be found at Ponyter Online. Scroll down to the memos starting at Aug. 8, or search for "Philadelphia Inquirer adopts new online policy."



Managing Editor Mike Leary told his staff that the newspaper would publish some articles online first, including investigative reporting, enterprise, trend, news features and reviews.

"What that means is that we won't post those stories online until they're in print," Leary wrote.

I was surprised. Other bloggers were too.

"It’s disheartening to see a major newspaper go backward," Steve Outing wrote in a blog post titled "Don’t go backward, newspapers!".

Jeff Jarvis was far more negative in his blog post, "A stake through the heart of the has-been Inquirer".

"You are killing the paper," Jarvis wrote. "You might as well just burn the place down. You’re setting a match to it. This is insane. Even the slowest, most curmudgeonly, most backward in your dying, suffering industry would not be this stupid anymore. They know that the internet is the present and the future and the paper is the past. Protecting the past is no strategy for the future. It is suicide. It is murder. You should be ashamed of yourselves."

I had to include to the long quote. Such venom. Such passion. I love it.

Steve Yelvington was measured in his response and offered a counter-argument in his blog post, "What's wrong with the new Philly publication rule? Us and them". He wrote that by waiting for publication, a newspaper can build momentum for a story's release, "teasing" and "setting the stage," being the operative words.

Yelvington is most concerned with a publication giving priority to one medium over another.

"It's entirely possible that the print and online components might be completely different with some parts being print-only," Yelvington wrote. "But you can't do that if you regard one medium as yours and the other as theirs. And that's the real problem with the Leary's memo."

The memo scares me, yet it doesn't surprise me. I'm not sure how it will change how the newspaper operates after reading a Q&A with Executive Editor Chris Newsom at the Philadelphia Inquirer.

I think newspapers need to find appropriate publication times with all stories. I think a lot readers check out newspaper Web sites around noon and near bedtime. People seem to be more willing to sit with a longer article at these times. Holding investigative pieces wouldn't be out of step with reader trends.

I'm not so sure holding reviews is such a good idea. Then again, I'm not sure what the Philadelphia Inquirer reviews. Some reviews should be posted as soon as possible, like a television writer or a political column during campaign season. I could care less about CD reviews.

Enterprise, trend and news features can be published whenever. They often get pushed a couple of times. I don't see why one of these articles can't find life online first. If circumstances permit it, and the news environment calls for it, print it online first. Capitalize on the news environment. Don't be left looking like an ambulance chaser. Printing online can even alter the print edition, and even provide design elements by using reader comments or anecdotes.

It's common for newspapers to print stories about events at the end of the week. This isn't a problem for some, and it helps to have a snapshot of what's coming if you haven't made weekend plans. But it's a problem for people who want to plan ahead. I'm sure any of these features would be described as news features at the Philadelphia Inquirer and they may be published so late as to be considered irrelevant by some online readers.

Lost in the flurry about publication is that a newspaper needs to keep a steady steam of content coming to its the Web site. Links to daytime crime reports shouldn't bury investigative pieces. I also don't expect midnight and morning readers to care about a noon fire. Articles should be rotated appropriately on the front page. Newspapers need to get more bang for the buck. Nothing should go unread because its too hard to find on a Web site, or published too late.

I don't mind that The Sacramento Bee posts its daily stories online at midnight. I'm not bothered by it because the Web site regularly updates with other content.

On the other hand, its time consuming to check my RSS feed when the Sacramento News & Review posts its Thursday articles. I haven't clicked on the link from last week and its 52 links remain unchecked. Too much at once. I don't want to read everything at once, and, even if I bookmark some articles for later, many will go unread.

Newspapers: don't grasp at the old newspaper model. The Web is your friend. It provides a medium for more eyes than ever before. The print circulation numbers of the past are history. More papers distributed won't solve declining revenue. At the end of the day, that's what the memo was really about.

Instead, find ways to get users coming back to the Web site, and translate that Web time to increased revenue.

Thats what I'm trying to tell you, kid. It ain't there. It's been totally blown away.

I said in my first post that I would talk too much about where I work.

However, I didn't say I wouldn't talk about other people talking about my job.

Cosmo Garvin wrote a solid story about the effects of downsizing at The Sacramento Bee for the Aug. 7 issue of the Sacramento News & Review.

"The shrinking Bee - What the repackaged Bee means for local journalism" is a strong and critical piece. County government writer Ed Fletcher, water writer Matt Weiser, departing Capitol reporter Judy Lin and editor Melanie Sill are primary sources. A couple unnamed sources are used. The piece isn't the standard snarky jab; it's full of legitimate concerns.


I was surprised that Fletcher, the local union representative, was so vocal. I just didn't think current writers would be so open to speak to the other newspaper. He is worried that the newspaper won't provide the needed breadth of coverage and said some beats remain vacant. No energy writer. No health writer. Fletcher said that the newsroom has 28 fewer reporter than at this time last year. This number likely doesn't count the many student assistants and interns that no longer exist in the various departments. Sports clerks, news clerks and features interns were not replaced when the students left for other jobs or graduated from college.

I can't say much about the print redesign or the upcoming online redesign. I don't feel informed enough to comment. But I am worried about the quality of newspapers. The cuts seem to keep on coming, jobs openings are rare.

(I'm not claiming I know about more cuts within the newspaper. I don't. I just worry that they will. I mean to say that they keep coming as a comment about the industry as a whole. The summer has been rough.)

I think newspapers are pushing writers to work harder to meet the demands of a 24-hour news cycle. I worry about a breaking point. I worry about writers burning out. Writers have left The Bee and haven't been replaced. Journalists get paid squat, so reporters do the job because they love their beats and they like their coworkers. When journalism becomes more of a job than a passion, reporters look at the pay and say, "I can get paid better to do a job elsewhere."

Exit: Lisa Heyamoto. Stage: Europe.

“There’s increasing pressure to grind even harder. It used to be that you were asked to do a story by the end of the day,” Fletcher told SN&R. “Now we’re writing a draft for the Web, then maybe another draft for the Web, then writing a story by the end of the day.”

The multi-level story approach is a good idea, if implemented correctly. But I agree with Fletcher's point. The pressure is rising and the workers are stressing.

There's a line from The Dark Knight that keeps popping in my mind when I read about the newspaper industry:

"It's always darkest before the dawn."

I hope so.

On the horizon: I'm collecting a week's run of The Bee and will analyze the charges with daily blog posts, one issue per day with a full analysis at the end.