what page was AR mile on in your paper?

los angeles times page 11 under morning briefing and miscellaneous, the only way track stars get media attention is being an american who breaks a world record or wins the olymoics and even that may not ne enough, if lets say a foreigner example alex kipchircher or augustine choge ran a 346 i doubt they would be in the paper at all, except if the results of the meet were posted.

My hometown paper hasn't come out yet because it is a small weekly, so I doubt we will have coverage (town isn't even 20,000). New York Times coverage already mentioned.

The Washington Post had it on the front page because he is a local guy... big news for the area.

Richmond Times Dispatch had a blurb on the front page sending you to c9 which was the AP wire article on the 9th page of sports.

Track is not a sport that a lot of people care about so the media only covers is every 4 years with the Olympics. Do we really hear about swimmers or gymnasts very much at all? Our sport is in the same category.

Alan

AR is not a WR - why is this the talk of the day? It is just like any other country's record, German, Italian, French etc..

Selling what product? AR is not a WR. It is like any other country's record - hear that!

I would not blame USATF here. It is the job of newspapers to cover the NEWS, even when they do not know in advance that it might happen. This was a huge story from many perspectives. For example, I have not seen anyone note that this is the fastest mile run in this century (or this millenium, if you want to press the point). USA Today does a good job on this stuff because they have a track "beat" reporter (Dick Patrick) who is expert and knowledgable, and they seem somewhat clued in to the fact that among the millions of Americans who run competitively at some level, there may be just a few who would relate to, and want to read about, the emergence of genuine American stars in their sport.

Contrast this to the woe-begone New York Times. Its Sports section, particularly on Sunday, is a carry-over of "The Week in Review," full of psuedo-analytical stories about anything OTHER than what happens between the lines, and opinion columns from the likes of the inimitable Selena Roberts. It is literally unreadable by a sports fan, because there is nothing in it that (a) is of any real interest and/or (b) is not done many times better by countless other venues on the web and elsewhere. For an example of (b), consider the Times's fatuous coverage of the Duke lacrosse case.

By the way, this is meant in no way as a criticism of two fine gentleman of the Times, Frank Litsky and Bill Miller. Never have two men labored so well for such a steadily-decreasing amount of column inches.

As for Mr. Webb, this is a great achievement, and provides genuine hope that in a highly competitive and balanced field, he can win the USA's first gold in an Olympics/World's 1500M in 99 years. Hopefully, the media will wake up to this remarkable story in the making.

The coverage in the Chicago Tribune was pathetic on Sunday morning. It was on the back page of the Sports section with about 8 small lines. Here is a city that is trying to get the 2016 Summer Olympics and that's the best they can do to cover an American record in the mile? They would rather write about what the Bears are doing to get ready for training camp. Pathetic.

I was in Pittsburgh this weekend, and Myself along with a few other runners with me, were curious as to how little coverage it would get in their paper.

On the 13TH PAGE in the very bottom right hand corner a one sentence blurb appeared that basically said "Alan Webb broke the American Record in the mile in a time of 3.46.91"

PATHETIC

Pathetic!You would think that with all the hype surrounding the Oly Trials in Eugene that the newspaper would make a big deal out of a 25 year old record in an event as big as the one mile run. They did report it but it was about as close to nothing as you can get.Unacceptable.

toyo wrote:

In Eugene, Oregon's newspaper it got a small blurb on page two of the sports. On the top of The very front (section A) there was a sentence teling you to go to the sports to read it though.

Nothing in the Tulsa World, not even in the back section where they list the road race results.

I didn't watch, but was there anything about the record on ESPN or any other major news affiliate?

I remember watching Ted Koppel on "Nightline" report of Steve Scott's American Record in 1982 and also showed footage of the race.

Hard to believe. I'd be shocked today if a major news reporter mentioned a track runner.

Ed Grant (Jr) wrote:

I would not blame USATF here. It is the job of newspapers to cover the NEWS, even when they do not know in advance that it might happen.

You are an idealist.

PR is the name of the game.

Anytime something good happens to a company, the PR team gets it out there.

PR is how things get covered.

USATF did a piss poor job of PR, as usual.

Peoria Journal Star had it on page 1 of the sports section, with a small face shot of AW, and a short but complete sidebar write-up. Oddly, it is nowhere to be found on the online edition.

There was nothing at all about it in my local paper.

citius5000 wrote:so my local newspaper had webb's AR on page 4 of the sports section as a side note. how about yours? Im sure scott's record was on the front page of the sports section.

I read the online edition of The Arizona Republic (main paper in Phoenix AZ, the fifth-largest city in the country), and I haven't found a single mention of Alan Webb's achievement either on Sunday or today. I'll check out the print editions when I can get to a library.

The crime is that while the mainstream press ignores accomplishments like Webb's, every time someone gets busted for performance-enhancing drugs, it is a front page story. And in L.A., where I live, just about every time the L.A. Times writes about the Mt. Sac or Home Depot meets or track at all, they find a way to mix in the drug angle. I say at least be consistent. If you're not going to cover the sport in any meaningful way, then just leave it alone. But if are going to cover it, then present a balanced approach that highlights the positive achievements of athletes. The Webb story clearly deserved more attention, given that this record had stood since '82, and the mile in a marquee event.

Strangely, this morning in the L.A. Times, there was a long feature story about discus thrower Suzy Powell, in connection with the Pam Am Games, which, in pure track terms, is a very minor meet. Go figure.