Critiquing Joey Knight

[BullyPulpit]

1 minute ago, BrassBulls12 said:

My issue with JK has always been his interest in pointing out negative things, like attendance, and gloss over any positive things. I don’t have examples, but there have been times when I thought “that could have been written differently and it wouldn’t have seemed so negative”. You would think the beat writer for a school would take those steps to bring positivity to the program 

His response to that is that he isn't a "cheerleader" for USF. In a sense, that is correct. His job as a journalist is to be objective in the subject that he is covering. However, I would contend that the need for completely objectivity can be relaxed a bit when you are a beat writer for a local university athletic department. You are writing pieces targeted at a fan base. It is markedly different than covering local politics or general news stories. We don't need Bianchi-esque enthusiasm, but something in between would be nice. To me, Greg Auman was and remains the gold standard for beat writer coverage. 

[NewEnglandBull]

You guys have no idea what negative journalism is. Snarky? Smart comments? Please! You are judging his writing based on Twitter comments? Please. The #1 issue people have is attendance and this gets people upset as you don’t want everyone knowing our dirty little secret. In terms of Greg Auman I have seen him jump all over USF fans for questioning a comment that Joey made. If Joey is gone do you think the paper is going to replace him? Unlikely. Instead we will be reading generic AP news and getting pissed off from an occasional T. jones column.

Edited June 19, 2018 by NewEnglandBull

[Bull Dozer]

5 minutes ago, NewEnglandBull said:

You guys have no idea what negative journalism is. Snarky? Smart comments? Please! You are judging his writing based on Twitter comments? Please. The #1 issue people have is attendance and this gets people upset as you don’t want everyone knowing our dirty little secret. In terms of Greg Auman I have seen him jump all over USF fans for questioning a comment that Joey made. If Joey is gone do you think the paper is going to replace him? Unlikely. Instead we will be reading generic AP news and getting pissed off from an occasional T. jones column.

In 2018 a HUGE part of the beat writer's job is their interactions with customers via twitter/social media platforms.  You can marginalize that if you want but every major industry has realized this and you can see it by how hard major corporations try to be "cool" on social media, and especially on twitter.  That stuff is probably almost as important as your actual product these days.   Joey never misses an opportunity to throw in a dig or backhanded compliment on social media as well as in his actual content.   He very rarely breaks any news and is often behind somebody else's reporting whether its TDS, Rivals, 247, or other more traditional competitors.    Outside of maybe 1-2 pieces a year Joey has very little OC, which is unacceptable considering how little USF content is actually out there in the grand scheme of things.   I don't think Joey is the devil spawn that some here think he is but he's definitely unhappy and disengaged with his job and his work and interactions with his customers show that.  To your last point, I'd probably barely notice his absence if he moved and the position wasn't filled.  

[NewEnglandBull]

3 minutes ago, Bull Dozer said:

In 2018 a HUGE part of the beat writer's job is their interactions with customers via twitter/social media platforms.  You can marginalize that if you want but every major industry has realized this and you can see it by how hard major corporations try to be "cool" on social media, and especially on twitter.  That stuff is probably almost as important as your actual product these days.   Joey never misses an opportunity to throw in a dig or backhanded compliment on social media as well as in his actual content.   He very rarely breaks any news and is often behind somebody else's reporting whether its TDS, Rivals, 247, or other more traditional competitors.    Outside of maybe 1-2 pieces a year Joey has very little OC, which is unacceptable considering how little USF content is actually out there in the grand scheme of things.   I don't think Joey is the devil spawn that some here think he is but he's definitely unhappy and disengaged with his job and his work and interactions with his customers show that.  To your last point, I'd probably barely notice his absence if he moved and the position wasn't filled.  

If he does throw in a negative comment it’s probably for the same reason you mention about social media...to get comments and hits to his post. In terms of breaking stories I would submit for most of the “big” issues he has been right there. Also remember the paper has him covering more than USF (baseball, CFB), so yeah he is not going to be on top of “ever” development that occurs like Greg did...remember we are no longer in a BcS conference and if Greg was hear today he would not get ever breaking USF story as he too would be busy with other sports/teams. In terms of missing Joey if he was gone, I find that hard to believe. Check out Cincy’s site, they piss and moan because they have no beat writer. 

[Bull Dozer]

27 minutes ago, NewEnglandBull said:

If he does throw in a negative comment it’s probably for the same reason you mention about social media...to get comments and hits to his post. In terms of breaking stories I would submit for most of the “big” issues he has been right there. Also remember the paper has him covering more than USF (baseball, CFB), so yeah he is not going to be on top of “ever” development that occurs like Greg did...remember we are no longer in a BcS conference and if Greg was hear today he would not get ever breaking USF story as he too would be busy with other sports/teams. In terms of missing Joey if he was gone, I find that hard to believe. Check out Cincy’s site, they piss and moan because they have no beat writer. 

There's a difference between "roasting" twitter user or rival brand and what Joey does.  One is obviously exaggerated and what Joey does is outright petulant and insulting to his readers.  If he's trying to take the smart ass route that say Wendy's has done with their twitter account where they cutesy roast people and brands he needs to stop because he's not clever enough to pull it off without coming across negatively.  Not everyone is a comedian, and if that is Joey's goal he needs to realize that's not in his wheel house.

 As for the "he covers other stuff too"  that's great but it wouldn't kill him to do some more player profile stuff, get in touch with the staff and see if he can get updates about strength and conditioning this off season, maybe see if he can get an off season interview with a coach about the team in general or their position group etc.  These are low effort things that Greg did in the past an other USF media presences have the creativity to do.  When i look at the lack of that stuff consistently and his inability to break any news at all it tells me has weak relationships with the staff.  That's indeed something you need to develop and nurture and his out put tells me those relationships, it's obvious in the content.  If he can't be the breaking news guy he could at least give us creative and original content and not just write the same story somebody else did about breaking news or a recycled player profile etc.   

Edited June 19, 2018 by Bull Dozer

[BDYZR]

43 minutes ago, NewEnglandBull said:

If he does throw in a negative comment it’s probably for the same reason you mention about social media...to get comments and hits to his post.

This, Tom Jones, and the Times in general is exactly the reason I don not subscribe to ANY of their services.

Maybe, just maybe, if so much of their writing did not lean more to negativity and slighting USF  at seemingly every opportunity, attitudes would change. Like my mamma always told me, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." 

[lotsofbull99]

Just face it, Joey Knight stands in the way of "The Make USF BCS Again." agenda.

[lotsofbull99]

If you're going to keep Joey Knight around, you might as well hire Brandon Helwig.

[Azmodi]

Many here are missing one point. It's not just JK. It's the Times and media outlets combined. They've all swallowed ESPN's garbage hook, line and sinker. They reiterate the same putrid garbage daily. It's the fans who need to hold them to a certain standard. 

I did my internship with the Times. It was the St. Petersburg Times back then. On sports Friday's you saw their alegences. I was the only one wearing USF gear back then and I got the old Big Least jears at every turn.

Edited June 19, 2018 by Azmodi

[George_Bullnard_Shaw]

On 10/17/2017 at 10:18 PM, Mama_Bull said:

 

If he feels compelled to continue to report actual attendance then he should at the SAME time mention that no other schools report actual attendance and that USF is not doing anything out of the ordinary.

 

 

 

That seems the minimum he should do to be an ethical journalist.