70 reporters, one baseball game: Nieman Lab
The Orange County Register has assigned 70 reporters to cover one baseball game. Yes, seventy.
This isn't typical sports journalism, but it isn't a typical baseball game either, according to the Orange County Register.
The Register has assigned 70—yes, seven-zero—reporters to cover the opening game of the Los Angeles Angels' season.
According to a Nieman Journalism Lab story, since the Angels signed star first-baseman Albert Pujols, fans had been "going nuts with anticipation" for the 2012 season, and the Register has responded with coverage it feels is appropriate for the hype.
As the Nieman Lab reports, the reporters will take a number of different angles:
[node:ad]A real estate reporter is doing a story about how property values around Angel Stadium have gone up. A business reporter talked to the manufacturer of Angels bobbleheads. A technology reporter interviewed the person who picks the songs and video clips that run during the game. The person who usually covers celebrity gossip filed a story about the 1870s-era baseball cards that are in a Library of Congress collection. One reporter is writing a story about an Angels fan who plans to propose to his girlfriend at the opening-night game.
As a Toronto sports fan, I can't help but think how many reporters Toronto media could have on Leafs-related stories each fall if they were to make assignments proportionate to hype. After all, the "maybe next year" approach has been taken by the team each year since 2004—the last year in which the Leafs made a playoff appearance.
But I digress—check out the entire Nieman Lab article here, where they explain more about this media mob.
