Saints shut out local TV station

[KD in CA]

Since when is sections and rows that are being removed from the stadium, that still have season ticket holders, a minute detail?

When you're talking about a couple dozen seats one way or the other in a stadium that holds 73,000. The basic details of the project and impacted areas were well known for a long time. It might not even be possible to know every single seat that will be impacted until the work is done. Is every individual who loses their seat really major news?

 

being in new orleans, and a season ticket holder -- WWL is the one that i feel is out of line here.

 

Its one thing to do a story, its another to parade a new member of the "missing 1200" on TV every night for 2 weeks. The thing is, the renovation was planned, it was relatively known what sections and rows would be effected (maybe not 100% but within a matter of a row or two) for years. Bensel could/should have toned it down a notch, but there is a reason he referred to it as a mini-series. When nothing is changing day to day, it doesnt need daily coverage. Regardless of if the reporter was offended YOU DONT PUBLISH THE EMAILS. He burned the bridge to try to get page views RIGHT NOW. He totally neglected the idea of building a long term relationship. If I had to worry about him doing a "gotcha" story every time he stumbled across a nugget, I wouldnt invite him in either. He has every right to be critical of the saints, but at the same time -- if you want to work hand in hand with the organization you have to show a certain level of respect too.

Thanks for the local perspective. Sounds like another ego driven reporter who decided to make himself the big story and is now upset that he has to pay the price.

[Paup 1995MVP]

The media was being completely unreasonable. How dare they ask the Saints to clarify the exact information so they could get it out to their readers. The Saints are World Champions and their scatological leavings are no longer odorous.

 

Grow up, Saints media department. You're being !@#$ing tools.

The Saints are tools to the media and the fans? Who cares, they won a Super Bowl for those same fans. That is all that should matter. The media always seem to feel that they run everything. Bill Parcells and Mike Ditka were ready to beat up any reporter who questioned any of their decisions. And I thought that was pretty hilarious. The media plays WAY to big a role in sports today. Good for the Saints to put them in their place.

[Chilly]

When every one of those people recieved a phone call from the saints. When the story broke weeks ago with those calls going out. It wouldve been easy to just answer the question but at the same time, anyone effected had been notified, for anyone outside those sections, the exact row number is a minute detail.

 

Except that if you go look at Saints forums, not all of those season ticket holders actually got called or got the message. There are some openly complaining about it.

[Chilly]

When you're talking about a couple dozen seats one way or the other in a stadium that holds 73,000. The basic details of the project and impacted areas were well known for a long time. It might not even be possible to know every single seat that will be impacted until the work is done. Is every individual who loses their seat really major news?

 

Is anything that is on local news major news? That argument comes down to what you define as "major", which means it's a silly argument over semantics. If I'm running a story on the construction, I would want to publish the seats that it's affecting. Given that the Saints apparently have known for a while which sections and rows would be affected, it shouldn't be hard to let the news know so they could publish it.

[NoSaint]

There wasn't daily coverage. It was *one* question. Singular. The guy didn't get an answer which sounds a lot like some of the people who have season tickets.

 

 

Yes this was one reporter asking, but the news here has been doing stories quite often. The people have even been given a name: the "missing 1200" or something like that. Its getting a little old honestly. WWL also has its website, and radio station running their own stories. This was not a one-time, 5 minute thing on the news, the stories have been running since the calls went out, starting out daily, now you still see them on and off through the week. Its beginning to be overkill -- the seats are not going to re-appear, so how many human interest pieces can be done on the subject? If they were trying to put together a simple factual report about what is happening, then his response would be total overkill, but they have been walking anyone they can find in front of the camera to cry about how the saints have forgotten about them, which is a little extreme too.

 

I think there have been a few alterations to the exact row numbers as the plan progresses, and this is likely part of why the saints want to handle the issue internally instead of making a mass announcement that it is rows x, y, and z -- In case you might have to slide forward or back a row based on construction needs. I believe that what happened with people finding out from the news before the saints was likely that information being leaked and reported before the saints had time to call people, hence some of the frustration you see on the message boards.

 

 

 

I understand why the displaced are upset, i would be too, but its the nature of the beast -- to keep the team, they had to agree to renovate the dome in a way that would bring a superbowl (among a host of other things). In one year more then 3000 seats will be added, and the displaced will be given first rights to those seats.

[Malazan]

Yes this was one reporter asking, but the news here has been doing stories quite often. The people have even been given a name: the "missing 1200" or something like that.

 

The reporter did exactly what he should. Imagine if during the Bills Coach search if people listed their sources. Did he burn a bridge with a source? Probably, but if more journalists reported the news instead of sucking up to sources then we'd have a much more reliable media.

 

It doesn't matter if every person in NO asks the question, that is what you do as a PR department. Could this reporter be part of the sensationalism of the situation? Sure. However, he asked a question, stated his reason and did not receive a response. He did his job and asked again. Politely.

 

The PR guy failed in his job. If this has such over coverage then it's likely it would have been another voice in the wind. Now it's a story that's a two page thread on a Buffalo Bills message board.

[NoSaint]

The reporter did exactly what he should. Imagine if during the Bills Coach search if people listed their sources. Did he burn a bridge with a source? Probably, but if more journalists reported the news instead of sucking up to sources then we'd have a much more reliable media.

 

It doesn't matter if every person in NO asks the question, that is what you do as a PR department. Could this reporter be part of the sensationalism of the situation? Sure. However, he asked a question, stated his reason and did not receive a response. He did his job and asked again. Politely.

 

The PR guy failed in his job. If this has such over coverage then it's likely it would have been another voice in the wind. Now it's a story that's a two page thread on a Buffalo Bills message board.

 

I agree, it was a knee jerk reaction that probably had more to do with some other reporters story. Who knows, maybe this reporter had other stories that upset bensel. Regardless, he went to far. To publish the emails is not just too far, Its the type of thing that can kill a relationship that is based on give and take. Sometimes you let something small like exact row numbers (which doesn't really matter) slide in return for priveledged access later....