The Knoxville Article Controversy

[Killer Lite]

I know, I know, it's been a while since I last posted. I'm a bad lil' girl. Anyway, here's a quick one with the promise of a longer post later. Seriously. I promise.

Anyway, many of you are aware of the uproar over the article written about the Hard Knox Roller Girls in the Knoxville paper, The Metro Pulse. For those who have not had the chance to read it, read it now. Be sure to read the comments, as they are extensive, thought-provoking, and have given me a renewed sense of love for roller girls worldwide.

Here is one of my favorites, from Anita Patron (Little City Roller Girls, Johnson City, TN):

"I don't skate to the point of nausea every week in practice to get better at tripping, clawing, kicking, and punching. I didn't spend hours studying the rules so I could pass a test to skate in a bout just so I could go out and break them for the satisfaction of my violent tendencies and end up thrown out of the bout. I didn't dye my hair the color of my derby uniform because I am so psyched about some parody of a cyclical pseudo-sport that only works on the outre edge. I didn't spend all of my extra cash on a joke. I DO like to hit women very very hard and would be the first one to buy them a round at the after party. I DO like showing off my gorgeous body that stays in great shape because of roller derby. I DO insist on being called a woman but proudly answer to "hey, roller girl!"."

Very well said. If you feel the need to weigh in, registration at the Metro Pulse site is free.

More later!

[Craig]

I could explain how a web site gets income partly by people visiting their site and then clicking on the sponsor links, which is generates business for the sponsors. The idea is to hook the reader and get them to check a few sponsors while they are reading. I know several people who work for various web sites (hell even blogger.com operates on the same idea) and they all say the same thing, more views means more money.

As far as bashing derby, which I never said that incidentally, it got us all reading so maybe that was part of the idea. Whether they were trying to or not, they came up with a good way to generate new readers and thus potential income (I would have never read any Knoxville newspaper if it weren't for this.)

Now I have exhausted myself explaining this so I am now done with it.

[Grand Poobah]

Metro Pulse is an alt-weekly newspaper.

The local derby community and fan-base is just another small part of its readership.

How would they be "cashing in" by bashing something a sub-set of their readership seems to enjoy? They'd more likely be cashing in by saying nicer things about an advertiser, no?

[Craig]

There is a definite possiblity to "cash in" by claiming that their web site/newspaper is in the know and "derby-friendly". The idea would be, in theory, that word-of-mouth gets around that Metro Pulse is hip to derby so they will get more visits to the web site, thus generating more ad revenues. I know a lot of derby folks (myself included) who are more open to buying and/or reading something if it in some way features derby so this would be misleading as being a web site/newspaper that is affiliated in any way, shape or form to derby. This is just my opinion though.

[Jondi Soper]

As a journalist, when I read this a few weeks ago I was appalled at the lack of research this writer did. In face, I started skating on a roller derby team BECAUSE of all the research I did for an article I wrote for our local newspaper. I attended practices of both teams in our city, I attended a bout for each team, I talked to the coaches, I talked to the players, I checked out the rules on the WFTDA site and in the end, I ended up with a pretty good, well-researched article AND a desire to join a team!

When I read this article, I actually e-mailed his editor and told him how awful I think it was that this writer got away with not doing any prior research before writing the article and that if that was the kind of journalism they allow their writers to produce then I was amazed they are still in business at all.

[Grand Poobah]

It wasn't an article, per se. It was text that accompanied some pictures a photog for the weekly who was there. The writer wasn't there, and kind of pulled the descriptions out of his ass.

It probably wasn't an attempt to "cash in" (seriously, there's no money in roller derby, unless you own a rink, an airline or a derby gear shop). They weren't writing a story on the bout. They were running a photo essay. He got the job of putting a story to the pictures. He did some bad guesswork. And got a fair bit snarky while he was doing it. That's what alt-weeklies are kind of all about. Though usually they save their snarkiness for big business, organized religion, and the gov't.

[CoCo Sparx]

That was a really, really awful article.

[Craig]

Cleary the author of this article got wind of the impending release of Whip It and tried to cash in on it in advnace so they could claim they were "in the know" about the sport prior to the movie. I read it as someone who read a few derby-related posts and saw a few clips on Yuotube and figured they had the sport nailed. So much for journalistic integrity.

[Father Time]

Wow. Very insulting. I wish the reporter would spend some time with the teams.