The 250 sports editors in the audience looked at me as though I’d lost my newspaper mind. For them, there truly is no such thing as “too much” when it comes to coverage of LeBron.
I was there to tell them differently.
The Associated Press Sports Editors annual conference in Dallas recently concluded with a panel discussion, “When Is the Coverage Too Much?” I represented the only nonsports perspective in the room.
For the sports journalists, every bit of their training, every moment of their experience, every part of their instinct tells them that the story of LeBron James is enormous, possibly the biggest of their lifetime. As a representative of a Cleveland newspaper said, careers can be made from a story like this.
My 30 years of newspaper experience tell me the same thing. But I also know what many readers have been saying.
I told the audience that some readers object strongly to sports on the front page, especially when they see world events taking a lower priority. I held up the front page from Feb. 2, the day after the space shuttle disaster. Then I held up the front page from Feb. 1, the day after the state high school sports authority pulled LeBron off the court because of “Jerseygate.” The headlines were equally prominent.
I told them that Akron is a proud, working-class city, with many people who don’t approve of a high school kid getting mega-millions before achieving anything of significance, especially when his mother was living in subsidized housing.
I read from some of my e-mails: “The LeBeacon Journal sports section has become an abomination.” “This is getting absolutely ridiculous. Enough already.” “What you are doing with LaBron James is one of the most disgusting things I have ever been exposed to.”
I told them of the calls with heavy racial overtones, both for and against the obsessive coverage. I silenced the room by quoting this phone message: “Take that black bastard off the front page.” Offensive? Absolutely, I told them. One of a kind? Not in the least.
After an hour and a half of lively discussion, panel moderator Gene Policinski summed up the general view: “Coverage of a story like this can never be too much. With each new phenom, the bar gets raised.”
Policinski once was the sports editor at USA Today and in that capacity launched the first national ranking of high school teams. “People have me to blame for that.”
What’s next? Policinski suggested the ultimate reality show — a cable channel devoted entirely to LeBron, 24/7. He wasn’t kidding.
LeBron was the focus of the Akron Beacon Journal’s June 27 special section — 40 pages of action photos. This followed six days of illustrations, which, when taped together, gave readers an almost life-size poster of LeBron. Years ago a Chicago newspaper did the same thing with Michael Jordan.
I received a smattering of complaints about the latest LeBron obsession, though not nearly as many as when he dominates the front page.
On July 4, the paper published a 28-page special section — “Salute to our Troops” — that included more than 700 photos of area men and women in the military. Metro Editor David Hertz called many of the families while checking the facts. “Some were on the verge of tears,” he recalled. “Most ended the conversation by thanking me for this salute to those in the military.”
Readers reacted favorably. A Silver Lake reader addressed her thank-you card with the credit box from the section, which listed the 22 people involved in the project. “A salute to the Beacon Journal,” wrote Kathryn Hunter. “This is what the Fourth of July should be all about. Let freedom ring.”
No one called to complain about this section, not surprising in today’s climate of patriotism and nationalistic fervor.
This special section followed a two-page salute on April 20, and both efforts were in addition to the daily “Answering the Call” military feature that ran for weeks. Despite what some readers perceive, the number of locally produced stories related to the Iraq war has exceeded the number of stories devoted to LeBron. The disparity was even greater when comparing front-page presence.
However, sometimes the marketplace can be revealing. The LeBron section contained 70 ads, covering about 20 of the 40 pages. The advertising department called it a huge success. The Salute section contained three ads, covering just over one page.
On eBay, the asking price for the LeBron section is $4.99 and the suggested bid for the six-panel poster is $19.99. The “Salute to our Troops” section isn’t listed anywhere.
When is the coverage too much? When it comes to LeBron-mania, apparently there really is no such thing.
