Jeff Kuehn: It takes a community to assemble a paper

Jul 03, 2010

By: Oakland Press Sports

You spoke. We listened.
Today’s sports section is the culmination of a month-long project to engage Oakland County residents like never before in the sports news-gathering process.
As you can see from cover to cover in today’s SportsBeat, you responded to our plea to get involved in ways that went far beyond our expectations.
The formal name for what you see today is The Ben Franklin Project. Our mission, as embraced by all 18 daily newspapers in the Journal Register Company chain, was to crowdsource (engage the community in the news-gathering operation) and produce a paper free of paid proprietary tools.
What began with a townhall meeting led to a series of stories about the culture of travel/AAU/club sports in Oakland County and how they relate to high school sports as young athletes try to perfect their talents in hopes of landing a college scholarship.

JEFF KUEHN

The articles detailing what kids go through to compete at the highest level of amateur competition, the sacrifices families make in regards to time and finances, the role training facilities play, how college coaches have adapted their recruiting methods to a changing landscape and what the Michigan High School Athletic Association thinks of sports beyond the walls of member institutions would not have been possible without a spirited discussion between high school sports coordinator Keith Dunlap, myself and a half-dozen passionate readers.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton once quoted the saying, “It takes a community to raise a child.” The same can be said for an aspiring college student/athlete.
Attendees at the townhall meeting talked freely about their own experiences and/or put our writers in touch with parents, coaches, trainers and athletes involved in non-high school sanctioned athletic clubs.
In an attempt to further engage readers and following a patriotic theme that arose in the news townhall meeting attended by close to 25 people, columnist Pat Caputo reached out and asked you to select Metro Detroit’s sports heroes through a column in the paper along with pleas on Facebook and Twitter. As evidenced by his report inside, the response was fantastic.
Caputo reveals the winner and shares a sampling of written responses he received via e-mails, tweets and hand-written letters.
Detroit Lions’ beat writer Paula Pasche jumped on the call for patriotic news as did Dunlap on the high school scene. Pasche wrote a feature story on linebacker Caleb Campbell, the last pick in the 2008 NFL Draft, who played for Army. Dunlap turned a call from a reader about Novi Detroit Catholic Central’s Tony Thomas opting to play college hockey for the Air Force Academy into a story suited for today’s Independence Day edition.
Pasche also sent out requests on Facebook and Twitter for questions to ask quarterback Matthew Stafford and head coach Jim Schwartz. Both men are entering their second season and expect to see a big improvement by the team in 2010.
Pasche took the assignment a step further by reaching out and asking Lions’ fans to predict the number of games the Lions will win in 2010. The results and some of the responses can be found inside today’s section.
The landscape has changed. Our ability to reach out, communicate and interact with you on a daily basis will open doors and allow us to cover, promote and chronicle local sports in ways never before imagined.
Video, live online chats, instant feedback from readers and the ability to break news as it happens have greatly enhanced our ability to bring the news to your doorstep and/or computer. The same enhancements on our high school website, MIPrepZone.com, which contains separate pages for every high school in Oakland County, provides parents, athletes, coaches, teachers and aspiring journalists opportunities to contribute and expand the mission of promoting high school sports.
Finally, consider this an invitation to take part in the fun. When the call for the next townhall meeting goes out, when we ask for your vote regarding a future project or story, when we reach out with seminars that instruct how to submit videos, photos and articles for publication, I hope you do what Oakland County sports enthusiasts have always done and get involved.

Contact sports editor Jeff Kuehn at jeff.kuehn@oakpress.com or (248) 745-4682.

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