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Message to Kansas State fans
Editor’s note: Kellis Robinett began covering Kansas State sports for The Wichita Eagle and The Kansas City Star last Saturday.
By Kellis Robinett
Getting started on a newspaper sports beat usually means meeting many new people and getting immersed in an athletics program in a short amount of time.
This week, my first as Kansas State beat writer, has been no different. I’ve met with a lot of K-State athletic officials and coaches as I get ready for the fall sports seasons.
And yet it has been different, mostly because of a blog I used to write for on occasion.
For a five-month period ending in May, I contributed to a blog called "The Jayhawk Lounge" because I thought it would be a good way to stay in touch with some old acquaintances and write about a common interest. At the time, I was employed by the Idaho State Journal and spent my days covering Idaho State athletics, writing columns about the local sports scene and maintaining my own personal blog on the newspaper's Web site.
My work for the Journal was well read and I enjoyed the experience, but few outside the region were interested in reading about Idaho sports. My roots are in the Midwest, and when a half-dozen people I knew from college asked me to help them write about Kansas, I figured why not? I considered myself a fan and watched most of the Jayhawks games in my free time anyway, so occasionally writing about them as well didn't sound too bad.
I can't recall how many entries I made on the blog, but I did not make all of them. I created the site's domain name, but other than that it was a group effort. In its lifespan, it received approximately 6,000 hits.
By the time May rolled around, I was living in Nebraska and writing for the Omaha World-Herald on a freelance basis. I had intended to keep writing for the blog and even linked to it in my farewell column at the Journal. But after the move I didn't have time to do it anymore. So I stopped. The other authors on the blog seemed to lose their passion for the project at about the same time and the site became dormant. The blog remained online without updates through August and was taken down shortly after I was hired by The Eagle and The Star.
My editors repeatedly asked questions about the blog during the interview process. Could I stay objective while covering the Kansas State beat? Could I give up being a fan of the University of Kansas? Would I put in the extra effort to gain the trust of my new readers?
Yes, yes and yes.
My ties to KU and my brief time writing for a fan blog will have no effect on my coverage of Kansas State. My goal is to cover the Wildcats to the best of my ability and do so fairly. It is what our readers deserve and it is what I will give them.
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Good grief, take a deep breath K-State fans! Give the man a chance. Let him do a little writing and see how it goes. He apparently did a good job in Idaho. For my part, he does not have to be a fan of K-State. I just need him to provide me with good information. The idea that a writer needs to be a fan of the team he is covering is nonsense. When it's politics we gripe when a reporter is an obvious fan of this candidate over that candidate. I'd rather have a non-fan who provides good information in an unbiased way than a biased writer who isn't good at his job.
You can tell right here from the stupid comments by sKUm fans exactly what will happen. I don't care about what he wrote on some blog. I care about the school's name on his diploma. There is NO way this guy can cover KSU that will be fair or unbiased. ku grads are INCAPABLE of writing anything that doesn't glorify that flaw on the Kaw in Lawrence. The Eagle/Star doesn't WANT a K-State fan to cover the Cats. It would take away from their plan to spread their slobbering love affair with sKUm to the entire state.
I'm not surprised that the Star chose a KU fan to cover K-State sports, but I can't imagine that it could actually make the Star's coverage of K-State any worse. The Star's coverage of K-State sports has been poorly researched and had a negative slant for as long as I've read it.
It's understandable why the Star would be so partial to KU sports. Most KU fans grow up in the KC area, attend KU and move back to KC after graduating. K-State fans typically leave the state after graduation for their professional careers. If you want to sell papers and advertising in the KC market, you pander to the majority of people who live there - KU fans.
Since we're all about to become unhinged because a reporter went to a different university than the one he's covering (a rival school, no less!!), it is of the utmost importance that we know where DeArmond and McCollough went to college. This will help determine my future reading choices since I only want to read articles that are favorable to my school.
I'll hold my judgement of a writer until he shows whether he is worth his salt or not. It is rediculous to get high & mighty looking down upon a writer who us who love K-state haven't even given a chance as of yet. I read articles about Kansas State from journalists from all over the nation. I don't care if they hate or love K-state. I care whether they write well or not & are able to give me the information that I'm looking for about K-state. I have actually found that writers from other view points can give us the most honest view of our teams. So Kellis Robinett, please give us your best so that I can judge your writing for the paper, & please do not judge all K-state fans by this sad representation of our purple pride family. There is a wonderful fan base who isn't as judgemental as the presentation you have witnessed to this point. Go Cats!
I don't think it is his fault that KU has a better journalism program
Kellis, we don't blame you, its your choice to be a fan of who you want to be. Its the editor that hired you who is to blame.
There arn't any K-State fans that are going to care what you have to say or pay much attention to your writing about K-State. No matter how good you may be. Your editor would be wise to reassign you and bring in someone else to cover the KSU beat.
Unfortunatley for you, you will never be accepted as a writer covering Kansas State.
Grow up people. Good writing is good writing. Give em a chance. (but I agree, update the dang Currie picture)
What criteria are you or the KC Star/Wichita Eagle editors using to say that Mr Robinett is a GOOD writer or journalist? The fact the editors had to write this "Please give him a chance" article means he already has a big black mark on his resume as a journalist.
Hundreds of people have been laid off from these rags. Yet for this beat they go out and find this guy on the streets. What does that say about this almost bankrupt corporation?
I purchase medical services and hamburgers from University of Kansas Graduates, but these folks do not have a history of poisoning KSU. Get this guy off the KSU beat.
Kellis;
If your career as a KSU beat writer goes down in flames, how good are you at snapping pictures? Your paper needs a fresh shot of John Currie. He was introduced as the KSU AD on 5/18. Notice the pic on your website at http://www.kansascity.com/165/story/1409992.html
Any particular reason your paper is running a pic of him with a Tennessee tie and lapel pin on? What's next, a pic of you wearing a beak shirt next to your column?
You try and write off the blog as a sideline thing and that it was meaningless. Whether what you say is true or not the blog reflected your thoughts and that tells us KStaters what we can expect. However given Whitlock we already knew what to expect from the Star. So just shut up and we will get our sports elsewhere that is less biased.
Now go away.
I've read the Eagle since it was the Eagle & Beacon and the Star for 15 years. Not anymore. The Star didn't think Jason Fatlock was insulting enough spreading outright lies about Frank Martin and Michael Beasley the last few years. Now they think it's funny to force an avowed KSU hater on our fans! Never in a million years would the KU Star put a MU fan in charge of KU coverage or vice versa. You (Tom Shine, Kirk Seminoff) are giving a huge FINGER to all KSU fans and we're giving it back to you. I will get all the KSU news I want from the Topeka Capital Journal and GoPowercat.com. F U