Weaver: Evolving media landscape expands Thunderjags coverage in 2012
Guess who’s back –
Not Domonic Tilford but wouldn’t that be a charm? No, I’m something a little less fulfilling but just as provocative — or at least, that’s what I hope.
My name is Matt Weaver and you may remember me as the former sports editor of some student newspaper at the corner of Old Shell and University, and I’m here to alter the face of Thunderjags and South Alabama reporting. Kind of like the President of the United States, CM Punk and that cute bank teller, I’m here to offer change.
That’s no disrespect to Brian and everyone else who has legitimized Thunderjags over the years. That’s a large part of why I’m here. I just want to see if I can take this little slice of the internet and be a part of something special and ultimately revolutionary.
So here’s the deal. The media landscape at South Alabama is much different than what it was the last time I wrote about Jaguar athletics — the end of the 2011-12 basketball season.
The Mobile Press Register fired over half of their newsroom including long-time South Alabama beat reporters Kim Shugart and Cassandra McAboy — professional friends of mine. So while it saddens me to write that, it definitely opens up the possibility that a new form of journalism can arrive and thrive at Ladd-Peebles, the Mitchell Center, Stanky Field and wherever South Alabama athletes compete. While blogging is a relative accepted art form in 2012, it hasn’t yet taken root at South Alabama.
We at Thunderjags expect to change that.
We hope to be more interactive with the fans. We plan to site courtside in the student section and provide live feedback to the webpage following every game, providing live content that no one else cares to acquire or devote appropriate time to. When it comes to college athletics, we endeavor that Thunderjags can and will become the top reporting body on all things red, white and blue. The current media landscape gives us that opportunity and we’re going to take it.
This is just the beginning and we hope that you guys provide us a lot of feedback. For example, what sort of content are you not receiving and what kind would like us to provide? Consider yourself our boss. You can opine by either dropping a comment in the appropriate section below or giving us a note on Twitter @USAThunderjags.
Let’s rock.