Mandarins - Here We Go Again

[IllianaLancerContra]

16 hours ago, keystone3ply said:

I was going to post something funny but found this video.  Lori with "The White Rabbit" talking about the original story from "The Morning Call".  
She starts with "can you guys know how to keep a beat?"  Then she pronounces "YEA", (Youth Education in the Arts) as "Yeah".  "Yeah" etc...  
If you missed it like me , enjoy:

 

 Ewe
 

 

[Tim K]

19 hours ago, N.E. Brigand said:

I find the reporting on the Mandarins thus far to be unsatisfactory, yes. There are basic facts we don't know, and others we only know because of social media posts or from statements by the corps.

And in general, drum corps reporting is terrible. I don't mean that as disparagement of the work of any of the part-time or amateur journalists who work for Drum Corps World. I mean that, as I described generally, there's far too little of it. If a high school sports team fired an assistant coach following allegations of mistreatment, or let go another coach with a terse, foreboding statement, the local paper would cover it. Or at least that's how things used to be. The Mandarins have many more players than your average high school sports team.

(Not sure about the 2018 date you reference.)

Just to clarify one point: Most, if not all writers for “Drum Corps World” are volunteer. There may be a few who have journalist credentials, at least two who do some semi-professional writing, but most staff writers know the activity, enjoy writing, and see it as a way to promote the activity.  Chances are by the time DCW arrives in people’s inboxes, they already know the the scores and news of the activity. DCW gives a certain perspective about shows, recalls historical events, and is an enjoyable read, but it’s purpose is not to be the watchdog of drum corps. 

Regarding why local papers do not do enough investigative reporting on drum corps is the sad reality of news today. Local journalism really does not exist anymore. In many local papers, the only fresh and original coverage would be sports, maybe some town or city government issues, but little else. Coverage of high school sports and school events can sell papers. Parents and grandparents still enjoy seeing their little ones in the paper, that’s about it. People don’t even buy for the obits anymore. All you need to do is go online to the local funeral homes and you find an obituary with ease. If Mandarins had local staff members and local marching members, the story might pick up traction. If it rose to the level of GH and the accusations made against him, it might merit attention too, but a local organization that has staff and members from out of town wouldn’t be considered local news.

[Jeff Ream]

19 hours ago, N.E. Brigand said:

I find the reporting on the Mandarins thus far to be unsatisfactory, yes. There are basic facts we don't know, and others we only know because of social media posts or from statements by the corps.

And in general, drum corps reporting is terrible. I don't mean that as disparagement of the work of any of the part-time or amateur journalists who work for Drum Corps World. I mean that, as I described generally, there's far too little of it. If a high school sports team fired an assistant coach following allegations of mistreatment, or let go another coach with a terse, foreboding statement, the local paper would cover it. Or at least that's how things used to be. The Mandarins have many more players than your average high school sports team.

(Not sure about the 2018 date you reference.)

hiya, occasional Drum Corps World writer here. and...we get zero compensation. In fact few of us are what you would consider bona fide journalists in your puritanical view of what the world should be. We are enthusiasts. We're not there to cover the super hard hitting stories, 90% of us write short stories or show reviews. Also, in general DCW likes to stay away from some topics due to liability issues....print the wrong things, and boom, DCW is sued out of existence. Steve isn't living in a castle from what he makes doing this, in fact he often has worked other jobs.

 

Not only that, but per Ike, a lot of things that have been made public are the kinds of things even main stream papers may want to avoid without a real journalist like Tricia doing the story, vetting, corroborating etc. The last time i did a show review, it took 4 days around real life to get it done and sent in for publication. It's not like DCW staff is sitting around all day digging and phone calling and emailing for scoop. In fact no drum corps publication has ever been like that nor do they generate enough revenue to pay people to do that.

 

the most i got for all the years I did stuff for Steve was access to his block of tickets at DCA ( i still paid for the seats) and a free lunch in Indy on Friday in 2010...and the biggest thing i took away from that gathering was stories from a now deceased former Pioneer volunteer that we should have paid more attention then and not wait for it to blow up in 2018

Edited August 28, 2020 by Jeff Ream

[N.E. Brigand]

1 hour ago, Tim K said:

Just to clarify one point: Most, if not all writers for “Drum Corps World” are volunteer. There may be a few who have journalist credentials, at least two who do some semi-professional writing, but most staff writers know the activity, enjoy writing, and see it as a way to promote the activity.  Chances are by the time DCW arrives in people’s inboxes, they already know the the scores and news of the activity. DCW gives a certain perspective about shows, recalls historical events, and is an enjoyable read, but it’s purpose is not to be the watchdog of drum corps.

Thanks. Again, they're great at what they do! And I very much appreciate them for it.

[N.E. Brigand]

1 hour ago, Jeff Ream said:

hiya, occasional Drum Corps World writer here. and...we get zero compensation. In fact few of us are what you would consider bona fide journalists in your puritanical view of what the world should be. We are enthusiasts. We're not there to cover the super hard hitting stories, 90% of us write short stories or show reviews. Also, in general DCW likes to stay away from some topics due to liability issues....print the wrong things, and boom, DCW is sued out of existence. Steve isn't living in a castle from what he makes doing this, in fact he often has worked other jobs.

 

Not only that, but per Ike, a lot of things that have been made public are the kinds of things even main stream papers may want to avoid without a real journalist like Tricia doing the story, vetting, corroborating etc. The last time i did a show review, it took 4 days around real life to get it done and sent in for publication. It's not like DCW staff is sitting around all day digging and phone calling and emailing for scoop. In fact no drum corps publication has ever been like that nor do they generate enough revenue to pay people to do that.

 

the most i got for all the years I did stuff for Steve was access to his block of tickets at DCA ( i still paid for the seats) and a free lunch in Indy on Friday in 2010...and the biggest thing i took away from that gathering was stories from a now deceased former Pioneer volunteer that we should have paid more attention then and not wait for it to blow up in 2018

Thanks for your work. I love the DCW reports! And I'm not really expecting them to do controverisal work. (I also have the two history of drum corps books, to which you contributed a chapter. But your picture there gave no hint as to how tall you were, which surprised me when we met.)

And everything you're saying about not everyone in even "hard hitting" writers like Tricia Nadolny, not to mention what Tim points out, ties right back to my off-topic post: the biggest single problem with journalism is that there isn't nearly enough of it.

[IllianaLancerContra]

Apparently the Brass caption Head (Tim Snyder) at Mandarins has resigned,; here is link

Some of the comments on Reddit suggest this is not related to other things going on at Mandarins.

 

Edited August 28, 2020 by IllianaLancerContra
further clarification and pontificating

[Jeff Ream]

1 hour ago, N.E. Brigand said:

Thanks for your work. I love the DCW reports! And I'm not really expecting them to do controverisal work. (I also have the two history of drum corps books, to which you contributed a chapter. But your picture there gave no hint as to how tall you were, which surprised me when we met.)

And everything you're saying about not everyone in even "hard hitting" writers like Tricia Nadolny, not to mention what Tim points out, ties right back to my off-topic post: the biggest single problem with journalism is that there isn't nearly enough of it.

which has little to do with this.

 

and as an FYI Tim Snyder publicly announced his resignation as brass caption head today

[E3D]

5 minutes ago, Jeff Ream said:

which has little to do with this.

 

and as an FYI Tim Snyder publicly announced his resignation as brass caption head today

Umm ok. 

See post above your own. 

Edited August 28, 2020 by E3D

[Jeff Ream]

5 minutes ago, E3D said:

Umm ok. 

See post above your own. 

it hadn't hit when i started to reply.

[Ghost]

10 minutes ago, E3D said:

Umm ok.  See post above your own. 

 

4 minutes ago, Jeff Ream said:

it hadn't hit when i started to reply.

Someone's system is slow since there's 26 minutes between posts.