Sports Field Guide

Do computer-generated stories hurt or help sports coverage?

You know you’re being controversial when someone in the audience accuses you of aligning with Skynet, the robotic force that nearly destroys the world in the movie “Terminator.”

But that was the case in St. Louis this morning here at the Mid-American Press Institute sports conference.

Challenging assumptions is never easy. Erik Smelser, who essentially directs online prep coverage for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Suburban Journals, knows that better than most. Smelser is an employee of Lee Enterprise’s company, The St. Louis Sports Agency, that oversees STLhighschoolsports.com. Lee also owns both the Post-Dispatch and the Suburban Journals. As director, Smelser is breaking with many traditional journalism practices. For example, he tells reporters that nothing’s more important than generating audience. He tells reporters that they will be evaluated each week based upon page views, byline counts, and multimedia posts. Smelser also relies heavily on a computer program that generates game stories based upon information submitted by coaches or stringers. That’s the statement that prompted a sports writer to blurt out: “Have you ever seen the Terminator?”

But let’s consider some of these ideas. At first, it seems absurd to allow a computer program to generate game stories. In reality, these game briefs are formulaic like the following – an athlete scored a number of points, drove in several runs or scored numerous touchdowns to lead a team to a victory. Then, you cite the team records and information that really offer stats in prose.

Some nights, I used to feel robotic knocking out these briefs, concerned that I may have repeated the exact same phrases or words in more than one story. These stories require very little thought or creativity. Smelser says several hundred schools may play a variety of sports in a single day, a schedule that would overload his staff – no matter how much caffeine he fed his staff. This computer program allows them to handle every single game. Sometimes, the staff adds information to selected game stories, padding them with quotes, stats, context – an act that is rewarded in Smelser’s evaluations.

“Think of this program as getting rid of writer’s block,” Smelser said. “This was all scary for the staff at the beginning. But they’ve learned this [program] has eliminated some the drudgery of writing those short stories.”

Here’s an important point to consider as well – these computer-generated stories do not replace reporters.

Byline counts are also important to Smelser, a standard that can be used to inspire lazy reporters (but which can also yield lazy, superficial reporting.) Reporters at the Suburban Journal’s high school site are evaluated based upon byline counts, readership numbers for posted stories, and number of blog entries.

Getting more content and readers is essential for the business of journalism. A friend of mine who manages at another newspaper asked me during a break – are newspapers about service or business? Both, really. Advertisers want page loads. And newspapers want revenue.

Reporters no longer select each game they cover. Instead, they must pitch games to the online editor, something that requires research to find compelling storylines and drama. “What’s missing from a lot of sports reporting is context,” Smelser said. “Is a player a conference leader or a college prospect?” He wants reporters to report more than the plays on the field or court.

Smelser jokes that he does not know whether this approach has been successful. The Suburban Journal’s prep website, which could not attract ads at first, now has a six-figure sponsor, a local cable station, and generates ads that are worth several times this figure, Smelser says. At its busiest, the site has more than 600,000 page loads a week. “I’d like to have time to evaluate all of these stats,” he said.

Right now, we’re all struggling to find ways to keep journalism afloat. That means eliminating assumptions, changing habits, and trying new approaches. That’s what they seem to be doing at the Suburban Journal.

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