About 30 articles have been written so far by local, regional, state, national, and international media (print, internet, radio, and TV) about the upcoming relocation of SPICE (Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence) from Texas Tech University to Webster University. A lot more are coming.
So the question of the week is why does the media decide to cover some chess stories and not others? What is the reason? What is your take?
Here are just some samples: http://www.websterchess.blogspot.com
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Simply put: It is all about Politics.
Everything in the world can be related to politics. Not only in chess, but even if you are a medical doctor who discovered some new medicine, media will not cover your discovery unless the doctor belongs to a certain Nation, Group, or breed.
The media loves chess and they love the underdog.
As we say in Media.
The “Hook” is everything. Then you just reel em in.
The problem is I guess not enough of the news media knows anything about chess…otherwise it would be as big as any other sport.
You’re making a positive impact Susan…and there needs to be more. But its slowly getting better. Of course it does not help to have bungling Chess Feds all over the world embarrasing the sport.
There are just as many heart wrenching..gut wrenching stories in Chess as there are in any other sport. It’s simply a matter of someone punching it through. Maybe me..ahha..
sensationalism.
They cover the stories they think will have the widest appeal. In the USA, chess has not been covered widely since the Fischer era. Perhaps if Naka gets to the top five we will see some, but chess is not “sexy” to the mass media. That just shows what they know….
Of course the USCF is the only one which doesn’t cover this or publish the press release. They did with the other university.
To above..I think the USCF does what it can whith what it has.
In my experience with them ..they’re a decent Federation and youre lucky to have them. You should see the mess we have here in Canada…It’s almost criminal.
Ok..they drop the ball once in a while…(when crazys come in with goofy ideas) but it’s a decent group. And I should know cause I deal with em all the time. Americans are lucky to have such a decent Chess Federation. (It’s really easy to piss on a fire….but it’s much harder to start one.)
I think the picture of Susan underscores the reason…
That is ‘the hook’ or ‘the angle’.
Hi Susan Polgar,
Susan’s popularity,popularizing chess through media – Good for chess board game overall.
By
Venky [ India – Chennai ]