We don’t often re-post the well-made points at other blogs, but with the Caps’ owner’s latest, we want it shared with our readers in full:
“Of course press rooms and player access should be made available to bloggers! Bloggers are passionate fans. They are very knowledgeable and have a growing audience. They bottle up interactivity and they know how to utilize the new medium. Bloggers are showing up higher and higher in search engines and on search results pages. They point back and forth to one another. They dive deep into subjects and are very capable of building next generation businesses. They are a medium and they are helping to build a new one that is fast growing instead of shrinking. They are journalists who are self policed. If they do bad work, they won’t be pointed to by other bloggers and they will fall out of the search engine results pages. The NHL needs all of the coverage and audience we can generate. Our audience is the most wired of all the pro sports. We need to be looking at the creation of next generation networks and deliver content to fans in a manner they are comfortable with and in a voice that relates to the new consumer.
Eric at Off Wing Opinion developed a Bloggers Bill of rights. I am asking him to summarize it on his site so that we can nip this kind of talk in the bud.”
Addendum: As if putting an exclamation point on Mr. Leonsis’ defense, Mike Vogel in his latest Dump and Chase offering points out “There were at least as many representatives from local hockey blogs as local newspapers in attendance on Monday when the Caps introduced Nicklas Backstrom to the local media.”
3 Comments
There are good bloggers and bad bloggers, just like there are good MSM journalists and bad MSM journalists. (Sturgeon’s Law)
The interesting thing in the whole argument is the very strong hostility shown by the MSM toward their electronic counterparts.
The resistance of the newspaper boys to bloggers in the press boxes and dressing rooms is that of any entrenched interest group when faced with real competition for the first time. They resist change because they aren’t a part of it and don’t seem to benefit from it. Stuck in an ongoing decline in readership and clout, the newspaper boys are clinging to their last bits of exclusivity.
The point of the debate is this: the point of hockey blogs is the exact same of the newspaper sports sections. Provide information and opinions about a team that readers have an interest in, and do so with accuracy and competence. Nothing more, nothing less. Their styles are different, their traditions are different, but blogging and traditional reporting have the exact same goal.
Provide the people the sports content they want to read, and do so in a reliable, entertaining manner. Blogs have shown the ability to do so. I’m glad Mr. Leonsis has led the charge to embrace the future of sports media.
I think a blogger will just need to build his or her credibility over time as dedication will show in the blog. Has to be some vetting process.
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