Comments on: An Offseason Snapshot of a Revolution's March Onward

By: Puddin_an_Semin

Puddin_an_Semin — Wed, 14 May 2008 00:44:54 +0000

I must agree just because you are in MSM doesn’t mean you are good, or that you are reliable. Same goes for bloggers. My philosophy is if something is good, you go back for more, if its not don’t waste my time! Luckily I am blessed to be a fan of a team that has several options for up to the minute information from semi-traditional MSM in Corey and Tarik to blogs like yours. Reading these sites everyday have been part of my daily routine for over a year now, if you and the others were to go away I don’t think I could make it to next season! Thanks and keep up the good work!

By: SovSport

SovSport — Tue, 13 May 2008 23:53:54 +0000

The change will happen. Like it or not. Just like record and television companies had to deal with and accept napsters and youtubes, the MSM will have to accept bloggers and work with them. Or become ones. I agree with Ted Leonsis that the future is bright for Web 2.0.

By: MulletMan

MulletMan — Tue, 13 May 2008 23:32:22 +0000

Hey, I think I resemble that remark! Either laugh at or laugh with…but at least your laughing.

By: pucksandbooks

pucksandbooks — Tue, 13 May 2008 22:57:00 +0000

Lisa, you said it better than I did in this file. And your perspective helped remind me that it’s blog humor that is perhaps one of their more underrated qualities. JP and Greg give the Comedy Centrals writers a run for their money on most days. If you’re not laughing a bit at and with a sport that trumpets mullets in middle age, you’re missing out on the party.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Tue, 13 May 2008 22:04:14 +0000

Apparently some mainstream journalists feel threatened. Hmmm, wonder why that is? Without analyzing the situation too much, I think there’s always room for quality journalism, whether it’s the print variety or blogs. However, I can say without hesitation I’ve learned more about hockey in the last year by reading OFB, Japer’s Rink, etc. than any newspaper. No knock on Tarik (I enjoy Capitals Insider) but he’s just one source of information, and a source that has to work within the constraints of a system. It’s pretty evident bloggers are able to explore a wider range of subjects which leads to even more thoughtful analysis, humor and insight about the game we love. How can that be bad? In the end, there’s a big reservoir of hockey knowledge out there so why not enjoy the range of options available to us and be happy they exist.

By: exwhaler

exwhaler — Tue, 13 May 2008 21:30:20 +0000

As a former journalist, it’s pretty clear why the traditional media would be suspicious of blogging–no editors and a general perference for speed rather than accuracy. Newspaper editors do far more than rewrite or check grammar, spelling, and style–they’re the ones primarily responsible for factchecking, avoiding the pitfalls brought on by time constraints and deadline pressure. In a perfect world, editors are the gatekeepers of ethical reporting. The problem is that the world’s confused.
Although many blogs are respectable, a large majority are not, and even many respectable ones make questionable decisions justified by the idea that “they’re blogs, not newspapers”–that they’re free from the restaints of traditional publishing. Which in turn validates the critics of blogs, like Chad.
The ethics of each blog are guided by each individual writer’s whim. While journalists do have standards for their field, much of it outlined by law, bloggers really don’t and haven’t been tested, and with the influence of blogs increasing in all areas of news coverage, journalists are seeing their ethical standards eroding because their bosses want them to compete with the instant reporting of the Internet in general. So, Dan Rather reports on the Killian documents before doing a thorough verification, ruining his reputation and career, and a St. Louis local news station airs fan reactions about Albert Pujols being named in the Mitchell Report, despite the fact that the “leaked” list had been discredited. Newspapers now rely on their websites to get the news out, printing stories that aren’t completed and that they wind up updating throughout the day, inaccuracies be damned (see: Daily News with Avery). A decade ago, those kinds of decisions would have been unthinkable. Those who have dedicated their lives to that profession despise that reality and what wrought it.
What I find depressing is that journalists are held accountable and criticized deeply for their mistakes, like the lambasting the Daily News took, but the blogging community in general goes unpoliced and unscathed for committing similar missteps. If blogs really wish to obtain the respectablity that traditional news claim to have, then blogs must be run through the same accountablity grinder, something that Eric at Off Wing has brought up time and again.
Case in point: the false steroid list reported by WNBC. The list was originally published by Deadspin the morning of the Mitchell Report’s release, and was instantly dissected by dozens of well-respected blogs, like Viva el Birdos (the main St. Louis Cardinals blog). That list was discredited within hours of its release, and the television media was raked for jumping all over it. Even though that the site that first published the list was a blog. Even though Deadspin had all the disclaimers that it wasn’t verified, it still printed the original false list and ran a bunch of players’ names through the mud for no justifiable reason.
That’s what’s changed about news reporting–print it even if we don’t know if it’s right. Just get it out there, and we’ll fix it later. And that’s what’s killing good journalism. It’s rapid rumor rather an honest probing for truth.
Blogs are becoming important, but they’re becoming important in a haphazard way that, from where I stand, is doing more to undermine thoughtful discourse and proper analysis than anything corporate media can do to deaden the discussion. This “old media v. new media” debate serves no one, and suspicions of and from both mediums need to be disgarded so that the participants can honestly acknowledge the strengths and weaknesses of each and move on toward better jounalism. Having beat reporters like Tarik and Corey help, but it’s a scattershot method.

By: Ben

Ben — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:58:52 +0000

Sorry I didn’t finish a sentence above.
“I?¢‚Ç¨‚Ñ¢m no professional, but it seems to me that building relationships with sources is the name of the game for sports journalists, and without some guarantee of objectivity GMs, players, coaches, owners, and other insiders will hesitate to cooperate.”

By: Ben

Ben — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:41:41 +0000

Why can’t both “traditional” sports journalism coexist with blogging? None of what is being blogged about is possible without the fact and quote-gathering of beat reporters and the like. I’m no professional, but it seems to me that building relationships with sources is the name of the game for sports journalists, and without some guarantee of objectivity. In the case of the beat reporter, the ethical standards and corporate ownership apply this accountability.
Doesn’t mean bloggers are incapable of demonstrating responsibility and doing a “better” job than a beat reporter. What I see happening more is journalism being stripped to its bare bones as fact-gathering sources, and the bloggers are providing a larger portion of the meat.
In case you couldn’t tell I love analogies…and that’s why I love reading blogs!

By: SpartyCuse

SpartyCuse — Tue, 13 May 2008 15:35:04 +0000

And….with regard to the “bad” bloggers, are they any worse or more damaging than the baffoons who are on the sports talk radio stations? Those morons spew stupidity and hate (not all, but many). But since they are on the air, its not as bad, right?

By: Dave's Not Here Man

Dave's Not Here Man — Tue, 13 May 2008 14:34:18 +0000

From a quality-of-coverage perspective, I’ll never understand the anti-blog sentiment. Blogging is a free source of publicity (something Leonsis understands) and gets conversations going where newspaper articles generally do not.
As you point out, Tarik & Corey have terrific blogs themselves that allow them to fill in gaps in their standard post-game articles in entertaining fashion, and sites like OFB provide additional coverage & perspectives. It all benefits the teams/sports covered, right? So good blogging should be encouraged, particularly by the teams who reap the free PR. Generally the Caps do a great job encouraging blogs, but I suppose even Caps folks occasionally bash ‘em for lack of something better to say.
Unless the comment was just a clever ploy to bring in more Caps Report listeners…