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'I Covered the Braves for a newspaper that didn't exist'

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Steak Snabler, Oct 5, 2016.

  1. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    http://deadspin.com/i-covered-the-braves-for-a-newspaper-that-didnt-exist-1787407685

    I realize it makes our profession look bad, but I'm always fascinated that people can be so brazen. In this guy's case, he didn't just do it once, but for an entire year.

    However, this happened in 2000-01, when security was not quite as tight for a number of reasons. Not sure this could happen nowadays.
     
  2. JohnHammond

    JohnHammond Well-Known Member

    Attend any professional or major college event and you'll find "real" journalists using credentials to see a game for free. Look at how many weekly publications get credentials.
     
  3. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    While that's true, those people didn't create publications out of thin air. That's what makes this story different.
     
  4. JohnHammond

    JohnHammond Well-Known Member

    Why does it make the profession look bad? It wasn't a legitimate media outlet's fault this guy gamed the system.
     
  5. MTM

    MTM Well-Known Member

    It makes the Braves look bad, not our profession.

    It appears the guy acted more professionally than some of the "real" reporters I've seen in press boxes.
     
  6. CD Boogie

    CD Boogie Well-Known Member

    Good for him. I admire the balls. "I had no idea how to work a camera, either, so any worthwhile pictures I got were pure luck. While the real photographers snapped and looked at their digital displays after each sequence, I just snapped and wound the wheel, ready for the next one."

    That's hysterical.

    "But what if the Braves called my paper? When I left for work each day, I’d change the outgoing message on my answering machine. “You’ve reached the offices of the Duluth Neighbor, please leave a message for the person you are trying to reach and they will return your call as soon as possible.” We were a small operation."

    Slick.

    Yeah, post 9/11 and the emergence of blogs like Deadspin pretty much ended this kind of shenanigans. Though it would be pretty cool to see if I could pull it off nowadays.
     
  7. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    Slick indeed. Probably the right market to pull that off in, too.
     
  8. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    I loved this part.

    I saw my friend approach Mets second baseman Edgardo Alfonzo and overheard him ask if he could ask a few questions. “No hablo ingles,” Alfonzo replied, shortly before turning and speaking English to a nearby teammate.
     
  9. expendable

    expendable Well-Known Member

    Well done on his part.

    He didn't have a job to do, but the Braves did, and it's not his fault they failed to do it.
     
  10. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    I remember a buddy of mine telling me he that when he was a kid he would often stand outside the Twins' players entrance and try to get autographs. He once asked Roy Smalley for one and Smalley said "sorry, gotta go meet my wife" and then went and got into his car and sat there reading the paper.
     
  11. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    Well, I guess his legit media buddy enabling him in the beginning makes our business look bad ...
     
  12. expendable

    expendable Well-Known Member

    A valid point, but it will likely just further those "friends" who think we can get them passes to the Super Bowl.
     
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