Blogging

Came across a great piece in the Kansas City Star by Bill Reiter about blogging and its future relating to sports coverage/journalism. Check it out:

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/story/162746.html

 

Some reasons bloggers aren't journalists, as told from the bloggers themselves:

and

and

Reporters who blog are a different animal all together, their newspaper pays to blog, stay objective and are not fans.

 

From the story:

Could this be a potential solution? It gives bloggers some in-house access, but keeps them out of the way of the working press. As long as it stays that way, the plan sounds reasonable. (To me, anyway.)

 

Not a bad idea, until the fans, err, bloggers clog the lockerroom or press conferences.

 

Where do teams draw the line? At the college I cover, if they were to announce a blogger's box for football games, they'd get 92,000 applications from "bloggers."

 

i don't think drawing the line should be too tough. set aside maybe 5 seats in the press box for bloggers. you take applications. an intern looks at each site and makes sure it's not just frankie freshman blogging about his fraternity. maybe he looks at the hit count of each site. take the top 50 or so applications and draw them out of a hat.

 

Goes back to the debate on here a while ago, when the Caps blogger was trying to draw up a set of standards for his ilk. Hit count, okay, but quality should count for something, too. If said bloggers are serious about applying, they should damn well bring more to the table than, "OuR TeAm RoXoRZ!!!"

And as far as pressers and such, again - limited, or even separate, access. No locker room. Ever.
More work for the team PR staff, but if the bloggers give them a positive review, it's a win for the team, no? I'll be curious to see how well the Isles' idea works.

 

The piece in Sports Illustrated I read about the Islanders and their blogging area also said this:

"Afterward they can 'toss a few questions at a coach or players.' The rules? "All you have to do is bring your note pad and/or voice recorder. And please, passionate Islanders FANS only!"

So, they possibly could be in the locker area or presser asking questions.

 

I believe I read somewhere that bloggers would be able to speak to selected players, which I took to mean separate interview facilities for bloggers.

But if they're not, it's not the end of the world...as long as Islanders media relations enforces a reasonable standard of behavior in the interview room or the locker room and permanently bans anyone -- print, radio and TV included -- who violates it.

 

I've been at poorly monitored pressers where fans shouted out their own questions. I've been at others in which coaches played to the booster club in the back of the room, creating almost a mob mentality against any reporter who dared to ask a "negative" question. Both experiences came at Division I programs.

I feel a slippery slope under my feet ...

 

Hell, I've been at poorly monitored pressers where self-important newspaper hacks kiss the coach's ass and drown out other people's questions. I've been at poorly monitored pressers where hairspray-reeking TV hacks waste one of a precious few questions with an enigmatic player or short-fused coach with the likes of "So, what was it like out there tonight?"

A horde of fans swarming into interview rooms would be a problem. But it's not like we have a perfect Utopia at the moment, or that fans are uniquely ill-behaved.

 

I agree more than you know, but to me this is just a recipe for making things worse.