Homerism a cancer to our industry?

I moved this over from a comment I made on a jobs thread regarding an opening in Lincoln, Neb., that read like something written by a Husker fan.

I am amazed at the number of people in this trade who feel like you've got to be adversarial to be objective in our business.

First, you are writing as a voice of the fan, or an extension of them. What I mean is they are reading what you see from a fan's perspective, so you better be able to articulate that. And besides, how many fans out there don't have a love/hate relationship with their teams? If they suck, they expect you to say that. If they win, they'll know it by how you write.

Chances are, we were sports fans before we were writers.

Look at Jim Reeves' seemingly homerish column today in the Fort Worth Star Telegram on the Dallas-Seattle game and tell me there's something wrong

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/sports/columnists/jim_reeves/16404522.htm

 

Don't be adversarial, but at the same time, don't be ready to do their laundry, jump into bed with them and become their new best friend.

In other words, do your job. Don't be a fan who feels the need to opine on and defend everything.

 

Big difference there. You can do that without being like many of the broadcast people who are "owned" by the teams now. Big difference.

I didn't think the job ad blared that kind of homerism anyway. It's kind of stupid to think a paper in Lincoln, Neb., wouldn't have an allegiance of sorts to Nebraska football.

 

Any newspaper that would run an ad saying "Go Huskers" is not a newspaper I would want to work for.

Period.

 

every paper has some sort of "homerish" slant to it. whether it's jim reeves declaring his love for the rangers or tcu in the star-telegram or dan lebtard defending ricky williams and u of miami for just about anything, it's always going to be there. i'm not saying everyone pulls out the pom-poms, but it's something to do with staying local.

 

It's one thing for a columnist to write it in the paper. It's a whole 'nother thing for the advertisement to read "Go Huskers."

 

I thought this thread was about fat, lazy employees with a love for donuts. D'oh!

 

I really didn't expect to see defenses about allegiance to the home team here.

IJAG said all that really needed to be said.

 

I'm sorry. I don't agree with this premise at all.

"First, you are writing as a voice of the fan, or an extension of them."

Um, no. My reporters shouldn't and won't take this line. That isn't their job. Their job is to report the news as objectively as possible. Columnists, that's different beast. Their parameters are different. And, you don't have to be adversarial to do any of it.
If they are fans of the game, fine. They are not fans of the team. Of course, they write from the home team's perspective. But, one has to recognize the difference.
And it comes out in the writing. A "homer" piece feels it belongs on a team website. The other feels it came from a journalist.
I don't think it's that fine of a line.

 

I think the problem here is HR wrote the ad, and HR doesn't know what the fuck happens in the newsroom.

This has been excused by the industry, and it shouldn't be. If the HR people can't write the ads properly, then they shouldn't be writing them.

Same with the B.S. about not responding to the places the ads say to because it's HR. Either put the editor's information or something resembling it in the ad, or don't run the ad.

 

I second that.
I worked at one place where H.R. was called "Hiring and Development."
After a few rounds of layoffs, we changed their sign over their door:

FIRING AND
REDEPLOYMENT