SMG interviews Rick Maese ...

Whoa, whoa, whoa...I hear what you're saying but you're presuming that a kid with no local experience who's probably gonna stay five years tops is "best product." I think a lot of newspapers have clip blinders on.

 

Then there are places that promote medium-level writers to columnists when a higher-profile columnist leaves, allowing the hiring of a younger (cheaper) writer lower on the masthead. For that position, doesn't talent have to be the location-location-location?

 

Regards the Rivals and Scout issue. A lot of these people are painted with the same, wide brush. And it's being done here. I'll admit, my son is one of those guys who work for Rivals. And he does a heck of a lot more than call kids on the phone.

The point that internet writers are in bed with coaches is true in some cases. But it is just as true that some newspaper writers are in bed with coaches. I've worked side by side with some of them, and they've carried more pom pons to the office than most of the internet guys.

I think the Baltimore columnist is making a vast generalization on the internet people. Not journalists. My son is a trained journalist. He was in broadcasting as well before coming to his senses and taking an opportunity to be his own boss and largely set his own hours and paying his own way.

How many newspaper reporters - like me - would pay their own way to cover events and depend on the take-home pay to come via the interest of people deciding month by month to pay for that product?

Before we call for the NCAA to regulate the internet sites, let's call for them to apply the same interest to the relationships between coaches and newspaper and TV reporters.

 

Can your son provide the "Code of Conduct" or "Set of Ethics" for Rivals or Scout?
It's a rhetorical question.
I've seen a panel discuss their practices. They're not held to the same ethical standards.
There is no recourse for the offended. That's the proposal before the NCAA. To have a set of standards in place in which a perceived breech can be investigated and righted.
An anecdote had one player phoned at home 81 times in one day. With Caller ID and phone records for proof. That's not serving anyone.
There has to be a middle ground. Finding the footing is tricky.

 

A couple of thoughts ...

--- No, sorry, I've covered Div. I sports in two major and two mid-major conferences and pom pon-waving newspaper beat writers are the exception, while homer Rivals and Scout guys are absolutely the norm. Are there exceptions on both sides to that rule? Sure, but the Scout and Rivals business models are BUILT on being in bed with the program, i.e. selling recruiting information that, in most cases, can only be acquired and built on with the behind-the-scenes assistance of the coaching staff.

--- Scout and Rivals provide a massive amount of college sports content, much of it as good - or better, in some cases - than the beat writers who cover the same teams, but both companies do an absolute minimum of actual journalism. Journalism, by nature, involves being skeptical of, and critical of, the people you cover. I have never seen either of the Rivals sites I've competed with, both of which are extremely successful, publish a single critical word on the programs they cover.

--- If you son is working for one of these companies and paying his own way to events, then he's making a huge mistake. I'm sorry, but he is. That's not dedication or passion, that's being taken advantage of by a multi-million dollar corporation and/or the people who own the Rivals franchise he works for.

 

Jersey Guy is dead on.

My anecdote involves my cousin, a big time recruit 4 years ago. Rivals reporter called him 7 or 8 times in a 2-hour span the day he was supposed to announce his college decision - 8 days before national signing day. My cousin finally asked him to stop calling. Fine, he did. But another reporter from the SAME office picked up where he left off and called a few times shortly after. He chalked it up to a competing coach checking in and pleading with that regional rivals office to get the info from my cousin ASAP so the coach could ascertain whether or not he had to get working another recruit hard at that position.

 

--- "Journalism, by nature, involves being skeptical of, and critical of, the people you cover."

Hmmm.
And here I thought my job was to tell the truth.
Thanks for the lesson.

 

Your job is to tell the truth.

But journalism - as practiced by any newspaper, website or broadcast outfit that wants to truly meet that definition - is going to also involve being skeptical of, and critical of, the people you cover.

 

My history might be wrong, but I didn't think SIDs made a habit of issuing credentials to web only guys unless they were, like, AOL or cbssportsline. wouldn't you have to pay your way in at that point?