Tim Donaghy/Jayson Blair

This one is interesting, from Rich Hofmann:

http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/20070723_Rich_Hofmann___Blowing_the_whistle_NBA_NEEDS_UPFRONT_DONAGHY_INVESTIGATION.html




"But for those in the commentary business who have concluded that the NBA is on the edge of the abyss here, or that officials in all sports will see every whistle they blow and every call they make viewed through the prism of betting and fixing and Tim Donaghy, a name is offered here for comparison:

Jayson Blair.

Did Jayson Blair kill journalism?

Blair was the New York Times reporter who was caught making up all kinds of stuff a couple of years back. What followed the revelations about Blair was an overdose of angst in the journalism profession. A series of new safeguards regarding plagiarism were put in place at most papers, and some witch hunts were conducted against reporters for trivial stuff, and some other journalists got canned for good reasons, and there is every reason to believe that what you read in a newspaper today is more accurately reported than ever.

Did Blair kill journalism? Hardly. It is even possible to argue the opposite.

So it can be for the NBA, and for officials everywhere, in every sport. Baseball survived Pete Rose, right? And the Bundesliga in Germany, following a referee betting scandal, continued to set attendance records. As long as it is isolated and investigated, people will not flee."

 

What simplistic rubbish. No, the Blair scandal did not kill journalism. But it certainly ushered in a new era of micro-accountability that has since seen many journos shown the door, and tarred the business with a broad brush at a time when newspapers can least afford it. I'd also argue that the Times is still a long way from completely recovering from the Blair fiasco.

 

I think his point is that the "angst" that continues is all internal. Outside the business, among the consumers, there was no long-term effect.

 

Perhaps. No one is bigger then the game. But the Donaghy situation won't help declining TV numbers.

 

By that logic Al Sharpton has killed rap music.

 

We're in serious trouble if journalism is "dead" because of Blair....

 

In many ways, yes. Terrible comparison.

 

Was it the Bundesliga or Serie A in Italy that had a referee scandal?

 

Both

 

Did Blair kill journalism? No. But you can bet your sweet ass that he contributed greatly to the public's mistrust of the media. How many times have you had people say they don't want to talk to you because they don't want to be misquoted or some such similar reasoning? It's happened to me on several occasions.

There is most assuredly a distrust among the public for the media, one that's often fueled by people blaming the media for misquoting them or taking their comments out of context. The media has an agenda, they always say.

There aren't many people out there who have already forgotten about Jayson Blair. And I'd be willing to bet it's going to take the public just as long to forget about Tim Donaghy.

The NBA won't die because of this. But I certainly believe every questionable call, every missed call and even many good calls are going to be questioned by a leery public for a long, long time.