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WaPo story on web "journalists" recruiting

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Bristol Whipped, Aug 25, 2009.

  1. Flying Headbutt

    Flying Headbutt Moderator Staff Member

    Prisbell and Yanda have been doing some really good stuff on the AAU circuit this summer. This is just the latest angle of it. The whole series has been very interesting though -- probably the best stuff the sports section has put out in several months. Heck, in my mind Prisbell has been the star of the section this year.
     
  2. Mighty_Wingman

    Mighty_Wingman Active Member

    Well said. I don't work for a Web site, but I'm getting quite sick of the way so many folks around here have this Luddite knee-jerk anti-Web response to anything involving new media. There's plenty of schadenfreude to go around, guys.
     
  3. Inky_Wretch

    Inky_Wretch Well-Known Member

    At some point, the NCAA will investigate a recruiting writer, likely in the SEC, for being a de facto recruiter for the school he covers.

    A local kid was being recruited by an SEC school. Naturally, we did several stories on the kid throughout his high school career. During his senior season, he was asked which coach called him the most. His reply was "Coach (name of Rivals recruiting writer), I talk to him almost every night."
     
  4. share24

    share24 Member

    Yeah, that likely will happen. At least we know no professional journalist ever set a precedence for that action:

    http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jan/29/sports/sp-recruiting29

     
  5. JayFarrar

    JayFarrar Well-Known Member

    Apples and oranges in regards to what the Times did and what recruiting writers do every day.
    Bolch's story went into some detail on how sleazy recruiting is by offering scholarships to lesser teammates of star high school players.
    It wasn't arranged by the UW coaches, the reporter went with the coach and the players.
    http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jan/28/sports/sp-recruiting-football28

    Until you see some of the recruiting writers in action — school logo shirts and hats while covering games and events — constant pimping of prospects until the commit to another program. Using the column/story as a vehicle to bash prospects who have committed or signed elsewhere.
    It is actually pretty sickening, at least from a journalism standpoint.

    It is new media, but it is not journalism or a new form of journalism. It is PR disguised as journalism and if you work in the business, you should be bothered by it.
     
  6. Mighty_Wingman

    Mighty_Wingman Active Member

    Yeah, but this loathsome and unprofessional behavior has been around a lot longer than the Internet.

    [​IMG]
     
  7. share24

    share24 Member

    Jay, it isn't apples to oranges. The reporter was in a situation he shouldn't have been in, and that the coaches didn't immediately end the meeting could imply that the reporter was invited by the coaches.

    And if wearing team gear is what bothers you, it's not just the team sites doing it. I string for a local paper and cover a lot of high school games in the area. I've seen plenty of "professionals" wearing the gear of the big state school....and fawning over that school's big-time prospect playing in the game.

    There are bad apples in every industry. To categorize all recruiting/team site ("fanboy") writers in the same category is wrong. You wouldn't want to be categorized by some of your peers, I'm sure.
     
  8. SockPuppet

    SockPuppet Active Member

    I'm sure this scenario is too "out there" but ...

    Let's say a stud bkb recruit has a blog. Let's say he writes about all the contact he is having with different coaches. Is the player a member of the media because he has a blog?

    I guess my point is that the line between what "is" and "isn't" journalism/media has become too damn blurred.
     
  9. share24

    share24 Member

    Here's a situation that isn't out there, it happens.

    What about newspapers inviting high school prospects to blog a daily/weekly/monthly diary?

    The player has not yet signed a letter of intent but the local media (either in the kid's hometown or in the city where the college he committed to is located) promotes the kid as an XYZ University commitment.

    Are those newspapers now fanboys? Or is that situation OK because the newspaper isn't "recruiting" him to XYZ University, they only are benefiting from his commitment by promoting XYZ University future stud blogging for Metro Daily News?
     
  10. GlenQuagmire

    GlenQuagmire Active Member

    No, in that case the newspaper beat guys aren't fanboys. Nothing homerish about reporting a commitment as long as you didn't try to convince him to go to the school. Nothing wrong with that recruit doing a blog for the newspaper.

    This reminds me of the recruiting web site guy that cover the same school I do. Guy shows up to practice and games wearing the school's shirts and hats, high-fives the players and coaches, openly admits that he is a homer and donates most of the profits to the school's athletic department.

    Then he loves to rip me on his message board when I write stories that aren't "positive" (player suspension/dismissal, NCAA rule violations, etc.) or report something that contradicts what he says.
     
  11. OnTheRiver

    OnTheRiver Active Member

    Shit, one of our local TV guys does this.
     
  12. share24

    share24 Member

    How about newspaper guys posing for photos with the players they cover after a game? Is that appropriate?

    There are examples of poor ethics and professionalism throughout the media.
     
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