What happens in Vegas gets pulled from ESPN.com

If he had any journalistic cred at all, he would have quit on the spot instead of going along with that bullshit press release.

But this way he might still get to hang out with the beautiful people and write whatever it is that he writes.

 

Wouldn't that be Palisades High?

 

So you must not be a journalist, or are a wanna-be low level bitter guy.

ESPN protects LeBron and the top-tier level to the end because they want to be in with these guys. Give Markazi credit, whether you like him or not, to actually try to give a real profile of an athlete (even though there's apparently not much to say about LeBron. He sounds like a boring douche)

You can debate whether or not he should have grabbed LeBron's hand and said he writes for ESPN.com, but c'mon. He was a guy that got into the party, who observed what happened, and wrote about it. And ESPN should have rolled with it.

 

For the record, you are correct. Koral was from Pali.

There was another record-setting kid, Robert De La Cruz, from around that same time at Cathedral. I don't know if Markazi may have covered a game of his, or not, too.

 

Pearlman weighs in...

http://jeffpearlman.com/?p=6440

 

Like Piotr Rasputin, Jeff Pearlman is also right.

While I, based on what I remember of him as a stringer, have long had concerns about Markazi's M.O and have always wondered about the ease with which he has gone from primo job to primo job, and while I have little trouble believing he probably did (or rather, did not) do exactly as Rob King says, King also should not have publicly thrown his reporter under a bus.

As Pearlman writes, good editors don't do that. Publicly and initially, at least, they back their writers before sources, complaining agents, school officials or whoever else, unless/until it involves a matter of proven-questionable accuracy.

Given that it was determined that Markazi did indeed have a story, and given that the story was published, and therefore, had to have gone through at least some level of editing, King should have lent his reporter such support.

ESPN, after all, had been well aware of what it was posting at the time, and there had not been any issue with the story's accuracy. Indeed, it seems as if no such issue was raised even by James' people -- that the only issues are with the fact that Markazi didn't identify himself openly, and that he did not overtly or obviously take notes/quotes so that people knew he was doing so.

Of course, this only lends credence to the thought that James' camp directly brought about this pull and that ESPN bowed to the potential threat of either litigation, or else, the loss of continued us-first access to James.

 

I actually think this industry may have to deal with more of these types of conflicts and questions as time goes on and the rise of unregulated, unedited social-media reporting, the preponderance of celebrity journalism, and a more surface-deep/casual/lackadaisical/reader-friendly approach to our work all combine with the apparent belief/hope that practically anybody can do it.

It's bound to cause problems and I'm surprised more such issues and instances haven't cropped up already.

 

I know how the business works, sport. Got plenty of experience, too, beyond the low level, so take the weak sauce somewhere else.

I never criticized Markazi for writing the story, even though I'm not a fan of his stuff. And I agree ESPN should have rolled with it. When it didn't, and threw him under the bus in the process, he shouldn't have gone along with it and he should have quit. I'm sure any of the other dotcom outlets would have snapped him up in a second. He hasn't had trouble getting work thus far.

But he'd rather have The Worldwide Leader under his name and enjoy the prestige that comes with the byline, no matter the cost to his professional reputation. Again, not a surprise.

 

The "Entourage" school of sports journalism bores me sick. Also, I don't get James' objections (I assume he made them, or one of his gang of parasites did). Wouldn't a young single pro athlete WANT it known he parties hearty in Vegas? Was there a person on earth who thought he went there to visit the city's outstanding public library?

 

As I said, Arash is a good dude. But I stand with those who say his style just isn't for me. His espnlosangeles blog is unreadable. One of those things where I attempt to be diplomatic and say, "There's an audience for this . . . I just don't happen to be part of that audience."

http://espn.go.com/blog/los-angeles/behind-the-velvet-rope

Interesting take from thebiglead on how Markazi found himself at the big table.

http://thebiglead.com/index.php/2010/07/29/espn-wont-be-publishing-the-behind-the-scenes-story-of-lebrons-las-vegas-debauchery/

 

And you must have never gone to j-school. Never say you are somebody you aren't to get an interview, never hide who you are to get an interview. He was there as Bosh's friend not a reporter.

Now, having said that, I though there was nothing wrong with the article and I liked it. A lot worse has been done by reporters who have identified themselves. Oh well.

 

And that's it right?
Eveything I read about the piece being pulled was because said reporter never identified himself as a reporter.
ESPN got this one right.
I read the article and while it was nothing earthshattering, it was nothing insightful either. I not even sure there as a quote from LeBron (something said directly to the reporter) in the article.