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What Lee Jenkins' LeBron scoop says about our industry

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by GBNF, Jul 11, 2014.

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  1. MileHigh

    MileHigh Moderator Staff Member

    The ESPN Circus has been out in full force the past three weeks, and to watch as this thing broke yesterday, everyone on the set looking at their phones and someone saying along the lines of "We're trying to figure this out," all I could say was "You got scooped."

    Jenkins had this story Thursday night and sat on it for numerous hours. To get it right. And the SI editors sat on it for two hours until everything was set to go. If you're bashing SI, you're in the wrong business. Big props to them. They did it the right way.

    No, this is not a turning point in the war. ESPN will continue to be a 100-ring circus with all of the clowns and Volkswagens and drive the sports narrative. Because it's their nature. It's what they do.

    This was professionally done by LeBron and SI and a complete 180 from four years ago. It was like the angle I saw somewhere: LeBron went away to college for four years and grew up and has graduated. And he went with a grown-up outlet to get that news out.
     
    MileHigh, Jul 12, 2014
    #37
  2. Walter Lippmann

    Walter Lippmann Member

    Ethics, schmethics.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/12/sports/basketball/role-of-sports-illustrated-in-lebron-jamess-announcement-raises-journalistic-questions.html
     
    Walter Lippmann, Jul 12, 2014
    #38
  3. Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!

    Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!! Well-Known Member

    This is a crock of steaming shit.

    Like ESPN's The Decision?

    Let's be clear here... This is a sports story. In the grand scheme of sports stories - while a big one today - not that big of story in the overall context of the sport. Or sports. And ... And... This news James was going back to Cleveland, by the time SI broke the story, was hardly a surprise. If he went to Portland or Philly - that would have been a stunner. Ninety percent of people paying attention knew he was going to Cleveland. I know what you know and what you can report are different.
    So Full credit to SI and Jenkins. Fuck. Yeah. Dude. Nice job!!! Enjoy it. Celebrate. A great get, no question.

    This piece by Sandomir is misleading. Aside from the two 'graphs I quoted above, the rest of his article he has - what? - three sources who endorse the way SI handled things.
    I think Sandomir is reaching at best and full of shit at worst. At the end of the day all fans wanted to know was where James was going to play. And why. Period. No additional journalistic heft needed.
    No God Damn 30 minute special. No longform piece. This was just fine.
    Honestly, SI and Jenkins is lucky to have gotten this.
    If this is Tiger Woods - he breaks the news himself on his website of twitter feed.
     
    Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!, Jul 12, 2014
    #39
  4. 93Devil

    93Devil Well-Known Member

    SI reported factual news no one else had.

    Sour grapes
     
    93Devil, Jul 12, 2014
    #40
  5. Songbird

    Songbird Well-Known Member

    I think the "college" angle is a load.

    He grew up, a lot, found the one piece he lacked -- leadership -- but it wasn't because college.
     
    Songbird, Jul 12, 2014
    #41
  6. 93Devil

    93Devil Well-Known Member

    Didn't they stop kissing as ass so much in Miami? I thought I remember something when he first signed about him trying to alter the team off season schedule around his social life. If Riley and the Heat put a stop to that, then they did mentor him.
     
    93Devil, Jul 12, 2014
    #42
  7. MileHigh

    MileHigh Moderator Staff Member

    I like Sandomir, but this comes off as a whiny and petulant crock of shit.

    So, if LeBron was going to go to the New York Knicks and wanted to announce it in a first-person form to the New York Times, Richard Sandomir would have a huge and ethical problem with this, and write as such in today's editions of the New York Times?

    Thought so.

    You and the millions of others got beat by a guy who has boots on the ground, works and cultivates his sources and isn't an it's-all-about-me reporter who could have tweeted/blogged it out from LeBron's hotel room as he was describing his decision.

    No, instead, Jenkins had the biggest announcement in the NBA this offseason and ... went back to his room because,

    “It’s a feat of editing, to put it together in a simple structure that made sense.”

    Bingo.

    You tip your hat to Jenkins and SI for a job well done. And be better next time and you, too, can get a scoop like this.
     
    MileHigh, Jul 12, 2014
    #43
  8. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    Sandomir has a point.

    SI didn't cover the story, they partnered with a person they cover.

    The press isn't supposed to be in partnership with their subjects. They're not supposed to serve as a PR arm of a subject they cover. They aren't supposed to help a subject they cover tell their story in the way that makes the subject look best.

    Would you ever trust Jenkins to break unflattering news about James now, or has he forever been co-opted?
     
    YankeeFan, Jul 12, 2014
    #44
  9. MileHigh

    MileHigh Moderator Staff Member

    No, he doesn't have a point.

    What if Jenkins wrote a straight narrative with LeBron's quotes like Sandomir whined about? What's the difference? Still "partnering."

    And under your scenario, any story with sources that breaks news is, in effect, "partnering," which you are tsk-tsking. And by that, there should be NO SOURCES at all because, well, "The press isn't supposed to be in partnership with their subjects."

    Nice try.
     
    MileHigh, Jul 12, 2014
    #45
  10. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    It's toy department stuff.
     
    YankeeFan, Jul 12, 2014
    #46
  11. MileHigh

    MileHigh Moderator Staff Member

    And yet your posted played it up like this was a serious journalistic ethical breach.
     
    MileHigh, Jul 12, 2014
    #47
  12. Double Down

    Double Down Well-Known Member

    Being LeBron's mouthpiece > Being Dick Cheney's Mouthpiece

    But nice try, New York Times.
     
    Double Down, Jul 12, 2014
    #48
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