When bloggers are accredited

I think you nailed it. This smells like a grudge.

Yes, some bloggers are homers. Yes, some are annoying. But the same can be said about some print reporters.

I hate to admit it, but there are some damn good reporters working for new media. They also take up space on press row. But with the way things have gone in the newspaper industry during the previous year, space on press row really isn't an issue anymore. Cutbacks have diminished the number beat writers attending events, and most newspapers are trying to find cheap ways to cover pro and college teams (outsourcing, AP, etc.).

Don't hate on the blogger that was trying to do his job — asking tough questions is part the biz — because your "old" rag has never covered the local team. That's not the blogger's problem.

 

on my beat, the bloggers are quite often better prepared and harder working, ask better questions and are in general more professional and hard working than many of the print guys

it's my experience that if a blogger is actually out covering stuff and not sitting in mom's basement just rambling on about something he read or heard, that guy approaches what he's doing with a high level of professionalism

 

Amen. I know I still get a good chuckle when we do our "BLOGS!!!" bit here on SJ, and there are certainly some (read: many) blogs that are ridiculous, opinion-driven, basement-dwelling drivel, but for all the talk of embracing new media, some of us here who came up in more traditional formats often can't help but hate on those who begin their careers in new media of the non-traditional, non-newspaper-site variety and do it with some (though not always all) of the traditional skills and ethics.

 

Ding ding ding.

And I've seen a whole lot of unprofessional asshats mucking up a press box who probably have never heard of a blog. Team personnel, radio guys, TV guys, print guys, hangers-on, etc.

Whoever said this smells like a grudge is right.

 

I am not sure if I should post this here or in another topic but what about people that have a podcast and or internet radio show? Do you all think the same of them as you do with bloggers?

 

This was sent to me a while back, and I figure this is as good a place as any to bring it up. Jamey Newburg covers the Texas Rangers for... himself. It was nine years ago in March that the Rangers' front office deemed him worthy of accreditation.

http://www.newbergreport.com/article1.asp

Point from me is that the landscape is changing. You're just as wrong to paint all bloggers as basement-dwelling, mouth-breathing fanboys as you are to paint all print reporters as professional, knowledgeable, founts of objectivity. Quoting another poster, there's no getting that genie back in the bottle.