Why do sportswriters resent blogs?

Did your paper require you to do it or did you volunteer? I want to do one, but my higher ups think blogs are stupid and for teenagers.

 

For teenagers? You mean that young, core audience that every other product in the world is desperate to attract? The key age to start building loyalty? You mean those teenagers?

No wonder the newspaper business is where it is.

 

They approached two of our beat writers (myself and one other) and asked us to do it. It wasn't a coincidence that the two they approached were both among the younger guys covering major beats. Based on the response they then made everyone start...

I really enjoy it now...

 

The blurring of who has the keys to report information is one of the reasons I wouldn't miss this gig. The standards, professionalism and perspective made up for the relatively low pay, but when most anyone with a DSL connection opines and is expected to be viewed on a remotely equal basis makes the sacrifices seem lame.

 

mizzou, just because you've discovered it doesn't mean it's the thing for all the cool kids to do now. :

 

Don't think sportswriters 'despise' bloggers. Some of the best tips/leads I get are from sportswriters. For what it's worth, I emailed the Minnesota writer to see about an interview. No response yet.

As for blogs: So i wake up and if I want to know what's up in the world of baseball, the first place I'll go is baseball musings. Those guys find the most interesting stories, link them up, and have a brief summary with their thoughts. If I'm curious about Cubs reaction to Santo, I'm headed to Bleed Cubbie Blue. They usually pullquote the jist of the article from the Tribune/Sun-Times and I'll read that.

That's just a tiny example. I'lll definitely glance at the front page of the NYT, WP, LAT, Post and Daily News every morning, and the front each paper's sports section.

And it certainly doesn't hurt sportswriters to be friendly with bloggers. The blogs link the sportswriter's stories, and they generate more hits that way. Not to mention that the writer can gain some exposure and perhaps even catch the eye of an editor somewhere.

Would blogs cease to exist if newspapers made everyone pay for content? Wouldn't go that far. The Pacman Jones story started on the radio, went to blogs, then the local papers/TV stations and then a few days later hit Sportsline, ESPN, Yahoo, etc.

Interesting article on the 'blogging community' should anyone care.
http://observer.com/20070129/20070129_Chris_Shott_media_observatory.asp

Sports blogs were far behind news blogs and entertainment blogs. For what it's worth, some of those bloggers have gotten real jobs/blog jobs at magazines/newspapers.

 

The big issues for newspapers arise when a paper establishes blogs and management thinks, "Okay, we've caught up!" and doesn't bother trying to further push its Web site.

But yeah, blogs by beat guys - done WELL - can be great supplemental coverage.

 

Sure. I guess what I meant to say is that a college degree isn't the only way a writer can be mentored and, thus, flourish.

 

only effin' studs allowed

 

Well ... uh ... you kinda asked all of us.

 

Well, sure. I agree with that. But fan bloggers - a lot of them at least - have this idea that everyone in sports journalism is a nincompoop. They think it requires no training whatsoever, and that they could do the job far better. I tend to get insulted when people think that writing for a living is something a retarded monkey could do.

It's like in that movie "Duplex" when Drew Barrymore explains that her husband Ben Stiller is a writer.

And the old lady says, "Writing? Shameful. I always thought of that as more of a HOBBY."

The state of the world right now, as far as writing is concerned, just feels like there are a lot of voices screaming and no one listening. Every study I've ever seen shows that people read less and less nowadays. Yet everyone writes more and more. It's an odd paradox. Ultimately, people only want their voice heard, but they care little about what anyone else has to say.

Hemingway read at least three hours every day of his life. It helped make him what he was.

But now everybody in America thinks that reading other people's stuff is so 1993.

The "blogosphere" will eventually crash under its own weight, except for a few really talented, really dedicated and hard-working people with unique additions to the information highway who will find their place.

 

The Frontline series about journalism brought out some interesting observations last night. The one that struck me was the concern was that the decline of newspapers is also bringing a decline in original reporting because 90 percent of the "blogosphere" is caught up in regurgitating news -- bloggers "takes" and analysis of stories that were originally reported by newspapers. One gentleman pointed out that TV, cable, radio and the Internet all rely on the original reporting done by newspaper journalists.