another 'bloggers aren't journalists' column

[TheSportsPredictor]

Thanks for making it clear what the new standards of journalism should be.

There's only one rumor going around that the guy is talking about. That rumor can be addressed by asking Tigers officials if there is any truth to it.

 

[dooley_womack1]

Bull****. You don't address "rumors going around," not unless there's a credible source. And sorry, a bunch of Internet chatter is almost always not that credible source.

 

[Starman]

Thanks for making it clear what the new standards of journalism should be.

There's only one rumor going around that the guy is talking about. That rumor can be addressed by asking Tigers officials if there is any truth to it.

And of course, you'll get nothing but a straight, factual answer from the Ilitch Ministry of Information.

:

Bottom line, who really cares -- no matter how it happened, Zumaya's shoulder is ****ed up.

 

[Simon_Cowbell]

The only reason to root for the end of newspapers is to see what these remoras would write about without previously mined - and published - facts.

Bloggers are like these hi-hop guys who get big by stealing some 1980s song.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Bull****. You don't address "rumors going around," not unless there's a credible source. And sorry, a bunch of Internet chatter is almost always not that credible source.

Then don't even write about the rumors.

 

[dooley_womack1]

Now if you bloggers would only follow that advice...

 

[Van Lingle Mungo]

A counterpoint:

http://www.detroittigersweblog.com/2007/11/newsflash-reporter-hates-bloggers/

McCosky isn't specific, so who knows if that's the blog in question. It seems more like he's calling any online forum a blog.

 

[Singapore Slim]

[quote author=Chris McCosky]
They will write something like, "I am hearing the Pistons are going to start Antonio McDyess this year." Well, wonder where you "heard" that. It was reported in the darn newspaper. Yet, the same blogger will go out of their way to ridicule the source they stole from.

I follow each and every one of the Piston blogs, and I don't recall them ever coming close to writing anything like that; regardless of the player.

That's just a lame stereotype gone mad.

Stereotypes exist for a reason.
[/quote]

Dearest Chris,

So then, it's OK to make stuff up?

If I'm writing a column, is it OK to create a fabricated storyline about the Jewish guy stealing money from the lazy Mexican who fell asleep on the sidewalk after becoming tired because he had to out-run the fast black dude in a race for some fried chicken?

Is that cool?

 

[broadway joe]

McCosky rants about bloggers just spewing out opinion and not actually talking to anybody. Then in the next two items of his column he just spews out opinion, about ESPN and Kiki Vandeweghe, without actually talking to anybody.

 

[Double Down]

We can go ahead and solve this debate right now, forever, in one paragraph.

Bloggers CAN be legitimate journalists. No doubt about that. But not many bloggers ARE legitimate journalists, or even interested in journalism.

If TheBigLead wants to get Talking Points Memo on the phone to better understand why what he does doesn't pass my standard of blogging journalism, I'm convinced that can be arranged.

"So Mr. Marshall, can you go over the attribution part again?"

 

[BYH]

We can go ahead and solve this debate right now, forever, in one paragraph.

Bloggers CAN be legitimate journalists. No doubt about that. But not many bloggers ARE legitimate journalists, or even interested in journalism.

If TheBigLead wants to get Talking Points Memo on the phone to better understand why what he does doesn't pass my standard of blogging journalism, I'm convinced that can be arranged.

"So Mr. Marshall, can you go over the attribution part again?"

That made me laugh extremely hard.

 

[auggie_ben_doggie]

They will lift facts and segments of stories and cut and paste them onto their blog. Rarely, if ever, though, do they bother to credit the source.

Huh? I know there are blogs out there where the writer is trying to play the insider by citing things he's "heard" or rumors floating around, but the majority I've read will "cut and paste" an article with a link and the author's name, and then comment on the news.

 

[auggie_ben_doggie]

Oh, and I'm also a fan of this line in the column:

"If we rip somebody in an article, you best be sure most of us will confront that person the next day and take whatever medicine we need to take."

I'm sure he means "most of us will BE CONFRONTED BY that person the next day"...

 

[forever_town]

Not to discredit you TSP, I'm going on a rant about douchenozzle's column:

* But people, let's not confuse what random fans and wanna-be pundits are tossing out there with legitimate reporting. The line is getting way too blurry now between Internet noise and actual journalism.

Written like a guy who acts as if his **** don't stink because he's a journalist. Stuff your arrogance someplace where the sun don't shine.

* It's actually getting to the point now where some (too many) of the bloggers are using cyberspace to discredit the legitimate media.

How does one correlate to the other? Blogs aren't trying to compete with "legitimate" media. Their actions theoretically should have little or no bearing on ours.

* Journalism employs trained professionals.

You don't need a journalism degree to be a good journalist. Journalism ain't rocket science. Obviously, you failed that part of class.

* There are rules and standards that we are beholden to.

Most of which are common sense.

* There are ethics involved.

Try telling that to the Jayson Blairs of the world.

* We actually talk to, in person, the people we write about.

This is the only point I might concede. If I'm in the right mood.

* With blogging and Web sites, it seems the hard work, standards, accountability, courage all of that is bypassed.

How did THAT bug get up your ass? If someone libels on the Internet, it's still libel and it's still a potential lawsuit. And courage? Unless you're talking about dodging bullets and IEDs in Iraq and Afghanistan, expressing your opinion is still an act of courage if you disagree with Dubass.

* A lot of times these bloggers use the work of legitimate reporters. They will lift facts and segments of stories and cut and paste them onto their blog. Rarely, if ever, though, do they bother to credit the source.

If they do that, it's a real problem. When I had my own blog that I updated semi-regularly, I posted links to stories rather than claim it as my own work.

Perhaps instead of simply blasting blogs, this guy could call someone and ask if Zumaya hurt himself riding a dirt bike because rumors are circulating. Then he can have Tigers officials denying that it happened that way on the record.

I agree. Perhaps by doing, you know, real reporting, he might get to the bottom of what really happened to Zumaya. Then he could write a more topical column on the difference between going on rumor and writing something based on fact.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Not to discredit you TSP, I'm going on a rant about douchenozzle's column:

Oh, I don't mind. I just pulled the exact quotes from his blog so TBL could understand his point, since TBL couldn't understand it. I was going to refute it point by point as well, but had to go to the bathroom.

 

[TwoGloves]

This might clear up a few things:

http://www.detroitsportsrag.com/b2evolution/index.php

 

[thebiglead]

Darn, 2gloves beat me to it. But was anyone else laughing out loud at this:

"[McCosky] has had it out for bloggers ever since he got caught with his pants down in May of 2003 when he emphatically wrote in the paper that there was no chance in hell that Pistons head coach Rick Carlisle was going to get fired.
When this website broke the story that Carlisle was in fact on his way out (through a source close to Joe Dumars), McCosky discredited us as Internet wackos.
We all know what happened next. Carlisle was fired and the stupid ass beat writer of the Pistons looked like a fool.
So did he give the "bloggers" credit for breaking the huge story? Absoulutely not.
Instead he continued to attack the DSR and NEVER acknowledged that he had been scooped by an attorney and an insurance appraiser."

or this?

"I could go on and on about all of the stories that OTHERS have broken about the team while he has been on the beat, but what do I know? I mean, I just took some journalism classes in college and didn't dedicate my life to writing boring and bland recaps of the latest Pistons-Timberwolves game. Yes, I love it when "journalists" play this card that only they can report the news. Like they are ****ing heart surgeons or something. Hey Chris, in college I must have missed that journalism class on being a lapdog for team management."

And the capper ...

"This is a man who works hand in hand with Rob Parker, Terry Foster and Lynn Henning and he has the chutzpah to make that comment? <b>I guess Parker taking $5,000 from Joe Dumars to bail himself out a bad book deal only to repay him by blowing him in the paper every chance he gets is Barbrady's idea of journalistic credibility.</b> And can someone explain to me what is pertinent about Foster's articles regarding his son, "Little B", getting picked on at the bus stop? Did I miss that class in journalism school also?"

(my bold)

 

[broadway joe]

Whatever good points the blogger might have had in his response were obscured by the classless and vicious personal attacks in his post. What a poorly written, unprofessional piece of crap.

 

[JC]

Whatever good points the blogger might have had in his response were obscured by the classless and vicious personal attacks in his post. What a poorly written, unprofessional piece of crap.

Wow, you never see "professionals" do that.
How come you can't call out professionals when they screw up. How many times do you see professionals do the same thing you accuse the blogger of.

 

[broadway joe]

I don't think it's professional to call someone who criticizes you a "****ing chump" or an "insecure, talentless, piece of wasted human flesh." The level of vitriol in that blog was way beyond what McCoskey had in his column, not to mention it was far more personal. It read like a piece of hate mail from a nutjob reader.