i'm without speech

[Simon_Cowbell]

NY Times reporting on NSA wiretaps is breaking news. NFL trade where Glazer's source happened to beat someone else by a few hours at most, no important.

But the real question is being missed? Did Glazer get a happy ending?

A release of the glaze?

 

[sportsed]

It's a good thing that Glazer's sources are better than his writing ability.

Which, of course, leads to this question: Why is it that so many "reporters" seem unable to "write" a cogent story that anyone could bear read past the nutgraph?

 

[MacDaddy]

It's a good thing that Glazer's sources are better than his writing ability.

Which, of course, leads to this question: Why is it that so many "reporters" seem unable to "write" a cogent story that anyone could bear read past the nutgraph?

Because reporting and writing are very, very different skills.

 

[Singapore Slim]

Ragu nailed it.

 

[Singapore Slim]

I've never actually read Glazer's work before. The guy is an incredibly poor writer, and he must have a no-edit clause.

And anyone who gives themselves a nickname? "The Glaze?" Avoid at all costs.

 

[DanOregon]

I can only read about five "I's" in a story before I lose interest. It's not because I don't really care about a particular subject, I find the Favre stuff interesting, but I

 

[JoelHammond]

I can only read about five "I's" in a story before I lose interest. It's not because I don't really care about a particular subject, I find the Favre stuff interesting, but I

Nicely done.

 

[DanOregon]

I'm really curious about these "information" guys. Obviously you need to have good sources, (it's not like these guys are spending days at the water bureau basement or sifting through tax records, but I've always wondered what the leaker gets out of the deal. Do they share some scuttlebutt with some of their other sources (agents and team officials), very clearly people are being used by interested parties, but I guess as long as its a "scoop" they don't mind.

 

[novelist_wannabe]

NY Times reporting on NSA wiretaps is breaking news. NFL trade where Glazer's source happened to beat someone else by a few hours at most, no important.

But the real question is being missed? Did Glazer get a happy ending?

A release of the glaze?

Don't make me cheat on you with a massage chair from Brookstone.

 

[Editude]

At a previous stop, in the days when breaking news meant something (and Ragu's take is spot on), our top reporter was not a very good writer. We tried to make his copy sing, but that was the tradeoff.

 

[I Digress]

Actually, $100 per hour for feet is pretty high. Course, the masseuse in the airport has his/her clients by the, er, balls of their feet?

 

[jgmacg]

Between this and Mr. Nadel's narcissitic thumbsucker on the nature of his instant and insistent fame, I note an alarming new uptick in the production of the Self-Congratulatory First Person Follow-Up Story.

Can an APSE category for same be far behind?

 

[Stitch]

After I scored an exclusive interview with local baseball coach, I decided to go all-out and treat myself to a can of Campbell's tomato soup. Sure, I usually eat ramen, but I broke the story of how the new first baseman is really hitting well and trying his best.

 

[Your Huckleberry]

I couldn't get through it all. Just horribly written. It sounded like something done by a dimwitted eighth grade fanboy.

Oh, and Ragu was dead on. Who gives a **** in this day and age who the first was to have a "scoop" like this. Typical self-promotion by FOX, whether it's their online crap or television junk. Then again, when you're dealing with FOX, should you expect any less?

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Non-story?

It was one of the best sports scoops in recent memory. Just 30 minutes before he broke it, I was watching Mort explain how they were working out the terms in Tampa and how the Bucs were going to try to trade Jeff Garcia to the Bears or Vikings.

It was a colossal ass-kicking... That said, I really could have done without the details of Glazer's foot massage.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Actually, $100 per hour for feet is pretty high. Course, the masseuse in the airport has his/her clients by the, er, balls of their feet?

He paid $30 an hour. He expensed $100 an hour.

 

[SF_Express]

OK.

Glazer's piece was over the top. But frankly, that's Jay.

And I hate to say it, but a lot of readers are going to go from start to finish, with interest. Most of our readers are not, well, us.

But what really bugs me is this whole A) if we're just breaking sports news, it's not the Pentagon Papers, so it's not important, so it's not breaking news and B) if you break a story by a half hour, who'll remember or care, so what's the big deal? Sorry, Ragu, on this we just do not agree.

So A) people like Glazer aren't covering politics or wars. They're covering sports. It's part of this diverse business we're all in. Woodward and Bernstein weren't going to get Joe Gibbs returning to the Redskins (another Glazer story, by the way), because that's not their beat. It's Glazer's. In this case, he kicked ass. Relative to others in his profession, on the biggest story IN his profession that day, he was the star.

B) I really don't get the attitude about there not being much worth to breaking news. You know why it's worth something? Actually, two reasons: 1) When it's a huge story, and it leaves the rest of the country trailing far behind, it's a big deal. If every AP writethru is saying "as first reported by foxsports.com," it matters. And if it's repeated in newspapers all over the country, hell, it's branding.

But the one I keep repeating is: 2) Why they hell would anybody in this business not find it to be simply a lot of fun, one of the things we get to celebrate in this business, to beat everybody on a big story, no matter by how much? You don't enjoy seeing your byline, and new information nobody has under it, on the front page of a newspaper or front and center on a website? Or editing and producing that?

If you're a writer/reporter or editor and don't, I just don't get it. It's one of the most exciting things about this business. And if you're one of the big websites or newspaper sites, winning that battle by 20 minutes is still exhilarating. Or should be.

 

[Matt1735]

SF_Express just nailed it.

 

[Bubbler]

I'm not going to lie ... the competitive part of me loves breaking news. SF Express is dead-on about that.

That said, I wouldn't start a blog about it.

 

[JR]

I'm not a journalist but if I were, I'd think getting breaking news would be something that gets the competitive juices going.

I remember the Toronto Star scooping a major story a couple of years ago. Quite frankly I can't remember what it was but the Star rode that story for about four days straight. The Globe, the Sun and the Post were all left holding their dicks.

I thought to myself at the time, "There must be heads exploding at the other three papers"

That said, I couldn't get past paragraph four in this thing. Godawful stuff.