My idea: Journa-pedia

[Pringle]

You know what would be cool? If there was a Web site where we could database thumbnail bios of journalists, everyone from Gary Smith to Seymour Hersh to Whitlock to faceless men and women covering statehouse politics for every paper from the Indianapolis Star to the Kansas City Star to the Cleveland Plain-Dealer.

I don't know about everyone else, but I'm always curious about the paths people took to get where they are, how old they are, where they went to school, etc., etc.

Someone would have to start it, I guess.

 

[Lugnuts]

Great idea....

But with journalists particularly sensitive to issues of libel, what do you do about the problem of:

"... did the baked chicken with Tom Glavine..." ?

 

[dooley_womack1]

or "refers to himself as Big Sexy on message boards."

or "was declared a ****ing stud by Mizzougrad in 2005."

 

[21]

You'd do it by member registration, not wikipedia style--if someone wanted to post his/her bio, they'd register and post it.

 

[Pringle]

You'd do it by member registration, not wikipedia style--if someone wanted to post his/her bio, they'd register and post it.

No one would do it, though. For people who put ourselves out there every day, it seems we're shy about that kind of thing, as a profession.

I think someone would have to organize it and begin with a list of like 100 heavy hitters, email them perhaps a questionairre, then fan out from there.

 

[leo1]

i'm not sure journalists would want all sources knowing their background. last thing you need is a source deciding whether to talk to you based on your resume.

 

[DyePack]

Actually, one of Wenalway's goals is to do something like this, except it would be dossiers of the plagiarists and ****tards who taint this industry.

Write stupid **** like a writer didn't take the time to proofread HER OWN STORY, yet the desk is to blame for the mistake, and your name goes into the dossier.

 

[CountryFeedback]

I've always thought this would be a good idea, this thread just gave me the motivation.

Here it is, a Wikipedia for sports journalists:
http://www.pressrow.com/

I encourage everybody to add themselves, with links to your best work in your entry. There's nothing worse than letting Google dictate the stories people see when they search your name.

PM me if you have any questions on how to edit it.

 

[Pringle]

I've always thought this would be a good idea, this thread just gave me the motivation.

Here it is, a Wikipedia for sports journalists:
http://www.pressrow.com/

I encourage everybody to add themselves, with links to your best work in your entry. There's nothing worse than letting Google dictate the stories people see when they search your name.

PM me if you have any questions on how to edit it.

Cool. Can we start ones for other people? I don't think people will add themselves - we're a funny bunch like that - at least not until it seems socially acceptable to do so. But the big names ought to begin to be represented with said links to stories.

Nice work.

 

[Mystery_Meat]

Journa-pedia sounds like the result of middle-aged high school writers who give in to their long-repressed girls soccer fantasies.

 

[Chi City 81]

Good. Freaking. Lord. The site currently lists such big names as Mitch Albom, Mike Lupica, Frank Deford, Grantland Rice, W.C. Heinz and the biggest of them all ...

Chris L.

Long known as a popular blogger from Boston, he got his start in writing on the old sportspages.com website, which was the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution that is the popular sportsjournalists.com, the internet's most popular gathering place for journalists. Almost got his big break when he talked with the New York Post about a columnist opening, but an agreement couldn't be reached. Enjoys eating porkrinds and watching his fantasy sports teams finish in the middle of the pack on an anual basis. Has developed a coast-to-coast rivalry with both another journalist, and Canada. For the later, it means he hates it from coast-to-coast. He does love weddings though.

Given the misspellings, I think we all know who wrote this particular entry.

 

[CountryFeedback]

I've always thought this would be a good idea, this thread just gave me the motivation.

Here it is, a Wikipedia for sports journalists:
http://www.pressrow.com/

I encourage everybody to add themselves, with links to your best work in your entry. There's nothing worse than letting Google dictate the stories people see when they search your name.

PM me if you have any questions on how to edit it.

Cool. Can we start ones for other people? I don't think people will add themselves - we're a funny bunch like that - at least not until it seems socially acceptable to do so. But the big names ought to begin to be represented with said links to stories.

Nice work.

Absolutely. I think its easier to add somebody else, then adding yourself. I think it might be a good idea to do sports section rosters, listing who covers each beat, eventually linking each writer to a bio.

 

[Mystery_Meat]

Popular entries:

- Mitch Albom - Frank Deford - Chris L. - Mike Lupica - Grantland Rice - W.C. Heinz

One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong.

 

[Bob Cook]

Is it safe to say Lupica didn't write his own entry?

Mike Lupica is a columnist for the New York Daily News. He is a regular on ESPN's "The Sports Reporters" and has been reporting sports since he started covering the New York Knicks in 1975 for the New York Post. His identical twin is the model Dunkin Donuts uses on their Munchkin boxes. Single-handedly declared that the Yankees are October, though no one really knows what it means. Apparently it has something to do with the one month he doesn't bash them to holy hell. And speaking of holiness, he also decreed that catholic priests no longer concecrate bread and wine during mass, but intead wine and a wheel of cheese. The faith has become particularly hostile to the lactose intolerant as a result. Fired Jason Whitlock from The Sports Reporters. When his son got cut from a basketball team, he started another one and then wrote a book about the scrubs. Then decided their month was November.

 

[shotglass]

There's no Whitlock entry.

This might have some promise.

 

[Tom Petty]

HA - i just deleted mitch albom.

 

[CountryFeedback]

There's no Whitlock entry.

This might have some promise.

Just added it, along with a section dedicated to The National.

 

[spaceman]

There's no entry for 21.

 

[21]

There's no entry for 21.

How do you know?

(With no disrespect to the creator of the site, that is one major nuclear winter waiting to happen...)

 

[DyePack]

The first A-bomb may have landed.