Let me give just a small example of the kind of just slightly irresponsible journalism John Canzano practices in his latest column:
"Owner Paul Allen missed Saturday's game, and that became a subject of conversation in the arena. Bronchitis, officials said. And Allen was reported to have watched the game at home, via some sort of satellite setup. A team insider said Allen even phoned in afterward."
1. Somehow, I doubt "the arena" cared much. How does a columnist sitting on press row judge that anyhow? Does he stalk the rafters? Interview people? "Excuse me sir, did you know Paul Allen wasnt here? Now that you do, can you talk about it for a minute?" I mean, the size of the cheerleaders' breasts probably came up, too. It's just a clunky way of trying to inject an embattled figure into the story.
2. Notice the tone here. It's disbelieving all the way through.
These are small things, but when you're working with paranoids, is it really useful to prick at them with this nonsense?
Reading the story, sorry, but I side with the Blazers. Not so much because their hands are clean, but because the Oregonian dirtied its digits. Journalists should really care less what flunkies and punks populate the PR staff of the "the team." Journalists should care about retrieving, reporting and analyzing the information in a way that is blameless, totally open, and as humble as possible. Completely above the board. The time is swiftly approaching when it's not just the truth because some anonymous source says it's so. The time has already come when far more damaging truths (the nonsense of ESPN's talking heads and the "right-wing" media) gain as much traction as objective reporting.
Truth is up for grabs. And the "journalists" let it happen. For the benefit of a few columnists getting a radio show, or a beat reporter getting a blog, or ATH, jobs will be slashed by the hundreds. Don't any of you understand that? The best thing journalism had for the last 40-50 years was its sobreity laced with wit. When the actual skill and style went out of writing - when you didn't have to pick your spots anymore, and you could just throw your ego and juvenile emotions around in whichever directions you pleased because it resonated with "the people" - that's the attention began to be lost. It's at a point where the "how" of journalism pales in comparison to the "what" - that it's become a tool of whoever most skilled at consolidating information delivery. And we know who that is. Bottom line: If a guy is going to talk about the column he wrote on the radio, why read the column during the week? Why not listen to the radio show - which is no benefit to the newspaper - and hear the same thing? With the added bonus of instant feedback through your cell phone. A lot easier than a letter to the sports editor, I assure you.
This is what going through the wide, easy gate has wrought for print journalism.
The workout leak is a Clintonesque, the-blinds-were-on-the-oustide kind of junk that forces the public to lose trust in the media, much less the organization.
And Canzano's conspiracy theory is hilarious. Hilarious! Caught right in the act, he stands by his story, talks about his recollection and generally sounds like a Reagan boob. You mean to tell me that guy has credibility after that? When you know, sure as I breathe, he'd skewer somebody else for that kind of worthless defense. The columnist is a prime example of a journalist who's swallowed the worm whole and become drunk on his thoroughly average, bluntly dull writing skills, on his ability to bray to multiple media sources whatever random opinion occurs to him that day.
And I especially love how one poster refers to it as Canzano being thrown under the bus. How rich, that we start tossing around the organized crime terms when a columnist is blatantly caught being a mean-spirted, hardheaded ass and called on it.
I applaud the story, and I hope it is used as an example of how journalists can make their lives a lot harder than necessary. Make NO mistake: It is up the newspaper to be the more mature participant in any relationship. Any relationship at all. The minute journalists - especially columnists - forget the power of professionalism and, more importantly, grace, journalists lose.
If the Blazers are Lebanon, then the Oregonian is Israel. And like Israel, I expect the most from the Oregonian.
Some story about some workout is meaningless in the larger picture of strong working relationships.
Or maybe I'm just being stupid, wanting peace like that.
