Sports Bloggers at the Press Conference

[D.C. Sports Bog]

Since the previous "bloggers go back to the basement" thread made me all confused and angry-like, I'm just gonna ignore it in favor of this observation.

At a Wash Caps player-signing press conference yesterday, I was surrounded by four indie bloggers (representing at least three indie sites), four MSM writers (one of whom also blogs for his extremely mainstream paper), a team employee (who blogs on the Caps' site) and a pro sports owner (who blogs on his personal site), in addition to the usual assortment of radio and TV folks.

The MSM beat writer/blogger had better contract details than anyone else; he clearly provided the best "news." The indie folks might not have broken any hard news, but they did provide scene and photos and video before anyone else. None of them prevented me from doing my job. None wore team clothes, or asked for autographs, or cheered, or in any way acted inappropriately. None showed particular evidence of basement dwelling.

I've also worked side-by-side with indie bloggers at Wizards games, D.C. United games and Nats events. Usually they're on the reticent side. Occasionally they ask better questions than the MSM folks. Rarely have they gotten in my way; more likely, the TV folks, with their two-person crews and large camera thingees, will get in my way, but I don't begrudge them either.

Granted, none of these teams is exactly the Yankees in terms of press demands, but the whole "bloggers in the press box" debate strikes me as very 1995. More to the point, we should figure out ways to better drive traffic from popular blogs to our sites. We should embrace these people, who so often are writing about the news we're producing. We should kiss them, full on the lips, whenever possible.

 

[SoSueMe]

First of all, it's hockey. And this point had been made months ago: The NHL will accredit anyone who will write or talk about them.

That said, two of the people you listed SHOULD have been there; the guy who blogs for the newspaper and the guy who blogs for the team (he's a paid employee!).

but they did provide scene and photos and video before anyone else.

And so, too, could newspapers if management let them. My point from the other thread? If newspapers did what I just quoted above, it would cut the legs out from beneath bloggers.

Again, back to the basement.

 

[Point of Order]

Did you misspell your username?

(EDIT: Removing foot from mouth, now. :-[ :-[ :-[)

 

[zagoshe]

See starting this is sort of like becoming a blogger -- you didn't like what people had to say so you started a new thread on pretty much the same subject.

Much like, you couldn't get hired at a real media outlet, so you started your fanboy site and are now upset because you aren't taken seriously by professional leagues and major colleges.... ;D

 

[SoSueMe]

See starting this is sort of like becoming a blogger -- you didn't like what people had to say so you started a new thread on pretty much the same subject.

Much like, you couldn't get hired at a real media outlet, so you started your fanboy site and are now upset because you aren't taken seriously by professional leagues and major colleges.... ;D

Zing!

 

[beefncheddar]

Somewhat related: Didn't Leonsis recently call up some of his team's bloggers and offer them trips to cover the World Juniors.

Did I read about it here or somewhere else?

 

[lono]

I always kiss them, full on the cheeks, whenever possible.

Fixed

 

[thebiglead]

If this is indeed a sports bar, I feel like this thread is ripped from ROADHOUSE. Who is this newbie with one post? Ask the blind guy singing. 'That's Dalton.'

It's no secret, since if you go to his blog, his name is all over it, but phrases like, 'back to the basement' when in reference to Dan Steinberg are highly comical. He's at the Washington Post, wrote quite possibly the best blog at the last Olympics, (this one's conjecture on my part) stole Tony Kornheiser's 'columnette' space in the WP, and has provided the blueprint for all future newspaper sportsblogs (though it has slowed since he's got his own BLOG TV SHOW!!!).

I'm not defending him because I link to him often, or because he's a great writer, or because he churned out better Gilbert Arenas stuff this season than I read in Esquire, ESPN the Mag, or the WP/Wash Times.

But you know how in the newspaper biz they say someone 'gets it?'

Well when it comes to blogs, he 'gets it.' I think it's a brilliant idea to have bloggers at events like this if they want to go. I personally would rather be at home doing multiple things, but that's just me.

*crawling back to the basement to make a post*

 

[Elliotte Friedman]

Zagoshe,

Google "D.C. Sports Bog". Then, you might want to delete your post. Seriously, you're making yourself look like an ignoramus.

You do good work, Dan. Read your stuff every day.

And mustard, it was the World Championships. Leonsis sent a blogger over there so Capitals fans could be updated on their players.

 

[SoSueMe]

Thebiglead;

1) Read my posts THOROUGHLY. I have said time and again, those reporters affiliated with a newspaper (a legitimate news-gathering agency, as many creds read) should be in the pressbox, locker room, etc. And then you go and cite Dan Steinberg . . . at the Washington Post as someone who doesn't post from his basement. No ****. I've said all along somone employed as a newspaper's reporter (be it for print or web) has an argument to be there.

2) If you personally would rather be at home doing multiple things, you aren't doing a thorough enough job. Catching the first, sixth and ninth innings isn't enough to make a judgement on a game.

3) Gilbert Arenas is overrated, the national media (and fans outside DC) got tired of his "poor-me, I-was-cut" act really fast. I can think of five NBA players worthy of more coverage than him.

 

[Flying Headbutt]

What's odd is that I sometimes got the feeling Steinberg doesn't like what he does in terms of blogging, but he clearly gets it. I've never understood the hostility some people have to other forms of media here, especially bloggers. Not all bloggers are as professional and rational as they should be, but some of them are and those are the ones that should at least be accepted, if not embraced. And a lot of those guys can help drive traffic to your paper's sites or the dead tree edition by talking about your stories.

And welcome here, Dan.

 

[SoSueMe]

Well said Flying Headbutt.

If papers were smart, they'd put the good, professional, high-traffic bloggers on their payroll.

 

[da man]

I think what gets everyone so riled up on the subject of bloggers in the press box/press conference is that many of us have run into the loudmouthed idiots like the Redskins guys, whose only reason to be in the press box or locker room is to write about how cool it is to be writing from the press box and visiting their heroes afterward in the locker room. Oh, and to cheer like hell for their team. Because any blogger there for legitimate purposes tends to blend in with the rest of us, the idiots leave the lasting impression, so they are the ones everyone associates with the term ``bloggers.''

The key is differentiating betweeen the two when issuing credentials.

 

[zagoshe]

The key is differentiating betweeen the two when issuing credentials.

Bingo.

 

[SoSueMe]

Some bloggers, perhaps even most when I think about it, kill me. They frown on the "old media's way" and trumpet "citizen journalism" and "honest opinion" and then want all the same access as the "old media."

You can't have it both ways.

If you're a "citizen journalists" fine. Citizens don't have access to the locker rooms and press conferences.

 

[Cousin Jeffrey]

Give me bloggers over annoying radio stringers any da.

 

[auggie_ben_doggie]

Well said Flying Headbutt.

If papers were smart, they'd put the good, professional, high-traffic bloggers on their payroll.

Let me guess - if a "good, professional, high-traffic blogger" gets put on a newspaper's payroll, THEN he or she would "deserve" to be in the press box, right? But not before that?

 

[zagoshe]

Well said Flying Headbutt.

If papers were smart, they'd put the good, professional, high-traffic bloggers on their payroll.

Let me guess - if a "good, professional, high-traffic blogger" gets put on a newspaper's payroll, THEN he or she would "deserve" to be in the press box, right? But not before that?

Now you are learning.

 

[SoSueMe]

Well said Flying Headbutt.

If papers were smart, they'd put the good, professional, high-traffic bloggers on their payroll.

Let me guess - if a "good, professional, high-traffic blogger" gets put on a newspaper's payroll, THEN he or she would "deserve" to be in the press box, right? But not before that?

I always wanted to say this on here:
Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

 

[auggie_ben_doggie]

Let me guess - if a "good, professional, high-traffic blogger" gets put on a newspaper's payroll, THEN he or she would "deserve" to be in the press box, right? But not before that?

I always wanted to say this on here:
Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Just so I'm clear: The blogger is good. Good enough to get hired by a newspaper. The blogger has "high traffic," which means he or she has readership and, in many cases, revenue. The blogger is, in your words, professional - not a fanboy or basement dweller or three thousand other stereotypes mentioned on these boards. But it's only when this blogger is hired by a newspaper that he or she should be considered for a press credential?

Save your chicken dinner - that argument doesn't make a finger-lick of ****ing sense.