What Lee Jenkins' LeBron scoop says about our industry

[GBNF]

Really interested in thoughts about how the LeBron James Sorta-Decision-Part-2 news broke, via Sports Illustrated's Lee Jenkins.
Now, Lee is a friend, so I'm a bit biased about this, but how eye-opening and refreshing it was to see it go down this way. The part about this that impresses and intrigues me is that Lee didn't even Tweet the news immediately when he had it, instead waiting for it to post on SI.com.
All of the #SOURCES coming out of the national NBA writers for so long, even the reputable ones, boiled down to so little, and here comes Lee, who didn't Tweet once about LeBron - or, for that matter, any other player - during free agency, with the scoop of the year.
Of course, Chris "Confirns" Broussard has 37 times the Twitter followers than Jenkins, so maybe Lee is "doing Twitter wrong," but doing the job right?

 

[MisterCreosote]

This was definitely a "chills up my leg," shameful moment for 99.9 percent of the media. Included in that is probably everyone except Jenkins, Sheridan and Woj.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

I'll be interested in Lee's story about how he got he scoop. When did he know, who approached who, and how SI managed to fight the temptation to report it.

 

[Liut]

All of the #SOURCES coming out of the national NBA writers for so long, even the reputable ones, boiled down to so little, and here comes Lee, who didn't Tweet once about LeBron - or, for that matter, any other player - during free agency, with the scoop of the year.
Of course, Chris "Confirns" Broussard has 37 times the Twitter followers than Jenkins, so maybe Lee is "doing Twitter wrong," but doing the job right?

Here! Here! Well-stated, GBNF.

 

[Meatie Pie]

The story and the reaction to it say a lot about the Journalism industry, and that goes far beyond SI vs. ESPN, and all of us enjoying Chris Broussard falling flat on his face.

 

[Liut]

The story and the reaction to it say a lot about the Journalism industry, and that goes far beyond SI vs. ESPN, and all of us enjoying Chris Broussard falling flat on his face.

That was a lot of editing.;D

 

[Meatie Pie]

The story and the reaction to it say a lot about the Journalism industry, and that goes far beyond SI vs. ESPN, and all of us enjoying Chris Broussard falling flat on his face.

That was a lot of editing.;D

Sometimes it's just better to let the cheerleading continue as opposed to expressing actual ideas.

 

[Liut]

The story and the reaction to it say a lot about the Journalism industry, and that goes far beyond SI vs. ESPN, and all of us enjoying Chris Broussard falling flat on his face.

That was a lot of editing.;D

Sometimes it's just better to let the cheerleading continue as opposed to expressing actual ideas.

You were absolutely correct in your original post regarding who actually had the scoop.

 

[Drip]

It was a small victory in a losing war.

 

[TGO157]

I think it was refreshing to see it done in essay form. Not many writers would've thought up the Miami-college parallel, but there isn't a better description of LeBron's time in Miami and the difference in maturity from 2010 to now. Kind of speaks to the idea that there isn't anyone better to explain a life decision than the person making it.

 

[Meatie Pie]

The story and the reaction to it say a lot about the Journalism industry, and that goes far beyond SI vs. ESPN, and all of us enjoying Chris Broussard falling flat on his face.

That was a lot of editing.;D

Sometimes it's just better to let the cheerleading continue as opposed to expressing actual ideas.

You were absolutely correct in your original post regarding who actually had the scoop.

Sheridan deserves credit. His independent site had this, and never wavered.

But if Twitter is any indicator, some will bend over backwards to give Jenkins the recognition, often because . . .

Lee is a friend

And also, to be fair, because some may have missed the Sheridan scoop because there was so much noise about this story.

 

[MisterCreosote]

Maybe Jenkins was Sheridan's source.

 

[DanOregon]

Here is (I think) the genesis of the essay. Jenkins had his first sit down with LeBron a couple of years back and talked about it.

http://ht.cdn.turner.com/si/richarddeitsch/audio/2012/04/24/042412.deitsch_jenkins.mp3

Some interesting insight about ESPN about 12 min. in.

 

[Liut]

The story and the reaction to it say a lot about the Journalism industry, and that goes far beyond SI vs. ESPN, and all of us enjoying Chris Broussard falling flat on his face.

That was a lot of editing.;D

Sometimes it's just better to let the cheerleading continue as opposed to expressing actual ideas.

You were absolutely correct in your original post regarding who actually had the scoop.

And also, to be fair, because some may have missed the Sheridan scoop because there was so much noise about this story.

Good point.

For some odd reason, your use of ***noise*** conjured in my mind the scene from "Airplane" when ***stuff*** hits the control tower fan. ;D

 

[Football_Bat]

Other than Sheridan, LeBron and SI did an incredible job of keeping the lid on this. Major props.

It was a small victory in a losing war.

Or it could be a turning point in the war.

 

[Drip]

Other than Sheridan, LeBron and SI did an incredible job of keeping the lid on this. Major props.

It was a small victory in a losing war.

Or it could be a turning point in the war.

That would be great if it comes to pass.

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

Other than Sheridan, LeBron and SI did an incredible job of keeping the lid on this. Major props.

It was a small victory in a losing war.

Or it could be a turning point in the war.

No way.

It's a great get by Jenkins. It's also possible that LeBron's camp didn't want ESPN to get it first because they would want to turn it into a special or televise it.

 

[DanOregon]

Why give it to ESPN? Half their people would praise the move, the other half would say it was the dumbest thing ever and he should have never turned his back on the Heat who "gave" him two rings. In the podcast I linked to above, it is mentioned that he found the criticism he received about The Decision from the network that aired it somewhat curious.

 

[ondeadline]

How SI got the story: http://adage.com/article/media/sports-illustrated-lebron-james-exclusive/294096/

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

I like the "Trusted us not to turn it into a circus"

The thing I wonder about... ESPN hired a writer LeBron is very close with to cover him in Miami. How simple would it have been to send him to Las Vegas with LeBron? Hindsight is 20-20, but it makes you wonder.