Beat writers for pro sports teams

[\GoBillsInDallas/]

How long before this ends up being the "norm" for every team?

 

http://www.theringer.com/nba/2018/4/27/17289922/new-orleans-pelicans-playoffs-beat-writers

 

 

[PromoTheRobot]

22 hours ago, \GoBillsInDallas/ said:

How long before this ends up being the "norm" for every team?

 

http://www.theringer.com/nba/2018/4/27/17289922/new-orleans-pelicans-playoffs-beat-writers

 

 

 

Unfortunately newspapers are on life support in many cities, even large ones. They have fewer and fewer full time reporters and more freelancers. Couple years ago I supplemented my income being a high school sports freelancer for the largest paper in NH. When their Patriots/Sox guy left, I could have went for the job if I was willing to cover my own expenses driving to Boston and Foxboro (the latter could be a 2 hour drive in traffic.) As tempting as it was to get MLB and NFL credentials, I had to pass. It would have been essentially working for free. If I were in my 20s looking for a break, it would have been an amazing opportunity. But for a guy in his 50s, it was financial suicide.

Edited May 4, 2018 by PromoTheRobot

[boyst]

37 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

Unfortunately newspapers are on life support in many cities, even large ones. They have fewer and fewer full time reporters and more freelancers. Couple years ago I supplemented my income being a high school sports freelancer for the largest paper in NH. When their Patriots/Sox guy left, I could have went for the job if I was willing to cover my own expenses driving to Boston and Foxboro (the latter could be a 2 hour drive in traffic.) As tempting as it was to get MLB and NFL credentials, I had to pass. It would have been essentially working for free. If I were in my 20s looking for a break, it would have been an amazing opportunity. But for a guy in his 50s, it was financial suicide.

Unfortunately?

 

It's their own doing.  It's not unfortunate.

[US Egg]

With social media, fans now counter/confront local sport writers & radio types unlike ever before.

 

 With this, the smugness/snark/sarcasm with how the local sports print and radio heads report has skyrocketed.

 

It doesn't help sell papers or keep listeners, along with so many options available on the internet.

Edited May 4, 2018 by Ifartalot

[PromoTheRobot]

25 minutes ago, Boyst62 said:

Unfortunately?

 

It's their own doing.  It's not unfortunate.

You should value a free press. It's a pillar of our democracy.

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

1 hour ago, Ifartalot said:

With social media, fans now counter/confront local sport writers & radio types unlike ever before.

 

 With this, the smugness/snark/sarcasm with how the local sports print and radio heads report has skyrocketed.

 

It doesn't help sell papers or keep listeners, along with so many options available on the internet.

This.  Before twitter you could email the writer but that email is kept somewhat private not rebroadcast 100’s of times. 

[boyst]

45 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

You should value a free press. It's a pillar of our democracy.

Free press is not free. Democracy dies behind firewalls, as well.

 

Major conglomerate newspapers bought out local papers and stomped the rest out of existence to avoid competition. They realized recently, as other means came about, that the print media forum is not fiscally stable or solvent.  Those small local papers across the country do more for anyone than the large USA Today's and WaPo's and NY Times, etc who pander a company line not addressing their community but only their constituents. This has created the vacuum we have politically today where people still believe Trump worked with Russia and that Hillary had no way to lose the election.

 

These actions by the media, specifically the newspapers are careless and have been since the Maine was sunk by the Germans at Pearl Harbor.  The newspapers are finally facing what they've always deserved.

 

Specifically in this care, regarding sports journalism, the Stephen A Smith, and PTI and Around the Horn and all of those blowhards capitalize on drama and emotions like whining children but that is what the bases want.  Newspapers are a day late and a dollar short when it comes to sports coverage. It is something special when a reporter gets a chance to cover something deeper than the headlines for a story in this field.  Wawrows investigation in to Bon Jovi or Graham's story on former Bills are prime examples of good sports journalism. Simply telling the world the score from last night's game or reporting someone said something insensitive to LeBron James isn't journalism.  It's salacious pandering to draw emotion and elicit a response which is unprofessional and weak.

[row_33]

I’m watching the game at home and I’m told almost nothing that I didn’t just see on the screen. Sometimes it’s three people yammering away telling me nothing.

 

and all the scores and stats are instantly with me, if I want them.

 

And the content of writing after the game is little more than beating a broke drum and a quick glance at the box score

 

we don’t need them

 

 

 

[KD in CA]

11 hours ago, row_33 said:

I’m watching the game at home and I’m told almost nothing that I didn’t just see on the screen. Sometimes it’s three people yammering away telling me nothing.

 

 

It's almost always 3 people yamming away about nothing, because you can play that 24x7 and that's a lot cheaper than paying 3 people to build relationships and write  intelligent pieces that take days or weeks to develop.

 

Once the mass media realized more profit could be made by pandering to the lowest common denominator (aka 'idiots'), they signed the death certificate for real journalism.   ESPN and NFL Network are just following the example from CNN, FoxNews and MSNBC.

 

You might as well watch the Real Housewives -- at least they're wearing low-cut tops.

[Just Jack]

23 hours ago, Boyst62 said:

Major conglomerate newspapers bought out local papers and stomped the rest out of existence to avoid competition. They realized recently, as other means came about, that the print media forum is not fiscally stable or solvent.  Those small local papers across the country do more for anyone than the large USA Today's and WaPo's and NY Times, etc who pander a company line not addressing their community but only their constituents.

 

It depends on the paper, our local paper has horrible editing, no proofreading before posting. One article I saw was about two brothers, one was in jail, the other not, but the writer kept using one brothers name throughout the entire thing. Here's a sample....

 

Quote

Richard Thibodeau, acquitted of Heidi Allen's kidnapping, passed a polygraph test this month, maintaining that neither he nor his convicted brother Richard had anything to do with the teen's 1994 disappearance.

 

In another article, before the Super Bowl, a sports writer said the Bills played their third SB in Minneapolis. It's small stupid mistakes like these that we see daily here.