Sports Reporting Changing

[Dr Z]

A lot of writers (including our own GT) are retweeting this article written by By Dan Shaughnessy in todays Boston Globe.

Small excerpt:

Trust me when I tell you this whole thing has changed. When I came into this business in the 1970s, it was OK for sports reporters to be skeptical and critical. It was not a crime against humanity if you suggested the Patriots or Red Sox might not win the championship, or perhaps might not be serving the best interests of their fans. It was OK to occasionally poke fun at Haywood Sullivan or Billy Sullivan.

Naturally, the Internet is a good source of explanation for this new dynamic. The web gives fans an infinite forum. Fans have a place to read like-minded people. It’s like one giant sports-talk show with no hosts interrupting. It turns out that fans love reading other fans. And, naturally, they all love their teams. What a surprise. Now they expect everyone else to love a team. It’s the wild west of fanboys.

It kind of reminded me of CK's recent "quality is in the eye of the reader" post.

[LZIp]

I disagree with the first part of your excerpt about it not being OK to be a realist. I think it's a cop out. Fans have the ability to look at their teams rationally, but to each their own, I guess.

[zippy5]

I disagree with the first part of your excerpt about it not being OK to be a realist. I think it's a cop out. Fans have the ability to look at their teams rationally, but to each their own, I guess.

The article is about sports writers

[LZIp]

The article is about sports writers

I'm aware. I assumed the author was insinuating it wasn't "OK" to do that now due to fan backlash.

[zippy5]

I'm aware. I assumed the author was insinuating it wasn't "OK" to do that now due to fan backlash.

Eh nevermind I think we're saying the same thing

[Dave in Green]

It has to be hard for the average person to fully understand the following statement from this story:

This is how we were trained a few decades ago. We were instructed not to root for the home team. Just deliver the story and the analysis.

That’s the way it is in other departments of a legitimate news operation. Journalists who cover politics, science, medicine, labor, and international relations are asked to put their agendas on the shelf. Tell the story. The reporter covering the Romney-Obama election is not supposed to be a fan of either candidate.

That's how I was trained a few decades ago. Good reporters take the journalistic oath as seriously as good doctors take the Hippocratic Oath. When I was a reporter, I set aside all my personal beliefs when covering a story and was as objective and neutral as I could possibly be. The world has changed, and advocacy journalism has become more and more common. If people believe something, all they have to do is find a media outlet that advocates the same beliefs, and they'll be fed a steady diet of stories that only reinforce their beliefs and never challenge them. Having experienced both worlds, I prefer the former to the latter. But since we're living in the latter today, I'm at least thankful that my professional training and life experience allows me to see a little more clearly through the modern fog.

[Z.I.P.]

It has to be hard for the average person to fully understand the following statement from this story:

That's how I was trained a few decades ago. Good reporters take the journalistic oath as seriously as good doctors take the Hippocratic Oath. When I was a reporter, I set aside all my personal beliefs when covering a story and was as objective and neutral as I could possibly be. The world has changed, and advocacy journalism has become more and more common. If people believe something, all they have to do is find a media outlet that advocates the same beliefs, and they'll be fed a steady diet of stories that only reinforce their beliefs and never challenge them. Having experienced both worlds, I prefer the former to the latter. But since we're living in the latter today, I'm at least thankful that my professional training and life experience allows me to see a little more clearly through the modern fog.

It has become de rigueur in the world of sports reporting, and I think it is in part because so many of us hang out at sites like this one! Sites where we do not dare question the wisdom of our coach, or the play of our boys on the gridiron, pitch, floor, canvas, etc., etc. Unless we're Quickzip, that is!