The downfall of CBS Sports

Our friends over at The Big Lead scorched CBS Sports. Deservedly. It's been sad to watch the place disintegrate.

Low Morale at CBS Sports.com as it Eschews Reporting in Favor of Aggregation

Maybe the "crass, overbearing" Anthony Mormile will want to stop by and explain what happened?

 

It's an interesting story, but what the fuck do all those guys ripping CBS Sports for aggregation think The Big Lead actually does?

 

I think some of the Longform Inc. names lorded around here would have their minds blown if they were exposed regularly to their numbers of pageviews.

 

This is difficult to read for anyone still in the business (or who cares about it at all).

Swanson, the former managing editor at CBS Sports.com, says, emphatically, “no consumers give a shit who breaks stories. Everyone has them within minutes. We thought there was value, but there’s none. This isn’t opinion. This is empirical.”

But can anyone mount an argument against that statement?

 

The logical extension of Swanson's statement is the argument against it. If all news organizations believe it, then eventually no stories at all will get broken, and journalism will be nothing but press releases, happy talk by business, government, and all other institutions. There's ample evidence people will first stop believing the media and then stop consuming it.

 

Sure, at the endpoint. As for now, there are thousands of sites for CBS, The Big Lead and others to crib from.

 

This story really pisses me off. How about the argument that if you don't have good reporters you have nothing to fucking aggregate? The fucking greed and selfishness is mind blowing.

 

I chuckled about that.

 

Definitely a good point.

 

I found it alarmingly sad that Elling would take a job overseas to continue his career as a golf writer, while leaving his wife and young kids behind for long stretches. I know it's hard to switch gears and think of yourself in a new career, but come on, man, only professional athletes can legitimately go overseas to market cap on their eroding skills. A golf writer doing that seems like the height of delusion. Go into communications, PR, whatever, but don't do that. That seems crazy to me, but obviously he had his reasons.

 

His reasons are probably a mortgage and young kids.

 

Sure, the only job he could get that would pay his mortgage was overseas...maybe the only job that would allow him to basically continue doing the same job, with the same sense of self. There are plenty of jobs stateside that could capitalize on his skills. It's a tough pill to swallow, but chasing a disappearing career overseas is just that.