Sideline reporter gave fake news

Fair enough, BYH. I agree with much of what you wrote. I guess I bristle at calling someone dumb -- but you're right, she said the part out loud, nonchalantly, meaning nobody ever taught her basic journalism ethics (WHERE ARE HER PRODUCERS?), or she just didn't care.

This seems fair:



As does this, from Pat Hanlon, the longtime NY Giants top media guy:



And if you want to watch an ultimate professional, or get a glimpse into how grueling and sometimes difficult it is to be a sideline reporter, follow Laura Okmin, who has a side gig training/mentoring young female sports journalists:

 

Where's that "when the worst person in the world makes a good point" GIF when you need it?

 

I know what it's like to be mocked for doing a job, so I might burst into flames for laughing at this. But she brought it on herself:

 

You're right, dumb was a, well, dumb choice of words on my part. Too many negative connotations and I apologize. And it's bad form by me to forget Andrea Kremer's great work, or the likes of Tracy Wolfson, Dana Jacobson and Melissa Stark. But they're also older and again, came of age in an era when there was at least a pretense of journalism on the sidelines as well as some cooperation from coaches. Between the NFL making everything a big spectacle and the self-importance and self-seriousness of coaches, I'm just not surprised when someone younger does something like this. Kaylee Hartung was trying to do everything the right way tonight and ran into a stone wall with a coach who doesn't know and wouldn't care if he did know that he's on a network that's paying $62.5 million to air this game.

 

Michelle Tafoya complaining about reporters making stuff up is kind of hilarious. She should be proud Thompson is following her lead.

 

I reacted much as BYH did initially, which is a kinda, sorta admission of saying the quiet part out loud in a different sense.

I do think, at its most baseline definition, it's a vapid job. Me personally? I rarely get anything out of it. I also think, at its core, that the job is a lot more about attractiveness (for both sexes) than it is about journalistic integrity. Not that journalism isn't important. It probably depends on the outlet. More on that momentarily.

All of that said? The key words above are "at its most baseline definition". That doesn't mean someone with the right approach can't take it well above that anymore than anyone else with talent can rise above the textbook definition of any job.

Many of the examples of those who took the job above its vapid roots have been named: Andrea Kremer, Lisa Salters, Pam Oliver are just a few. Allie LaForce is good on NBA TV broadcasts and she works hard in the trenches with everyone else postgame. I know, I've seen it. One from the past who was a pioneer was Lesley Visser. She enhanced the broadcast with her journalistic excellence. There are quite a few local sideline folks who are good, male and female, especially in baseball, because they basically embed with the teams they cover in the dugout. The good ones use that to great advantage to add to the broadcast.

Unfortunately, there are also many sideline reporters who never get beyond the vapid part. (And without opening up another can of worms, some who don't live up to the off-field standards of the job either.) If you're a knowledgeable sports fan, you can see right through them. If you're a questioning journalist, you can see right through the sensibility that got them hired in the first place. Who cares what they say as long as the viewers like what they see? That goes for both genders, by the way.

I think some of the individual networks are worse than others. It doesn't surprise me one bit that Thompson is Fox, because they definitely seem to de-value the journalism part of the job in favor of whether someone looks good. If journalism mattered above all? Oliver would have never been demoted from the No. 1 NFL team when she committed the horrible sin of getting older. (Even though by any normal standard, she still looks great.) They're the 21st Century version of what ABC used to do in the 70s and 80s.

It seems Turner and CBS seem to value journalistic integrity more so than Fox does. NBC and ESPN are somewhere in the middle.

Anyway, what Thompson did was dumb, but she's more guilty of arrogance than stupidity.

“I’ve said this before, so I haven’t been fired for saying it, but I’ll say it again. I would make up the report sometimes."

Jesus Christ, what a galactically brazen thing to throw out there. Why even go there? She also tossed Erin Andrews into the fire too.

She's definitely in the realm of fuck around, we'll see if Fox values journalism enough so that she finds out.

 

Hate to get all old man yells at cloud, but they came of age at a time where journalism was taken seriously and they took journalism seriously.

Does that occur to the same degree now? I kind of doubt it. Not in a time where image and the cult of celebrity has never been more valued over substance. Plus, even if there are reporters who take the journalism side seriously, the networks certainly don't. With rare exception, the industry is predicated on looks. In sports and otherwise.

Had a sports director in a spot I used to work in I was talking with about this once. I was giving him shit because a guy who came into the market long after he did, who worked about a quarter as hard as he did, and who had very little charisma on-air in any case, went from local yokel to national network studio anchor (still is, I think) in the span of, like, five years.

"How come your ass isn't working for the network. You're a helluva lot better than that empty suit," I said.

I thought it was good-natured ribbing, but I had touched a nerve. He said, quite seriously, "If you want my honest answer, I'm not good-looking enough."

I've never forgotten that. I guess those who get into the TV business know on some level what they're getting into, but I'd hate to have quality of my work bypassed for the hot guy or girl of the moment.

 

Here’s the deal. There’s no way that anyone can watch Thompson anymore and have full confidence that her reporting is accurate. Once that happens, you’re toast. That’s why fabrication is a cardinal sin.