CJR: 'How the sports beat needs to evolve'

Because if newspapers don't cover a team/sport and cover it seriously, it doesn't have credibility.

It is true newspapers aren't the only source, but what newspapers do affects TV news, sportstalk radio, and other media simply because newspapers are the primary source of information. Newspapers are closest to the people. You see sports talk radio having newspaper people on their air all of the time; you don't see newspaper reporters relying on sports talk radio hosts for information. That is an example of credibility.

Case in point: The Lakers and the Clippers are both NBA teams in the LA area. Both have their games on TV, both have websites, etc., etc. But the Lakers dominate coverage and are taken much more seriously than the Clippers. In terms of media, that starts with the newspapers and I think the newspapers are affected by individuals.

 

Maybe I'm naive, but I still believe people want to read beat stories from newspaper scribes who can write the hell out of a gamer (if there is time), provide newsy and "insider" notes and write good features.

We just have to learn how to package it and sell it in an online world.

 

There's a lot of truth to what you both wrote, but as is commonly the case around here, good points are taken too far to the extreme.

In a cesspool of opinion-spewing, information is becoming a valuable commodity.

A televised broadcast of a game is chock full of information. So is a newspaper beat writer's notebook. Those things and people aren't going away because they've got the valuable commodity.

Regarding access and lack thereof, these teams and coaches are having to ensconce themselves in fortresses to avoid an infestation of media. THERE'S TOO MUCH DAMN MEDIA!!!

We're truly at a tipping point now. Cutbacks in print, TV, online and radio are starting to help this problem ever so slightly. I covered a football media day a few months back that is usually so packed you can't breathe. This year, I noticed a very slight thinning out-- which is a good thing!

I don't want anybody to lose his job, but if we could get to a point where we're not crawling all over everybody like carpenter ants, those fortresses might start to come down.

Furthermore, I think you'll start to see more reporters who are "one-man-multimedia-bands," which will also help the thinning-out process.

 

Other multibillion dollar corporations have been expert at spooning out information, spinning and making it suicidal for employees to speak out for decades. Yet news and business sections have been getting scoops all along and breaking it all down on YouTube. Just because sports is now doing this doesn't mean we can't still get stuff. Just have to work harder to get sources and info.

 

Lugnuts - Amen, brother. One of the reasons I've soured on sports is that I can't talk to anyone on my beat without being surrounded by 15 other TV cameras and Internet and print journalists. And the teams set it up this way. Not just to control information, like we all think. But by logistical necessity. Ninety-nine percent of the time, you start to feel like a damned court stenographer rather than a journalist. Obviously, I understand that you have to rise above that, work hard for those scoops and one-on-ones, build relationships, yada, yada, yada. But, to be completely frank, I don't want to. At some point, it no longer feels worth it to juke and jike to get a quote about the wide receiver's sprained ankle that you think someone else might not have. And then do it all again tomorrow.

 

Waylon, right there with ya, bro.

I feel like I'm actually pretty good with social cues and body language, but you approach a coach these days, and he looks at you like, "Stay back - what do you want from me?"

The coaches and players have become cynical and suspicious, if not flat out paranoid. These guys are gang banged so much at every turn, a lot of them have become very protective of their literal and figurative "space."

 

Brother? (giggle)

Anyhoo, another problem is that handling of the media is now a standard part of the care and feeding of the prospective star athlete. Fewer and fewer "real" stories out there to get. The prep beat may end up looking better and better to writers who want to stay interested in the craft

 

Stop relying on press conferences. If you want to write about the star running back, ask his parents, his best friend, his high school science teacher. Use him and the coach just to cross the Ts, but get the real meat from places the team can't control.

 

We all do that, I'm sure. I know I do. But it gets old after a while, having to turn every simple feature into Mission: Impossible. I don't think anyone who is worth anything is "relying" on press conferences. But when you're on a beat, things tend to get breakneck. And when you're constantly having to battle everyone over the stupidest, simplest shit, it becomes extremely draining.

 

Oh, believe me, WJ, I know about the grind. It's not possible to do that with every single story. But I think in general we've become too reliant on what the teams will allow us to have and not enterprising enough to generate original stuff. Stuff that will keep us relevant. I mean, we can't just keep wishing that it will all turn around and be 1985 again.

And I'm not saying that's what you think. I'm saying I have detected that general feeling from some in the business.