Doing non-journalism piddling while working

They conceivably can. They probably aren't.

 

Sorry, shot, gotta disagree on this one.
I could tell you of at least 2 well-known columnists I know who are often highly praised on this board, who spend entire games surfing the net, answering e-mails, talking on their cells and taking practically no notes.
But they have good reps and sure get praised around here.

 

So no one has looked around the pressbox and noticed some guy who's just....there? Come on...happens all the time. You bump the guy next to you and give the little head nod, 'you seeing this?'

I didn't think rb was whining....just making a point. Doesn't look good when you're playing solitaire in the middle of a big game.

 

Thank you. Again.

Look, I don't want to be a prick about this. Or ... maybe I do. The people who get uppity and say "don't worry about what the other guy's doing; worry about yourself" ... you're part of the problem.

There IS a general distrust and disgust about the media, and the picture of "journalists" sitting in the press box and diddling around on a solitaire game is hard for a lot of outsiders to accept. Especially when some of those outsiders paid a scalper $200 just to get into the stadium.

 

But the outsiders don't accept it, because they're reading the paper the next day, not watching closed-circuit television of the writers playing solitaire.

Anyone who covers an entire 3-hour event without ONCE taking a break or going to the bathroom or checking e-mail, I applaud you. Shottie, I can only assume you have the bladder of an elephant.

 

(actually, I meant it doesn't look good to your colleagues in the pressbox...I would agree that most fans don't have a clear shot at what's on the writers' computer screens.)

 

and if we just could legislate your morals, the world would be a much better place, wouldn't it?

 

They don't have to see it, ladies. We have people defending it on a public message board.

 

Shottie, you know I respect you. You're one of my favorites on this board.

But if you think the fact people take a break in the middle of a 3-hour game to play solitaire or check their e-mail is one of the biggest problems facing our profession, then I have to disagree.

If he filed copy by deadline, wrote to length, got the story and made his boss happy, then I don't give a shit what he did in the interim.

 

But there is a school of thought that says you can't be at your very best if you're sidetracking yourself in the middle of a game, maybe even a few times during the game. Complete and total focus during a game and nothing else: nothing wrong with people who believe in that theory.

 

I agree with you that there is a general distrust of media -- but I don't think that has much to do with how exactly we go about doing our jobs when on assignment.

I think that has more to do with a general distrust of all public institutions, and the lack of trust among ALL of them, probably since the 1960s or at least since Watergate.

For us in particular, I think the distrust has more to do with a divided culture -- with a population that would rather read/hear stories that they agree with than stories that inform them. They tell us to be objective but get upset when we're not fanboys. They castigate very good reporters like Dan Rather and destroy his credibility because of their political views.

It also has to do with the messages being sent out by corporate ownership, cutting staff and cutting resources at every paper across the country.

We like to beat ourselves up about all the ways we're "failing" at real journalism, but the fact of the matter is, what we do or don't do in the press box, how we take notes between plays at a football game, doesn't have a huge effect on the "collective reputation" (whatever that is) of journalism. But when your audience is telling you they're not interested in real journalism, and your managers are telling you they're not interested in real journalism ... I don't know, I just think we need to work more on how to connect better with readers and ownership and work less on how to beat ourselves up.

Look ... there are slackers in every business. In journalism, in accounting, in education, in sales/marketing, in retail ... and on and on ...

But if there is a general disgust about the media, it has little to do with writers checking e-mail or surfing the Web in between plays at a football game. And even if that stops, it's not going to change how the media is perceived -- I just don't think that comes into play.

The self-flagellation in this business borders on the perverse sometimes.

 

Would you feel the same if he was playing Minesweeper?