Nats beat writer asks blog readers to send him to spring training

Sounds like a sales pitch to me, not a charity case:

But if you do participate, I'm going to return the favor by offering you extra, exclusive coverage all spring.

Take a moment to decide what you think this coverage is worth to you. If you decide it's worth a donation, please click on the link below and help make this trip happen.

 

i'm still waiting for those dollars, people. i did, after all, say "pretty please."

 

I'm not saying he's going to get rich off this. But anyone wanting to target advertising to Washington Nationals fans can be 100 percent assured they are going to reach them there. Heck, the Nationals themselves might be better off advertising there.

 

No question about that. I think he's using his blog the same way I used mine, as I mentioned earlier in this thread, as a vehicle to get his next paying job. Pesonally I think it speaks pretty well about your ability if you can show that X number of people think enough of your work to pay for it. How many of the rest of us can say that?

 

from Caring House Foundation:

"Orphan sportswriters are the ones who suffer the most. Worldwide, a sportswriter dies every
five seconds from hunger and related poverty diseases...six million each year.
They stand no chance without us, can you please consider helping feed a hungry
sportswriter in poverty or give to our water fund program saving many lives, a lifetime charity
gift?"

 

I fail to understand the indignation of some folks here. Mark was a successful reporter on the Nats beat and to let that experience go to waste would be an incredible shame.

Nobody should expect he'll be able to provide the same level of coverage without any financial resources. He was given money to be able to do his job before, and he's being given money to do that same exact job now.

Just because it doesn't look like journalism did when we all started doesn't mean it's not journalism.

Is this a sustainable model for Mark? Probably not, but I hope so. Is it a model we can all follow one day? Probably not, but I'm happy its working for at least one among us. If you don't like it, silently protest by not donating.

 

No, that was actually some idiot in the Unification Church speaking.

There is a market for quality Washington Nationals coverage, unless you think the 10,000+ fans they draw every night is charity as well.

 

Randall Milholland, the comic artist behind Something Positive, has had the comic as his full time job for years off ad revenue and reader donations.

 

ii mad henry is spending time here and not spending time helping haitians

i was hoping to see some good questions raised, and saw some, but once again, someone has to find their ability to feel superior in an online forum.

it's tiring and why i'm rarely here anymore

 

May not be so in this case, but begging can be a sustainable revenue model. There's an urban legend in my parts about a panhandler who takes home 40k a year tax free, the equivalent of one of us making, I dunno, 50k. Paid for his new F150 with cash. At least Zuckerman et al are giving their benefactors something in return.

 

Why do some of us insist he's "begging" for money?

He's laid it out there. To summarize: If you send money, I'll go to spring training and provide YOU something tangible.

Begging is: If you send money, I'll do something for myself and YOU get NOTHING in return, other than the warm, fuzzy feeling of helping someone.

 

I'd rather help fellow sportswriters than give money to Haiti.