If this isn't the place for this macro question....
What's the state of sportswriting today? Vital, reinvented form? Limping, dying beast?
I think everyone agrees -- could be wrong -- that the demise of the print business model has devastated enterprise, investigative and deep profile writing. I think everyone agrees -- could be wrong -- that the rise of athlete/celeb social media tools has ravaged access. Seems the first person critique, (the theater/art/rock reviewer model) has become the de facto replacement: MY take, done stylishly, or analytically (based on numbers, not reporting in the field on humans) over and over again.
The response to Wright Thompson's recent Joe Montana piece feels like a commentary on this: It stood out, I think, mostly because it was an outlier. So few deep -- critical -- profiles on anyone of weight are published these days.
But maybe this is a new golden age. Seriously. Sites like the Sunday Long Read weekly showcase great, deeply reported stories (though the sports sector feels thin...). Sally Jenkins and the rest of the Washington Post still bring vital thinking and takeouts and ESPN -- to its credit -- still aggressively investigates its NFL partner. I ashume that's a function of deep-pocketed owners, and the rest of the biz is a hollowed-out shell.
Maybe not. Would love to know if greatness is still happening in a craft we love.
If the response here is crickets? That's an answer in itself.
What's the state of sportswriting today? Vital, reinvented form? Limping, dying beast?
I think everyone agrees -- could be wrong -- that the demise of the print business model has devastated enterprise, investigative and deep profile writing. I think everyone agrees -- could be wrong -- that the rise of athlete/celeb social media tools has ravaged access. Seems the first person critique, (the theater/art/rock reviewer model) has become the de facto replacement: MY take, done stylishly, or analytically (based on numbers, not reporting in the field on humans) over and over again.
The response to Wright Thompson's recent Joe Montana piece feels like a commentary on this: It stood out, I think, mostly because it was an outlier. So few deep -- critical -- profiles on anyone of weight are published these days.
But maybe this is a new golden age. Seriously. Sites like the Sunday Long Read weekly showcase great, deeply reported stories (though the sports sector feels thin...). Sally Jenkins and the rest of the Washington Post still bring vital thinking and takeouts and ESPN -- to its credit -- still aggressively investigates its NFL partner. I ashume that's a function of deep-pocketed owners, and the rest of the biz is a hollowed-out shell.
Maybe not. Would love to know if greatness is still happening in a craft we love.
If the response here is crickets? That's an answer in itself.