Press Row

To the casual fan, the world of sports media looks stronger than ever.

Networks like ESPN/ABC and FOX offer unprecedented levels of coverage, both online and on television. (Just look at NBC’s projected coverage of the Olympics–a great read from The Globe and Mail in Canada.) The blogging realm gains more and more steam, with thousands of opinions and ideas casting a wide net on every new issue. And while the print media continues to fall and flounder, most fans don’t notice–they get the majority of their news online, anyway. (That’s even an old article from–imagine what those numbers would say now?)

But a deeper look at the issues and recent events in sports journalism–or, how sports journalism covered recent events–gives us a great snapshot at the truth of the matter: the field is in major flux, with no sense of direction and in serious need of an overhaul for a few reasons I’ll discuss here.

That’s quite a claim to make without any obvious common knowledge-style evidence to speak of. Then again, that’s why we’re calling it a “deeper look,” right?

The meteoric rise of the sports blogosphere (both among the independent bloggers and mainstream media) spawned this “immediate news” atmosphere, where hungry sports fans scour the internet 24/7 for breaking news, analysis, ideas, and just overall general sports reading. Heck, I’m even guilty; why SHOULDN’T I check out Joe Sports Fan at 2:30 AM?

With so many sports fans constantly surfing the web to see what’s happening, the race to be “first” has never meant so much. So important this race has become, that when a major story finally breaks, a portion of the coverage becomes, “Who broke it?”

It’s reached a point where the journalists aren’t just following the athletes anymore; sports fans are following the journalist, too.

“I think the ‘rush’ to be exclusive is more about ego,” said one beat writer from a major NFL market. “These people are competitive. They like to see their names go across the screen on the sports ticker or be recognized on Pro Football Talk. It’s human nature. People like to see and hear themselves be praised.”

Just look above at all the publicity Glazer won for his Favre coup earlier this month. Think back to all the coverage Dan Patrick received when he changed jobs, or even how much love Jamie Mottram saw when he headed to Yahoo! Sports. Lots of journalists see this as their chance to be a sort of mini-celebrity; the only thing is, accomplished media members like Glazer, Patrick and Mottram reached that status after great accomplishments in their field, breaking important stories and demonstrating responsible journalism.

[ed.--somewhat related: the lengths that some will go to see their names on Pro Football Talk or Deadspin is a little absurd. Another journalist I spoke to mentioned some sports writers who went so far as to call or e-mail a sports blog to ask why their news wasn't posted on the site. "This self-aggrandizement," they said, "is nauseating."]

Of course, in the all-important race to finish first, we’ve also seen some media outlets just swing and miss entirely, as this excellent list of ESPN gaffes from The News & Observer (North Carolina) illustrates.

Sadly, relatively few people really heard about the Los Angeles Times’ monumental whiff (same story as above link):

“The Los Angeles Times cited anonymous sources in 2006 to report that pitcher Roger Clemens and three other players had been named in an affidavit given by a former major leaguer. The affidavit was part of a federal doping investigation.

“The affidavit recently was unsealed. Clemens and the three other players were not named.”

(That couldn’t have helped the LA Times’ cause at all.)

“The problem is that there isn’t enough — or any — ramifications when these guys are wrong,” the NFL beat reporter continued. “In the olden days of newspapers, if you were wrong, you had to write a correction in the next day’s paper and go to the editor’s office and explain why and how you screwed up. That correction also showed up on your annual review. The only repercussions these days is a lack of credibility, but how many readers/viewers are really keeping score?”

Or even worse: what about when they just directly rob the correct news from other sources?

It feels like the “ESPN’s been stealing” storyline has existed since the dawn of time. (We even touched on it last column.) How is this happening? Aren’t major news “giants” like ESPN–which is slowly winning the lion’s share of investigative journalists–supposed to be setting the journalistic standard for the next generation? (Isn’t that why they hired an ombudsman?)

ESPN isn’t the only guilty party here. Plenty of media members (bloggers included) regularly grab a quote or an idea from a beat reporter’s column and post it on their own sites, and get passed off as their own.

With more and more credible, responsible journalists losing their jobs–and being replaced by less experienced writers, or not even getting replaced at all–a new generation of sports “coverage” is upon us. We are inundated by 24 hours a day of news and seemingly endless opinion in this wild-west world of journalism. The leaders don’t adhere to the rules, and don’t care because nothing will be done; the younger blood doesn’t develop credibility quick enough and isn’t taken seriously enough yet to be considered a threat to “traditional” media.

There’s a chance things could get worse before they get better. But if the every day sports fan doesn’t notice anyway, how are we supposed to know “better” when it happens?

Linked Up:

The most ambitious single media project in history. Grant Robertson, The Globe and Mail (Canada), 6/25/2008
Young people turn to the Web for news. Peter Johnson, USA Today, 3/22/2006
How One Man Beat an ESPN Army on the Favre Trade. The Big Lead, 8/7/2008
BRETT STORY FAVRE FROM OVER. Mike Florio, Pro Football Talk, 8/7/2008
Glazer spends day in airport, gets Favre scoop. Neil Best, Newsday, 8/8/2008
The Dan Patrick Goodbye Tour Is Underway. Awful Announcing, 8/15/2007
Olbermann, Patrick Together Again: Pair Will Co-Host NBC’s Football Night in America. The Big Lead, 7/7/2008
Dan Patrick’s Next Destination Is Duller Than You Think. Will Leitch, Deadspin, 7/12/2007
End of the Big Show. Richard Deitsch, Sports Illustrated, 8/2/2007
Dan Patrick: Brand-new again. Michael Hiestand, USA Today, 10/19/2007
Personal PR: I’m Going to Yahoo! Sports. Jamie Mottram, Mr. Irrelevant, 9/21/2007
‘Scoops’ based on anonymous sources often wrong. John Drescher, The News & Observer, 1/6/2008
The Los Angeles Times Apologize to Roger Clemens; Jason Grimsley’s Documents Unveiled… Yardbarker, 12/22/2007
Rick Reilly Is Stealing My Material. Rich Chandler, Deadspin, 7/18/2008
ESPN’S Colin Cowherd “Borrows” M Zone Material. Yost, The M Zone, 3/23/2006
Oh So This Is How You Repay Me ESPN The Magazine Website? Awful Announcing, 2/19/2008
Are Newspapers - and Everyone Else - Conceding Investigative Journalism to ESPN? The Big Lead, 7/22/2008
SPORTS ILLUSTRATED DEPENDS ON BLOGS. With Leather, 3/27/2007
Are You There Sam? It’s Me, Blogger. Dan Steinberg, Washington Post / DC Sports Bog, 2/20/2007