Is Bleacher Report Journalism?

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The biggest difference is that professional journalists have obligations that simply do not exist on Bleacher Report if people do not think about them. People do not have to be factually accurate here if they do not want to be.  

Sure, credibility is important to some on Bleacher Report, but they impose those restrictions on themselves. After all, the worst that will happen is a thorough belittling in a comment thread.

There is also no obligation to present a balanced story.

Do you want to personally attack everyone who cast an All-Star vote for Manny Ramirez? Or maybe an article about why Brett Favre is a traitor if he ends up playing for Minnesota this season?  

Well, you can do it here with no negative repercussions. Favre and Manny cannot refuse to grant you interviews if you were not interviewing them in the first place, right?

Also, there is not much information-gathering going on here at Bleacher Report. The vast majority of writers here specialize in the art of interpretation of information already gathered.  

I, for one, definitely am not working sources for this article or any article I have written here. Some people here, such as Kristin Hamlin, have interviewed sports figures. That is great for the site, but is the exception and not the rule on Bleacher Report.

With that said, however, I do think that Bleacher Report is a great place for aspiring journalists to practice the craft.  

People can find their voice, sharpen their wit, and participate in public sports debate. That is fun, first of all, and also creates a more knowledgeable community.

And, as many NFL writers here know, the site has a partnership with CBS Sports, and CBS is hiring 32 writers, one for each NFL team, to cover the 2009 football season.

Certainly, this is a great opportunity for anyone seriously interested in breaking into true sports journalism. I just think that those lucky few who get selected will have a learning curve that they will have to navigate.  

To conclude, Bleacher Report is a great starting point for armchair columnists, but the world of journalism encompasses so much more than opining about this team and that player.

It is about informing the masses and holding those dignified people, whether they are clean-up hitters or Congressmen, accountable for their performances. It is also about holding ourselves accountable for the facts we present and the reputation we build.

Without the stringent guidelines that bind journalists in respect to these obligations, Bleacher Report simply cannot be considered a journalistic venture, no matter how much we want it to be.

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