Lack of Class and Professionalism

 

^^Blogging needs more of him.

Read the full column here: http://www.bleedinggreennation.com/2010/5/18/1476069/heard-the-footsteps-column-i

At first this part of my column was going to be about DeSean Jackson's recent media attention and his upcoming contract negotiations/discussions. However, as I began to write about the subject, I realized a better story, hiding under the surface.

It's something that is discussed almost as an aside on this and other sites. It's not seen as a plague so much as an annoying pest. That, to me, is the problem with the situation.  

The story hiding under a lot of "stories" in professional sports is the lack of professionalism by those who cover it. I realize that with the new age of Internet journalism, anyone has the ability to place his or her voice to be heard by those who choose to access or read it.

Some of you may shrug because the word blog is normally associated with an average person on the street and you have the right to be unconcerned about the state of affairs with the coverage of sports by blogs. But that does not excuse the fact that there is a distinct lack of journalistic standards being held by those who wish to cover sports.  

If I was to open a normal American newspaper, I am most likely to believe that what I am reading is written by a writer who is not only paid to write about sports, but has gone to school and learned the ethics and cannons of journalism.  I'm not going to harp on people for not taking journalism in college, but there are things you learn beyond just grammar, mechanics and structure for writing.  

I can't describe the level of annoyance I have whenever I see an instance of incorrect journalism.  I've grown to basically despise sites like PFT because they are the reasons why blogs have yet to gain true acceptance by the journalistic community.  

There are writers who do not have legitimacy with professional writers lucky enough to write for the AP or publications like the Philadelphia Inquirer for the sole reason that they are bloggers. I don't think anyone who reads an article by JasonB or JimmyK can state that their writing isn't interesting or new.  For example, while there has been plenty of talk about how Kolb projects to be as a quarterback in the NFL, I had yet to see a drive-by-drive breakdown of his professional throws. Yet, JimmyK's analysis would be scoffed at by a good amount of writers or scouts because of one word: blog.  

Does the platform of JimmyK's writing require him to be diminished to nothing more than a crazy guy on a soapbox? No, it does not.  His analysis of Kolb's NFL ability is just as qualified as an Inquirer writer, but because of the status of each, JimmyK loses out.  I don't think that JimmyK would state that he is as qualified as someone like Ray Didinger, but the fact that his analysis was solely upon game film and was just simply a breakdown of that game film shows that he has a propensity to analyze in the same fashion as the greats of journalism.  

Now the problem for people like us is that it takes a miracle to be recognized as an accepted source of opinion or news on sports (i.e. the writers from sbnation that have been hired by professional teams or media outlets). The reason that it takes a miracle is because of the lack of professionalism on many blog sites from their main writers.

Journalism classes may preach against yellow journalism or misinformation but that does not prevent people like Mike Florio from ruining chances for the rest of us. I would give an educated guess that the vast majority of the readers and commentators on BGN either enjoy communicating with other Eagles fans or are looking for a way to write and have people read and comment on their writing. For a smaller portion of our community, like me, this blog may be an avenue for a future career. It makes me shut my eyes and shake my head whenever I see my attempts to improve my writing and move towards a career blocked every second by people like Florio, who give all of us bad names.

So where is my angry ramble going?  I'm heading like a cruise missile towards "news" blogs like PFT. The best example I can think of just so happens to be one of the more recent examples of PFT's outlandish forms of journalism.  Jackson made some noise nationally when he was extremely misquoted by online football sources such as ProFootballTalk.com (the ultimate misquoting source of all time).  Donovan McNabb was informed of Jackson's assertion that "I don't think we lost anything, even without McNabb" and the national media created an artificial war of the words between the two players.  

All of a sudden, a non-issue from a very good interview in Sporting News turned into an attention grabber for various media outlets. Some sites (I'm looking at you ProFootballTalk and its King, Mike Florio) decided it was a great idea to start a media movement to declare Jackson the span of Satan Terrell Owens, with titles along the lines of: "DeSean Jackson could become TO". Then the attention started to fade because Sporting News' actual interview began to flow freely amongst journalists and soon the context of the Jackson quotes was pointed out to all involved.  

I don't call people out unless they deserve it, and in this case Florio and company deserve all the criticism they can get.  PFT does not deserve the light of day, yet it currently holds the attention of some notable sports news institutions, like ESPN.  All the while, a quality blog like http://www.runofplay.com/ , one of the most well written soccer, nay, sports blogs out there is only well known to the select few who are privileged enough to have found it online (I recommend the blog to even non-soccer fans, it's one of the best pieces of writing you'll find anywhere on anything).

 

In Part II, I'll continue my discussion of blogs in the professional sports journalism world and break down how sites like PFT and Deadspin ignore the longtime foundations of journalism, the cannons of journalism.

Read the full column here: http://www.bleedinggreennation.com/2010/5/18/1476069/heard-the-footsteps-column-i