Sunday, November 27, 2011

The Good, the Bad, and the Sports Reporters

Post contributed b y Tate Russell -

  The Sports Media Journal published an article on the most positive and negative aspects of today’s sports reporters and columnists. The first thing the author mentions is that beat writers should report exclusively and not offer their opinion on their beat; it is their job to provide facts not opinion. 
   I do agree with this statement I would rather form my own opinion based on the fats I get from the person who closely follows the team I’m reading about. His next point is that a columnist should be an authority on the subject their column covers but too often enough research is not done. I also agree with this point, when reading a column I hope to as much new knowledge as I can and so I hope the writer can throw a ton of information at me. 
  The article's author contends that the 24 hour news cycle has killed unique sports stories. Reporters are so driven to get every piece news out first that they sacrifice doing player profiles or investigative pieces. As an audience member those are the types of stories im more likely to read and more of them can only be good. He fears that younger journalists are learning to do everything, from shooting video, editing photos, creating podcasts and reporting via social media, and that this could lead to a lack in quality reporting skills in the traditional sense. This is contrary to what we learn at the University of Tennessee but I do think it is interesting that someone is challenging that point.

Source -  What's Right and What's Wrong with Sports Media Reporters and Columnists,  Sports Media Journal.

(some editing by BJB)

2 comments:

  1. This is one of those "coulda" arguments that has some validity in that the increased pace and demands on reporters "could" impact on the quality of their journalism.
    Here at UTK, like many other J-schools, we put the emphasis on the reporting, on the story and the story-telling. That comes first, then comes the ability to handle different media, and exporting the story for various media outlets. It's a lesson we hope our students take to heart, and the approach taken by most journalists dealing with today's multiple-media, highly-competitive world of news.

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  2. By Chris Thomas: The most interesting facet of the current state of sports journalism is the introduction and adaptation to social media. Twitter, specifically, has forced individuals outside the traditional realm of breaking news. This presents a double edged sword for readers, in my opinion. On one hand, media consumers have the quickest access to information that they have ever had. On the other, and as this article points out, the competitive nature among journalist to break a news story sacrifices the production of a quality, accurate and credible story at times.

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