> Sports journalism is facing the same reality as actual journalism. > Ignorant executives in charge think that news stories magically appear on > the Internet and don't require people to actually investigate them (or > write them), so they downsize...
I agree wholeheartedly with your general point about journalism. In a world where nobody's paying much of a premium for original reporting, there are fewer resources available for it, and less gets done, even as there are more outlets to consume and regurgitate that reporting. (When I'm posting links, I try to find the original article, rather than one that's based on it.) Jason Whitlock has some thoughts on all this: http://j.school/post/131990824925/green-grass-is-missing-were-dying ESPN is a special case. There are, arguably, three kinds of programming: (1) Coverage of full events. In most cases, ESPN will pay the presenting organization rights fees; in some cases, the presenters will pay to get their event on the air (and probably get to sell some advertising minutes). (2) Non-event coverage, which includes highlights and discussing events and participants past and future. (3) Actual arm's-length journalism, which will offend some rightsholders from time to time. There's some reporting in category 2, often about injuries or player movement, and occasionally about off-field misconduct, but it mostly supports category 1. There's not a lot of category 3 programming. I'm sure ESPN will swear that the journalistic parts of the operation are independent, but then something like League of Denial happens. While it sounds like this round of layoffs will seriously damage ESPN's collective memory, there are still veterans on and off-air to lend their experience. Vin Scully is an institution who deserves all the nice things you and everybody else say about him, but he's already cut back his schedule. Like other announcers with long tenures who move on, the Dodgers will eventually (have to) replace him. The new guy will have trouble living up to his predecessor, and may or may not last, but things will ultimately return to equilibrium and people will watch baseball. -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
