Detroit News reporter hates bloggers
A Detroit News beat reporter who covers the Detroit Pistons, Chris McCosky, went on a rant in his latest opinion piece targeting sports bloggers, Detroit Tigers bloggers in particular. His piece has gotten plenty of responses out of the blogosphere so I really don’t have anything extra to add to the discussion, but I wanted to round up the responses to the piece.
Let’s start with the original column (here’s just a snippet).
A lot of times these bloggers use the work of legitimate reporters. They will lift facts and segments of stories and cut and paste them onto their blog. Rarely, if ever, though, do they bother to credit the source.
They will write something like, “I am hearing the Pistons are going to start Antonio McDyess this year.” Well, wonder where you “heard” that. It was reported in the darn newspaper. Yet, the same blogger will go out of their way to ridicule the source they stole from.
Bloggers are having a field day speculating on how Joel Zumaya really injured his shoulder. Nobody believes a heavy box fell on him. So the Internet is rife with stories about how he fell off his dirt bike.
Now unless one of these bloggers knows Zumaya, or has seen him or knows somebody who saw him crash his bike, they don’t know anything.
But because there is no accountability, because there are no repercussions for being wrong, because they will never have to look Zumaya in the face, who cares? Make up whatever you want.
So in a span of five short paragraphs, McCosky criticizes both Detroit Pistons and Detroit Tigers bloggers. He says these bloggers essentially steal information from beat reporters and pass it off as his own. These bloggers also are busy reporting a different account of how Zumaya got injured.
As a Detroit sports fan, I regularly read Pistons and Tigers blogs including my favorites Detroit Bad Boys, Need 4 Sheed, Mack Avenue Tigers, and Bless You Boys. None of those blogs use information gathered by beat reporters and then fail to give credit where credit is due. Except for the rare exceptions, the popular sports blogs tend to be ones who are credible to some extent and cite their sources (moreso than some reporters). I can’t account for every single Pistons and Tigers blogs, but all the ones that I have read so far link back to articles they use quotes and whatnot from.
McCosky then argued that Tigers blogs have been speculating about Zumaya getting his serious shoulder injury by a dirt bike accident instead of a box falling on top of it. I don’t think McCosky understands the difference between bloggers and message boards. Some boards have definitely been discussing this rumor that originated on an ESPN message board (but you wouldn’t know that reading McCosky’s article because he didn’t reference any blogs that started/talked about this rumor). However, this rumor was not a popular item discussed by Tigers blogs.
There is not a single Detroit Tigers blog that posted this rumor about Joel Zumaya injuring his shoulder while dirt-biking. And if I’m wrong about that, McCosky didn’t bother to point me to where I’d find this theory. As far as I can tell, the closest anyone came to that was me addressing that conspiracy theories were being floated out there and linking to a couple of places where such rumors could be found. I also said that such conjecture was irrelevant. And do you know what opened the door to such a subject being approached in the first place? An article by McCosky’s colleague at the Detroit News, Lynn Henning.
McCosky then goes on to write:
And what they do is vastly different than what the clever dude in his pajamas is doing on his computer, down in his basement.
Yeah, there are so many sports bloggers that sit in their PJs blogging all day making up rumors just to spite reporters. A majority of sports bloggers, I would say, have a job outside sports blogging to pay the bills or are a student, like myself. Unlike sports reporters whose sole purpose is to cover the team or sport at hand, most bloggers do this as a hobby. I take 18 hours of class every week. I work 15-40 hours per week depending on how many Wings games there are that week. I blog when I can. Yes, I do make some money from advertising, but we blog because we felt something was lacking in the coverage of the team and wanted to add our own opinion to the mix. I think the coverage provided by the top sports blogs is truly impressive since a lot of them do have other jobs and responsibilities, but are willing to spend the time and effort to write and analyze their team.
And it’s not like most of us bloggers go around claiming to be journalists. Some of us have moved from merely blogging as a hobby to writing for the Sporting News (ie. Eric McErlain at Off Wing Opinion), but we blog because we’re trying to fill a void left by the mass media. Some bloggers don’t even have the tiniest desires to be journalist-like. I think it’s safe to say a majority of our readers realize that we are not affiliated with a news media organization and are not, ourselves, journalists. Many of us bloggers have an about us page saying how we’re qualified (if we even are) to talk about the team or sport(s) our blog covers. We’re pretty up front about our background (ie. freelance writer or random guy with a job unrelated to sports but has lots of opinions about his favorite team or a student trying to break into the sports business).
Other reactions after the jump…
Billfer at The Detroit Tigers Weblog
If I had to pick my biggest beef with this whole article is that it is hypocritical. McCosky slams blogging as a whole, only cushioning it with the this isn’t true of everyone crap. And yet he doesn’t bother to provide any sort of guidance to the reader in terms of the good blogs, or the bad blogs. Or which bloggers were running rampant with the motorbike rumor. Instead he assigns that crap to all of us. Which is why I want to make it clear I’m not slamming the mainstream media. I’m slamming this piece of drivel written by McCosky.
McCosky talks about how a real journalist would go out and gather facts and talk to the subjects - but he didn’t bother to do that in this case. I would have been happy to talk to him about my coverage of the Zumaya injury. I’m easy to get ahold of via email and the News has interviewed me in the past so I know they have my number. McCosky, practice what you preach.
Kurt at Mack Avenue Tigers
Chris says we don’t do reporting. Blatantly wrong. We may not report roster before they happen (wait, neither do the Detroit papers!) or player reactions, we still report information not found in your daily newpaper. That’s fine. You know what a blog is suited for? Analysis. And the Fourth Estate has no shiny key unlocking the Great Tower of Analysis. Anyone who understands the sport and has the tools can do that. If they do it poorly, no one will read them. If they do it well, they’ll gain respect of readers and fellow bloggers. Online, the cream rises. That is not true of your daily newspaper.
Big Al at The Wayne Fontes Experience
Most readers have watched the game themselves, so they don’t need newspaper recaps. They want opinion, not a rehashing of what they’ve already seen. If I want entertaining, thoughtful, and (Especially) timely opinion, I find myself going to the blogs. That more and more sports fans are doing the same thing scares the Hell out of MSM writers, leading to bash-fests like McCosky’s, spewing that bloggers aren’t “Journalists.”
My reply? When have we ever claimed to be?
If McCosky and his ilk want to rip blogs, go right ahead. Just get your facts straight in regard to how the blogosphere works before you go off half cocked. More importantly, don’t expect bloggers to take it lying down.
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5 Responses to “Detroit News reporter hates bloggers”
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November 5th, 2007 at 6:17 am
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November 6th, 2007 at 12:44 am
Thanks for the support. McCosky seems to have picked a fight with a Detroit blogosphere that is pretty tight. Not a smart move.
November 6th, 2007 at 6:07 pm
What strikes me is that Mr.McCosky is completely missing the point of blogs in the first place. No reader would ever go onto a blog and take what they read is legitimate unless it is backed up by a mainstream media source. I have never ever read a blog that lifted a story from a news source without giving it credit. That being said, no blog will ever gain steam or popularity if all they did was report the news and stories readers can find on any web page or ticker. The point is because they don’t have to answer to editors or censors they can offer an opinion that fellow fans may share or offer a perspective that their peers might not have thought of. Blogs are allowed to contain emotion– whether positive or negative and still have a sense of passion for the sport that you don’t really find in pro journalism because of their need to be objective and that’s the need its filling.
Sorry for the rant, Christy!
November 7th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
*applause* for you, Christy & for Sherry…
I am irritated to no end about this emerging debate. It’s futile to argue this: bloggers aren’t journalists (with few exception, namely the popular James Mirtle), and most of us never, ever said we were. Most of us are fans who want a way to share their thoughts/emotions/analysis about a team or sport they love.
Being in California, the hockey report is often skimmed over in the final seconds of the 5-minute sport spot on the news. Sports shows don’t cover it, because, let’s face it: California — for the most part — could care less about hockey. We’re too busy with the Lakers, the Clippers, the UCLA/USC football fued, the Angels, the Dodgers, the Galaxy even! Hockey barely even registers on the map.
So what is the everday average fan to do? The one that lives to far to drive to the arena, the one that can’t afford to go to a game, the one that doesn’t have time/access to see the game on TV? They want a “real” sense of the game, an idea of what’s going on in their fellow fans’ heads? They’d head for a blog, not a news source. No journalist can sit there and fume, emote, and rip or praise the team the way a blogger can… why? RESTRICTIONS…
*shrug* so maybe he’s jealous. =D
Bloggers are free to write what they want, when they want… as often or as little as they want. Can’t say the same is true of a journalist.
And, yes, bloggers also can know just what the heck they’re talking about. So they didn’t get a journalism degree… what difference does that make? As long as the blogger has a basic grasp on grammar, sentence structure, and an engaging voice, guess what? That blogger’s got an audience willing to read it.
Whoever wrote that the creme de le creme rises to the top in the blogosphere is right! Bloggers have to put out a worthy product in order to earn respect and readers, which is certainly more than can be said for the reporters.
And, to reiterate what’s already been said numerous times, most bloggers do quote/cite their sources. Hell, wasn’t everyone taught the dangers of plagiarism back in elementary school?!
Sorry, I’m just fuming at this point… thanks for sharing that and for letting me rant… lol.
November 10th, 2007 at 4:42 pm
Kurt- I think it is pretty cool that the Detroit blogosphere is so tight between the four big sports (and college football).
Sherry- No worries about the rant, it’s good to get it out of your system! And I totally agree, most people don’t read a blog looking for what you’d find in a newspaper. They want further analysis or opinion on the subject.
Finny- That may be the longest comment ever at BTJ! haha. But you bring up some very valid points. It is a frustrating situation though…