Media miscellany.

Posted by | 01/12/2009 at 12:11 am

Miscellaneous articles from around sports media.

dwil, Sports on My Mind, “Adam Jones Update (with the initial SOMM report)“

Now this is where the Barr-ESPN story leans more toward myth and rumor-mongering than solid reporting. John Barr and producer of Outside the Lines would have us believes that police investigators and, presumably members of NFL security, which means former FBI agents with ties to police forces and the FBI itself, could not dig up information that crack reporters from ESPN turned up. Additionally, both entities missed the ESPN-spun “fact” that Jones lied to the very police who arrested a man based on their own investigation.

No wonder ESPN was less-than-straightforward in its reporting of Jones’ release from the Cowboys. Initially, about 10 minutes before the Barr televised report, Sportscenter anchor Brian Kenny announced that Jones had been released by Dallas. Ed Werder gave the explanation for the release that Jones was supposed to be an integral part of the Cowboys’ defense as well as an integral part of its special teams as a punt [and kickoff] returner. But, as Werder said, “He just wasn’t there for them [the Cowboys].”

Yet scant minutes later Barr comes on air with a full-blown and obviously pre-produced report for ESPN’s national audience. In other words, ESPN had the Barr report all the while but used Werder and its initial mention of Jones’ release as a cover for the real story which came out 20 minutes later.

Gary Andrew Poole, Columbia Journalism Review, “Back to the future“

But since the mid-1990s, two forces have diminished classic sports writing. First, television coverage in general has expanded, making hype and the sensational aspects of sports dominant. ESPN became a cultural and media juggernaut, sending fans to SportsCenter for highlights and scores, rendering game recaps and box scores in the next day’s newspapers obsolete. Newspapers gradually began reducing the size of game stories, dashing the more literary ambitions of their writers. Many of the more stylish writers migrated toward higher-profile and better-paying radio and television gigs, and the faster news cycle created a sports world in which the best reporting started getting sliced into smaller stories. …

But here is a typical scenario that illustrates the problem for newspaper sports sections. Beat writers covering a baseball game see a player strain a hamstring. Immediately they are all on their BlackBerries posting an item about the injury and how the batting order was just changed. Something must be posted! Any writer who misses the tidbit will be called on it by his or her editor. But everyone has the same information; no one “scoops” anyone. So why not wait and weave that tidbit into the game story? The reporter would have the chance to go to the locker room and ask questions, talk to the manager about the change in strategy after the injury—to add context and nuance and narrative. These days, that sort of insight is too often lost.

Greg Jayne, columbian.com, “Hyperbole often leads to cynicism“

The irony was palpable, even while a nation of viewers succumbed to a wave of nausea.

“In such a cynical, sarcastic society, oftentimes looking for the negative on anybody or anything, if you’re fortunate enough to spend five or 20 minutes around Tim Tebow, your life is better for it,” FOX announcer Thom Brennaman gushed about the Florida quarterback during Thursday’s BCS Championship broadcast. …

And when Tebow got called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, the announcer added, “That might be the first thing he’s ever done wrong.” Um, we’ll need to consult Tebow’s parents on that one. …

This is not a criticism of Tebow. It’s not his fault a network chose a Tebow disciple to broadcast the game. Nor is it the fault of LeBron James or Tiger Woods or Tom Brady. But when announcers turn into de facto publicists for an athlete’s canonization, there’s bound to be some backlash. …

Blind worship can be a dark and dangerous path, particularly when directed toward people we see only on the field of competition. And when such worship is repeatedly shoved down the throat of the public, you have a recipe for stirring up cynicism and sarcasm.