uniform tops vs. the Bears. It’d be laughable if it weren’t so sad – but everyone in our industry is sensitive to the timeliness of information.
Like winning a football game or any sports competition, getting it “first” is “winning.”
And much like Bear Bryant, “I ain’t never been nuthin’ but a winner.”
I’ve always had a different set of rules and a heavier cross to bear doing radio on the AM side of the dial and being a “blacksheep” of the Baltimore sports media kingdom. I get it. I’ve been doing this for more than 25 years as the arrogant underdog “self promoter” from Dundalk so being “kicked around” or “unrecognized” as a news source is what I’ve come to expect from our competition. Honestly, there’s a sick part of me that really likes it. It gets me out of bed every morning and inspires me to have to prove myself and prove what WNST.net stands for every day.
But as we said yesterday, it’s now apparent and inarguable who gets stories first and who has the most people reading them or watching them or listening to them via the web. It’s the internet in 2010. It’s measurable. It’s definable. It’s trackable. It’s easy to investigate.
So who is doing it fast and doing it well and with integrity? What is good journalism in 2010?
What is fair criticism and what’s a “low blow”?
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What could possibly be left in the sports media universe that is unethical and inappropriate in a world where guys stick cameras in female sportscasters’ hotel bathrooms, TMZ.com posts drunken pictures of athletes with girls in random clubs and fans verbally assault and stalk players and coaches into scenes like Rex Ryan’s latest fiasco in Florida where one middle finger becomes a tabloid journalism wet dream in a place like New York?
And of course the internet can seem like one giant message board with anonymous idiots having instant access to write anything vitriolic or profane — like a giant, virtual bathroom wall of graffiti with no eraser.
Lord knows, I’ve had my fair share of lies, stalkers, weirdos, death threats and virtual garbage written about me over the years. And it’s amazing how quickly the nasty garbage spreads in the world of new media. Most of the time these accusations from cowards was accompanied later that afternoon by a call from The Sun’s Ray Frager looking to indict me and end my career and everything I’ve built on one Jimmy The Greek or Al Campanis moment where I might’ve “slipped” and made a foolish mistake.
One reporter from The Sun went through the Baltimore media crew and the Ravens’ locker room trying to convince people I was gay
