by Brian Brady
Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL
In the ultimate irony, sportswriter Buzz Bissinger blasts Will Leitch of Deadspin.com for his sports blog with language more appropriate for a blog than television.
TWO COOL FACTS CAME OUT:
1- The average age of a newspaper reader is 55 years old.
2- Only 19% of the 18-34 age group reads newspapers.
BISSINGER: ” This guy, whether we like it or not, is the future. The writing on blogs is despicable. ”
LEITCH: ” Deadspin is large enough to get credentialed but as soon as I start doing that, I write for the other members of the press box. ”
BISSINGER: “If you are the future, the future is going to dumb us down”
My opinion? Start a weblog, Bissinger. You’re a Pulitzer Prize winner so you’ll have access. Write daily and sell advertising. If quality is what the market demands, then let them vote with their eyeballs. Of course, life in the entrepreneurial lane is difficult; ask the folks at Curbed or Ariana Huffington. I could start a baseball weblog with Jeff Brown, Dan Green, Morgan Brown, Toby Boyce, and 15-20 other webloggers and be credentialed in two years. I dare say that the writing would pretty damned good.
So which is it readers? Are “real” journalists the guardians of quality or just another chokepoint?
PS- I’m biased. I haven’t read a newspaper box score in 10 years. While I love Rick Reilly, Sports Illustrated better slap some ads around his online articles and get rid of the gated-access or he will become…irrelevant.
Eric Blackwell says:
I am sure that the Dan Rathers of the world would say “Quality, elitist quality!”. In the end, though, I think it is a no brainer.
Dead tree media is in fact, dead and the fact that bloggers are getting credentialed left, right and center is a testament to that.
What he (Bissinger) thinks is irrelevent. It is a free market and voting is via retinal scan. Their retina, scanning OUR blogs. (grin) According to the consumer, they are a chokepoint.
But I am biased as well. (grin) Let’s see THEM be honest about their BIASES.
June 15, 2008 — 7:08 am
Dave Phillips says:
Why does it have to be one or the other? Print is not going away and neither is TV. Yes, they both need to change to remain relevant, but they will. Blogs are still new and developing. I think stand alone blogs will need to change with the web 2.0 concepts on the horizon. If newspapers figured out 2.0 they could change quickly and become dominent once again, but that is taking surprizingly long.
June 15, 2008 — 8:13 am
Brian Brady says:
Good point, Dave; both can exist.
The exciting opportunity is that Deadspin can compete with Sports Illustrated. As Eric says, retinal votes will sell advertising in the new world. I think a few things have to happen:
1- MSM players have to come down off their lofty perch and participate with readers.
2- Bloggers need to clean things up a bit, mostly in the comments section.
The most important thing? Active comment management. The comments are what make weblogs so compelling. MSM journalists should have little criticism of citizen journalists when proper comments management is instituted.
June 15, 2008 — 9:25 am
Thomas Johnson says:
1- The average age of a newspaper reader is 55 years old.
Isn’t that the average age of REALTORS, as well? Just thinking.
Happy Fathers’ Day to all the Dads out there.
June 15, 2008 — 9:29 am
Eric Blackwell says:
@Thomas- That too, is an awesome point. The market will decide in both cases. Change is not well received by many in either camp, yet as Dave correctly points out, it would be a truly career saving move for many.
@Dave- You are correct and it is a well made point. It rarely if ever is a 100 to 0 decision, so both will exist.
However, based on the costs of putting out media via newspapers vs the equivalent via blogs, there is a gradient that big media has to push against when competing with a blogger.
@Brian- Comment management is EXACTLY what is needed, but there are many bloggers who consider that a crime (grin). I would not be among them.
June 15, 2008 — 9:58 am
Bawldguy Talking says:
Baseball blog?! When do we start? And I got dibbs on the first Sandy Koufax post: How would he fair against today’s hitters? And what would be his first words in negotiating his first free agent contract?
“Hi, my name is Sandy. I’m your new partner.”
June 15, 2008 — 1:38 pm
Genuine Chris Johnson says:
didn’t rr go to ESPN?
June 15, 2008 — 5:06 pm