Enough digs; get with today or get out

One of my students is working on a project that attempts to understand the future of professional golf coverage online, visually and in print. It’s a neat project that has taught him a lot, particularly through his interviews with current media professionals who cover golf.

He noted yesterday the optimism/pessimism disparity that seems to tie in directly to the age of his interviewees. The younger reporters – the ones who enjoy reporting, blogging, Tweeting, etc., are thrilled with where the business is going.

The older ones are all gloom and doom, including one who told him that it seems like nobody cares about an opinion unless it’s told in 140 characters or less. Boo-hoo. It reminded me of an experience I had during an internship about a dozen years ago in Dallas.

In the Ballpark at Arlington I was thrilled to be in my first major-league press box. Not 15 minutes into the experience, the Dallas Morning News’ Gerry Fraley told me to consider a career in aluminum siding. It wasn’t a reflection of my work. It’s just that he, personally, was miserable, and maybe he thought he would save me the misery. Everyone needs aluminum siding, but journalism, he inferred, was miserable. I kind of wished he would have quit right there and handed me the job if he was so misanthropic. Sadly, he is still in Dallas, no doubt pissing and moaning because Cowboys practice ran a few minutes too long.

Many, many, many, many older, established journalists are struggling to come to grips with journalism’s new world order. Over the years Deadspin has noted some of the more egregious blasts fired by the old guard.

The biggest misconception among them is their belief that new world=morally and ethically bankrupt. But here’s a secret. The best young journalists and the best journalism schools – Northwestern, Columbia, Iowa, Kansas, Arizona State, Mizzou – are teaching journalistic ethics and principles as well as modern practices that combine accuracy, tenacity, speed and, yes, blogging/social media.

We’re sorry you’re threatened by it. But frankly it’s time for you to accept the modern era or go find something else to do. Like aluminum siding.

Anyway, Deadspin has finally collected a large sample size of old-world disillusionment and delusion. Click here to read, enjoy and pity.

It’s a shame that it’s come to this. Squeaky wheel – you know how it is. Because there are plenty of great sports writers who are adapting, surviving and thriving. It might not have been easy on them at first, but they’re doing it. Rick Morrissey. John Canzano. Bernie Miklasz. To name just a few. Maybe we should be viewing them as the next generation of role models for today’s aspiring sports writers.

– David Schwartz