By Garrett Whitt
Special to vincedadamo.blogspot.com
Last Sunday, marked the end of an era in sports journalism. The sports reporters, one of ESPN’s staples for its nearly 30-year run, had its final episode. It was a dark day for those of us who have a true appreciation for the craft of sportswriting which has largely become a lost art.
Far too many people in our business today are focused on voicing an opinion, with little concern for whether it is a reasoned or educated one.
Compounding the problem is the belief by many in the profession today that success is measured by how many readers you anger or insult. Informing your audience has become all too often secondary if not an afterthought when weighed against catching the reader’s eye and sparking a reaction out of them.
After all, they read your story or column (or more accurately these days click on it) and in the end that is all that matters, right? Who cares what anyone else thinks especially your audience?
Fortunately, I have never subscribed to that theory. In fact, I have taken the opposite tack. This derives from something my father told me when I was very young. Know what you don’t know.
It is a lesson lost on many journalists who far too often use their position to preach to their audience rather than simply inform their audience.
Don’t get me wrong. Everyone has a right to their opinion but far too few people understand when you voice your opinion you are first and foremost speaking for yourself, and while some in the audience may agree with you, to assume you are speaking for others can be risky. I am reminded of the old joke about the word assume.
When I write a column, I go to great pains to explain my position. My objective is to offer my perspective on a subject.
If a column I write sparks thought or discussion great but it is never my intention. Furthermore, I am under no illusion I am any smarter or more enlightened than my audience.
Clearly that view is not shared by many of my colleagues. Instead, many of my colleagues believe the exact opposite. And in fact, see it as not only their right but their obligation to use the bully pulpit of their position to advance an agenda at every opportunity, all in the name of making a difference.
Again, everybody is entitled to their opinions and free to express them but I also believe as a writer you owe it to your readers to treat them with respect because in the end it is more about them than you. If you don’t understand that you are insulting the readers’ intelligence. In the past, that was viewed by many as a mortal sin. Now, many media outlets wear their disdain for their readers and viewers as a badge of honor.
Then, they wonder why they continue to lose readers and viewers on a consistent basis. In short there is a disconnect. Sadly, the disconnect seems to be only getting wider.
For proof of that just turn on any of the countless debate shows on television. Far too often the content discussed is overshadowed or drowned out altogether by the volume of the two combatants. It’s all in the name of entertainment.
I increasingly find myself to be a fish out of water with this type of journalism becoming the norm rather than the exception.
The Sports Reporters provided a safe haven for me. It was a place where the games and issues of the day were discussed—often passionately amongst the four panelists but every opinion was reasoned, authentic and arrived at honestly.
In the end the love of sports, the games and the people who play them were the focus. There was something refreshingly old school about it.
Beyond that it assured me there was still a place where my approach to journalism was appreciated and celebrated.
Now I hope I can be that place for my readers.
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