Constructive criticism by journalists

In our discussion of journalism ethics on Monday, we talked about how a journalist's job is to inform the public and present them with both sides of a story. Journalists should not be biased in reporting, they should be objective and let their decide for themselves what they believe.

Sean Keeler wrote a column earlier this week about the Iowa football team. Granted, as a columnist rather than a reporter, Keeler is allowed to give his opinion, I thought he wrote a good article. The Hawkeyes have underachieved this season and it has been popular for writers to bash them. However instead of bashing the Hawks, Keeler does a good job of posing his question to readers. He asks why Iowa doesn't change their style of play to compete with the changing game of college football. Their style of play brought them much success for the last six or seven years, but for the last two other teams have found ways to beat it. He gives some stats to back up his argument. Then he provides a few answers and suggestions, but he leaves it pretty much up to the reader to make their own opinion.

"The Hawkeyes won't become a top 25 program again just by rolling out of bed. You can win here. You can win consistently. But you have to work harder. You have to work smarter. You have to adapt. Beat the curve. Innovation has carried this program before. It can carry it again. All you have to do is spread your wings."

This is how Keeler ended his column. He was positive overall which I thought was a good thing. By being negative, he only would have contributed to the problem the way that every other columnist does. It almost seems as if he poses a challenge to the Iowa coaching staff and players to step it up. He provides constructive criticism. Going back to the goals of journalists, Keeler did a good job of being objective even for a columnist.

Rick Reilly sticks up for sports

I have often felt that some people look down on me because I am an athlete or because I have a passion for sports. I blogged a month or so ago on my favorite columnist Rick Reilly, and Relly has just written probably my favorite piece of his of all time in last week's Sports Illustrated.

Reilly got similar treatment from people when he was my age. He was a sophomore in college writing sports for the town newspaper when one day a professor said to him,

"You need to get out of sports. You're better than sports."

Reilly still hears such comments even today, after more than 30 years of writing about sports.

"So when are you going to graduate from sports and go write for TIME? You know, do something important?"

At first Reilly would reply quickly in anger that sports are important and worthwhile. But then when the person would ask why, he hesitated to come up with an answer. However, now he has prepared a full list of reasons in his column of why sports are meaningful in society and why he loves them.

I'm sorry I couldn't find an internet link to the article, but if you have a chance to do so, read it. I won't go into too much detail, but among his reasons are that sports teaches lessons, provides excitement and brings people together.

I am not saying that everyone I meet thinks less of me because of my passion for sports, just that, like Reilly, I have had a professor or two that doesn't agree that sports is something to build a career or life on. I understand that people have different passions and I accept that. I also understand the importance of a liberal arts education and being well rounded. I try not to write every blog on a sports related topic, but I think six of my eight blogs have been. My passion is sports, and I was very glad to see Reilly stick up for sports journalists and lovers everywhere. He took the words right out of my mouth.

Sports journalists eating up college football season

The way this college football season has gone, with countless story lines each and every week, sports journalists have been taking full advantage of the opportunity.

I follow college football pretty closely (Go Hawkeyes!) and usually read and watch whatever coverage I can get my hands on. The Top 10 polls have seen a shakeup every week, with top teams being beaten by underdogs. This season has seen tons of upsets, and just about every sports journalist has given their take on them all. This has caused the word "upset" to nearly lose all of its meaning whatsoever.

This season has also seen traditional powerhouse programs such as Notre Dame and Nebraska fall on some hard times, while traditional weaklings like Kansas, Connecticut and Kentucky climb the national rankings. Writers have had some fun at the expense of those top programs who had beaten up their teams for so many years. And of course everybody likes to see the little guy win.

Another constant this season is talk of coaching changes. Journalists enjoy selecting certain coaches as "on the hot seat" and giving credit to other coaches "on their way up."

The Heisman trophy race this year is as wide open as it has been in a while, or so multiple sportscasters have stated. This is always a hot topic every year, but with the wide open race, journalists are constantly comparing players stats with others week to week and giving their "top 5" choices.

Even though I have begun to get sick of some of the headlines, I think this is a good thing for sports journalism as a whole. It is better that there is too much happening than not enough. It is also good to have so many different opinions for audiences to interpret for themselves. So let the debates continue.

Diversity in the media

Gregory E. Favre recently wrote an article on Poynter Online titled The Disappearance of Diversity. He argues that diversity in the media is becoming less prevalent in a society that is becoming more and more diverse every day. He provides statistics like the population of 100 million minorities in our country today, and how it is predicted that by sometime in the middle of this century our nation will be without a majority.

"My beliefs, as I have expressed before, are that diversity is about inclusiveness, about tolerance, about giving people a chance, about helping to build a community and discovering all of its dimensions, about the fundamentals of democracy," Favre wrote.

Favre attended a church meeting about getting more diversity into its masses. Members were asked what diversity meant to them and gave answers like accepting people as they are and understanding our sameness and differences. Favre left the meeting with mixed emotions, not sure whether the group was on the right track.

"It's understanding that to achieve balance we must give weight to many different perspectives and not think there are only two sides to every issue. It's caring for the hopes and needs and dreams of others and embracing new ideas and new initiatives."

I agree with Favre's position on diversity. This is a key point in journalism. As members of the media, we can't get lazy and forget to include all aspects and opinions when covering news. We must include all of our citizens and audiences to make them feel like they are an important part of our society, because they are. We must especially pay more attention to diversity now, as our nation is going through such rapid and dramatic changes. Favre fears that groups will isolate themselves if the media doesn't focus on diversity better. He believes the goal of diversifying the media is to connect people and communities.

"Diversity is recognizing all of our backgrounds and lifestyles, all of our physical and psychological contrasts, recognizing that we become better when we exchange ideas and experiences and build a bridge across our differences."

"Don't Drop Sports from Local TV News"

"Instead, do it better," suggests Kevin Benz. He is the author of the article "Don't Drop Sports from Local TV News" from Poynter Online. Benz covered the recent problem that many local news stations are experiencing in that their viewers don't seem to be interested in the sports segments of their newscasts. To fix the problem, the stations dropped sports coverage all together because the cost of producing it was not worth it. This was the wrong solution, says Benz.

"Rather than dumping our sports department, we should change our sports philosophy," Benz wrote. "If viewers are not interested in your sportscast, it may be because your sportscast doesn't seem interested in your local viewers."

Benz understands that ESPN has a good control on the large, national sports stories and professional and college sports, and local news stations should understand this as well. That is why he thinks the way to overcome the problem is by offering more local news stories that are relevant to the local people. It's not that people don't want to know what's going on in sports, they just don't care about sports in Chicago if they live in Seattle. They want to know about what's going on in their local sports scene. If they want other stuff, they can turn to ESPN, and they will. You also wouldn't give a weather forcast for Seattle if your viewers live in Chicago.

"Make sports relevant to your audience every day, just like you make the news and weather relevant to your viewers every day," Benz writes.

I agree with Benz in that sports shouldn't be dropped all together because there are always people that want to know about what's going on, even if ratings don't relfect it.

Benz's philosophy is simple: Make sports segments appeal to soccer moms.

ESPN adds new program to compete

ESPN is getting set to compete with the likes of CBS' 60 Minutes and HBO's Real Sports programs with their own news show. E:60 is set to premiere Tuesday, Oct. 16.

ESPN has always had the grasp of the majority of the sports world audience, but the company knew it needed something more that could help it keep up with the bigtime sports news programs of their rival networks. E:60 will take a deeper look into sports news and issues and provide its viewers with unique but personal stories of professional and up-and-coming athletes. The goal is to give audiences a behind-the-scenes perspective into the lives of these athletes and the types of issues they face in today's era of sport. And also, to crack these stories before they heard by the public or other media outlets.

Examples of some topics to come include bullfighting and underground street boxing. ESPN has selected five of their veteran anchors, journalists and reporters to lead the show which will be an hour long.

I think that ESPN is doing something very positive for their network by adding this program to the list along with their other award winning shows. The benefits are obvious; ESPN will be able to compete with and draw viewers from other networks and increase their audience. From a journalism perspective, I think it is good for the network to expand and provide something a little different than their typical shows. Networks are always changing and looking for new ways to change and improve what they have to offer viewers. Staying the same doesn't get you anywhere. In broadcast journalism, vierwers can simply change the channel in a matter of a second if they don't like what they are watching. Networks don't have much time to hook their audience. I imagine that ESPN has been working on this for a while. My prediction is that it won't do amazing at first but it will take a while to catch on. In some time, however, I bet it will become a very popular show because of ESPN's great way of presenting broadcast journalism. I am personally excited to see something new from ESPN and to see what people think of it.

Blogging popular in the world of sports

This week's blog topic...well, blogging. Blogging is the latest craze where anyone can have their own website and write whatever they want on it. A blog is a great way to express oneself; the most common use of blogs are as personal journals. They are also an efficient for collecting writing samples and assignments, as I am required to keep two blogs for classes this semester. Blogs can bring people together. They are used as discussion boards that people with common interests can read and post comments. Specifically though, I would like to talk about the rising use of blogs in the sports industry.
Recently, I have discovered that many athletes, professional or not, keep blogs. Greg Oden, the first overall pick in June's NBA draft, has kept and up-to-date blog all summer long and into this fall about the draft, NBA summer league, living in his new city of Portland and having his tonsils taken out. It is his way of letting his fans see a different side of him. He has more control of this than what journalists write about him after interviews. He even posts videos on his blog. I think it is awesome that he does this. It helps people keep in mind that athletes are real people just like the rest of us. They go through good and bad days, pay bills and go shopping like every other normal person. Also, it shows that NBA players actually have talents outside of basketball and are capable of writing on their own. Oden is only 19 years old, still a teenager. In the career that he is in, however, he is forced to mature quickly. It also gives the rest of us a small sense of what is like behind the scenes in the NBA. There are a number of rookies in the NBA that keep blogs. Oden's and others can be found at yardbarker.com.
Another blog I like to read is Mark Cuban's, owner of the Dallas Maverick's of the NBA. He is unlike most owners who sit up in the luxury boxes during games and have hardly any contact with their players. Cuban sits right behind the Maverick's bench, yells at referees and high fives his players. He is also involved in quite a bit of controversey for the way he acts. He covers all kinds of topics in his blog, from basketball to politics. Again, it is interesting to see the perspective of an NBA team owner who is a millionaire but doesn't act like it. He often blogs multiple times during Maverick games to describe how pleased or displeased he is at how his team is playing. His blog can be found at blogmaverick.com.
A last note about blogging in the sports industry is how popular it has become in online sports media such as ESPN.com, newspapers, etc. They all have journalists that blog on their sites and allow readers to write their comments and opinions.
So blogging has become a major part of the sports world, from giving normal people like you and I the chance to talk about our favorite team to giving professional athletes the chance to connect with their fans. I think they are a very positive thing for sports.

Rick Reilly finds the story week after week

Every week I rush to the library to check out the latest Sports Illustrated (since I don't get it delivered to my mailbox because my Dad is selfish and wants it for himself at home, just kidding...but seriously). Anyway, unlike most readers who read the cover and then flip to the first page, I on the other hand go to the back page before all else. This is because one of my favorite journalists, Rick Reilly, has occupied this page with his weekely columns for as long as I can remember.

Reilly isn't the normal sports journalist, however, which is why I like his stuff so much. He doesn't do the same old, tired topics all the time. He strives to find unique and interesting personal stories by making the extra effort to look for and research them. In Reilly's view, every person has a story to tell, whether they are famous or not. He rarely covers professional sports in his writings, instead opting for areas that don't receive the publicity the deserve. One can find Reilly giving due to Division III athletics, cheerleading or special olympics, among other topics.

In this week's edition, Reilly writes about a 60 year old man from a small town in Vermont with cerebral palsy named Butch Varno. Varno has attened almost every Middleburry College football and basketball game since he was a teenager. It is a tradition that began when he was 13 that students from the college would drive to his house to pick him and his wheel chair up to take him to whichever athletic event. He sits field/coutside and has even given pre-game speeches to the teams. He loves the tradition at Middleburry: "These kids care what happens to me. They don't have to, but they do. I don't know where I'd be without them."

I think it's great that Reilly takes the time to look for and write about these emotional, feel-good stories that otherwise would never be heard or told. He goes beyond sports to show that there is so much more to them than just the athletes. Sports bring people together just as Reilly will continue to bring readers together every week on the last page of SI.

"The Power of One Little Story"

Welcome, readers. My first blog is going to focus on a very interesting article from Poynter Online. The article was called "The Power of One Little Story" written by Roy Peter Clark. His lead to the article is as follows: "Writers rarely appreciate the influence over time of the stories they tell." Clark underestimated the own power of one of his stories that he wrote six years ago.
Clark wrote a story about Theresa Leone, a cousin of his who had escaped on 9/11 from the 57th floor barely before the tower crashed to the ground. Clark had not even realized it had been six years since this 9/11 until he received an emotional e-mail message from a reader named Michelle Clements who described it as "deeply moving" and said that she "will never forget her story."

Yes, that's right, Clements said "her story." She said this because she was talking about Leone's story, not Clark's. This made Clark realize how strong of an impact personal accounts have on readers. Sure, there were hundreds of stories about 9/11 after it happened, but the ones that stuck with readers were the ones of personal experiences that were filled with real emotions.

Clark discusses the impact of personal accounts in the article. "Its power comes, as you will see, not from my craft, but from the way in which narrative stories transport the reader to another time and place." He goes on to say how at the time he wrote the 9/11 story, he had no idea how much of an impression it would have on his readers, but he now understands the concept. "The greater the scope of the news event (9/11, Katrina, Iraq), the more power is conveyed by the small, focused human story."

I really enjoyed Clark's article because I believe in the power of focused stories as well. Any journalist can write an article about a major topic or event, but the great ones are able to find the angles that no one else can find. People like to read stories that bring them closer to the experience, the "little stories." I'll end with a last quote by Clark from his article that proves how writers don't always have to take the big approach to a story: "The pen is mightier than the sword."