Buzz Bissinger Rant

Buzz Bissinger admitted later on that he is bitter by the fact that bloggers are ruining the “art” of journalism that he took 40 years perfecting. I guess you can’t blame him too much giving the amount of pressure that he’s been feeling since the Internet boom. Also, the DeadSpin dude didn’t do a great job of defending his fellow bloggers either…

Basically, it comes down to supply and demand. If people find blogs reliable and entertaining, they’re going to continue supporting the site. Otherwise, 99+% of those lame ass blogs out there will eventually disappear.

I work in the “traditional” media. It’s an absolute fact that these people are bitter about the rise of blogs, the internet, podcasts ect.

Why? Because it used to be the only way you could be a sports journalist is to go to college, get a job at a newspaper, work your way up, follow a team around the country… Now, anyone can publish their thoughts to a giant audience with the greatest of ease. That burns these guys up inside.

Every press conference the Eagles do is streamed live on their site. The only difference between the people there and the ones at home are that we can’t ask questions… and let’s be honest, 90% of these questions are fairly obvious and generic.

Working in the media myself, I don’t over-romanticize what I do. These old timers are used to being icons, guys that steered the will of the fan and influenced the direction of the teams… That time is long gone. I realized that the day I got into the business. When the fans got the opportunity to have their own voice, the role of the sportswriter was also going to be somewhat marginalized. When blogs are reporting news and giving commentary by the second, what’s the point of waiting until the next day to read it in the paper?

The problem is that rather than embrace the new age of the net and the fan voice… these guys are fighting against it. It’s stupid, because like the best bloggers the best sportswriters will still always be important and respected. That’s what he seems to forget. People seek out quality and quality always wins out in the end. Just because millions of people watch a guy getting kicked in the crotch on Youtube, doesn’t mean great film or TV is getting marginalized. Crappy stuff is getting marginalized. If anything, the rise of blogs has made the mainstream media more accountable.

To be honest, this is a fading problem. In a few short years the Buzz Bissingers of the world will be gone and the only thing left will be the journalist who grew up and entered the business in this new internet age. It’s already happened with politics. The best and most influential coverage of politics is already being done in the blogosphere. You see bloggers discussed an interviewed on the news every day. Sports is not far behind.

Somebody’s got to conduct the interviews, etc. As much as I check Bleeding Green Nation and Igglesblog before the Inquirer/Daily News Eagles coverage (which I DO obsessively read as well) , you guys don’t have the same level of access to players, coaches, officials, etc.

Once you do have that level of access, you’re not really any different than so-called traditional reporters….just the method of delivery is a little different (and this distinction is fading as more and more newspapers and online magazines have blog sections).

There will always be more people writing about and analyzing topics than will be people who actually have direct access to “inside information” about the topics.