Bad Journalism 101

[NoCal Patriot]

What We have seen in the past few weeks is nothing but bad journalism.Whether it's Spygate,Asante to New Orleans,Randy Moss to Dallas.
You name it.It's all unnamed sources,No one "on the record" Mainstream Media quoting bloggers and fan internet sites.I have no problem with fans speculating,heck,that's what We do, but I have a big problem with journalists quoting our rambling as fact.It's time for journalists to let fans be fans and do a little leg work and dig out the truth.

 

[Rob0729]

The combine rumors of players signing with different teams is no big deal. That is a part of sports journalism in ever sport to write about trade or free agency signing rumors. I don't see that as bad journalism. It is just part of the sports game.

The spygate stuff, on the other hand, is bad journalism. You shouldn't be writing about allegations of a team cheating without being able to independently verify the information you are getting. When you write very damaging things about a team, you better be damn sure that you got it right.

 

[cblesz]

Um, is there any good journalism? Most of it nowadays is pathetic whether it is sports, politics or anything else...

 

[NoCal Patriot]

The combine rumors of players signing with different teams is no big deal. That is a part of sports journalism in ever sport to write about trade or free agency signing rumors. I don't see that as bad journalism. It is just part of the sports game.

The spygate stuff, on the other hand, is bad journalism. You shouldn't be writing about allegations of a team cheating without being able to independently verify the information you are getting. When you write very damaging things about a team, you better be damn sure that you got it right.

Good Journalism would list them as rumors from very questionable sources.The Foxsports.com rumor of Randy Moss to Dallas was the Worst offender. It wasn't a rumor ,it was flat out just made up by the writer naming two entities that would get Him web hits,that being Randy Moss and The Dallas Cowboys, in the guise of a rumor.

 

[Rob0729]

Good Journalism would list them as rumors from very questionable sources.The Foxsports.com rumor of Randy Moss to Dallas was the Worst offender. It wasn't a rumor ,it was flat out just made up by the writer naming two entities that would get Him web hits,that being randy Moss and The Dallas Cowboys, in the guise of a rumor.

How do you know what John Czarnecki's sources was? How do you know they are very questionable sources? The guy is actually pretty connected in both the Patriots and Cowboys organizations. He might have gotten legitimate sources who said that the Pats and Moss aren't close to a deal and legitimate sources that the Cowboys would make a big push to get Moss if available.

I think you are way out of bounds accusing him of making it up. Why? Because it is a rumor you don't want to hear?

I am sure it is a legitimate rumor which Czarnecki specifically stated it was a rumor. It could be a bogus rumor, but he was specifically reporting rumors he heard at the combine.

How do we know who do we believe about Moss' contract? Maybe the rumor that Moss and the Pats have a deal done is the bogus rumor. I'm sorry, but just because you don't like the rumor doesn't mean that it isn't a legitimate rumor from a credible source. We won't know until at least Friday who is right.

 

[upstater1]

You'll wait until the cows come home if you want them to really dig on this.

 

[tuckeverlasting]

Um, is there any good journalism? Most of it nowadays is pathetic whether it is sports, politics or anything else...

good journalism ? that goes in the same category with "legitimate rumor", "naval intelligence" and "jumbo shrimp".

 

[NoCal Patriot]

How do you know what John Czarnecki's sources was? How do you know they are very questionable sources? The guy is actually pretty connected in both the Patriots and Cowboys organizations. He might have gotten legitimate sources who said that the Pats and Moss aren't close to a deal and legitimate sources that the Cowboys would make a big push to get Moss if available.

I think you are way out of bounds accusing him of making it up. Why? Because it is a rumor you don't want to hear?

I am sure it is a legitimate rumor which Czarnecki specifically stated it was a rumor. It could be a bogus rumor, but he was specifically reporting rumors he heard at the combine.

How do we know who do we believe about Moss' contract? Maybe the rumor that Moss and the Pats have a deal done is the bogus rumor. I'm sorry, but just because you don't like the rumor doesn't mean that it isn't a legitimate rumor from a credible source. We won't know until at least Friday who is right.

We won't know until Friday but I can wait until then.My skeptism of this story is very simple to trace.Read the story.There is not one"on the record" attribution form The Dallas Cowboys,The New England Patriots ,Randy Moss, or Randy Moss' Agent.
You're right I do not know the source of this rumor,for all I know it could have come from an Indianapolis Cab Driver or a Lunch Counter Waitress.To believe this rumor ,one has to assume that Bill Belichick and Scott Pioli have forgotten everything that they know about running a franchise.I simply don't think that way.
Perhaps You can live with unnamed sources,but if You do then We shall agree to disagree.If He had the story locked down,He would name his sources.

 

[fgssand]

Um, is there any good journalism? Most of it nowadays is pathetic whether it is sports, politics or anything else...

Sure are plenty....Mike Reiss, Tom E. Curran , the late Alan Greenburg, up and coming Shalize Manza Young, Chris Gasper. Albert Breer (don't know how Boston let him get away), Charles Pierce, Patsfans own Christopher Price, Michael Holley, to name a few.

 

[Rob0729]

We won't know until Friday but I can wait until then.My skeptism of this story is very simple to trace.Read the story.There is not one"on the record" attribution form The Dallas Cowboys,The New England Patriots ,Randy Moss, or Randy Moss' Agent.
You're right I do not know the source of this rumor,for all I know it could have come from an Indianapolis Cab Driver or a Lunch Counter Waitress.To believe this rumor ,one has to assume that Bill Belichick and Scott Pioli have forgotten everything that they know about running a franchise.I simply don't think that way.
Perhaps You can live with unnamed sources,but if You do then We shall agree to disagree.If He had the story locked down,He would name his sources.

The guy is writing a column about rumors he heard at the combines. What are you expecting? "Scott Pioli told me that he heard that the negotionations between the Patriots and Randy Moss aren't close."

I'm sorry, the guy specifically positioned his column stating he was going to relay rumors he heard at the combine. I don't see problems with this. This is no different than hundreds of other reporters who went to the combines did this week. Or last year, or the year before, or the year before that. It is standard practice for journalists to relay rumors from the Combines.

I do have no problem with not having an unnamed source for this RUMOR because if he had a cited source it would not be a rumor anymore. If Czar had the story locked down, it wouldn't have been in a rumor piece but in a separate article.

From a pure journalism standpoint, writing about rumors is bad journalism. But when it comes to trades and free agent signings in sports, it has become an accepted practice in the sports journalism industry. It seems that every sports site has at least a section dedicated to rumors. ESPN has a "Rumor Central". SI has "Truths & Rumors". PFT is purely rumors. Every year we hear rumors of trades and free agent signings that have no source attributed to it.

 

[Rob0729]

Sure are plenty....Mike Reiss, Tom E. Curran , the late Alan Greenburg, up and coming Shalize Manza Young, Chris Gasper. Albert Breer (don't know how Boston let him get away), Charles Pierce, Patsfans own Christopher Price, Michael Holley, to name a few.

But even these journalists have been known to write about rumors about a player coming to the Pats or leaving without citing sources from time to time. Most of them save that for their blogs if they have them since blogs are generally considered to have looser standards than print media. I still think rumors about free agency and trades are fair game as long as they are positioned as rumors.

 

[Pats726]

There are always many rumors...some specifically NOT true..but done for other reasons..that is why I really do NOT have strong feelings when they appear..It is common, usual for many to happen like that. the "spygate" thing is another story though.

 

[Rob0729]

There are always many rumors...some specifically NOT true..but done for other reasons..that is why I really do NOT have strong feelings when they appear..It is common, usual for many to happen like that. the "spygate" thing is another story though.

I agree. Many free agency rumors are deliberate attempts of agents and teams to divulge misinformation. Sometimes an agent wants to generate interest in his client by making it sound that a lot of teams are hot on him or a team might leak that they have an overinflated deal done in principle to scare off potential suitors. All of them know they will probably end up in print or on the web to add credibility to the story.

That is why I think Czar's rumors are from legitimate sources, but I don't know if I am ready to believe them.