Hello, Facebook
The question on the table at the March 9 Povich Center workshop for sportswriting on the internet to the audience of students and bloggers was simply, “who is the Red Smith among the new generation of internet scribes?” And, quickly, the response from several in the audience was, “Who is Red Smith? ”
If Smith, who died in 1982 as one of the sportswriting giants in the history of the newspaper business, is a fleeting memory today to many of the “knights” of the computers and iPhones , his legacy at least remains in the souls of many journalists (see Bill Simmons and his ESPN.Com Grantland Gang) trying for excellence in a new age.
There are internet journalists who aim high, but often must do it in a 140-character tweet. But others shoot for the moon regularly on sites that have earned respect from their audience. This writer applauded with great enthusiasm Buzz Bissinger’s verbal assault on Will Leitch and the internet/blogging crowd several years ago. But a number of respected journalists insist a new day has come and new media and their lot must be taken seriously.
Hello, Facebook.
Dan Steinberg, who writes the popular “D.C. Sports Bog” for The Washington Post and put together this month’s internet sportswriting panel for the Povich Center, knows a Dinosaur when he sees one. He bluntly told me: “Deadspin not only broke the Manti Te’o story, they do quality journalism on a daily basis.”
He added: “In general—based on the quality of what I read there, and what I know of the writers and editors they employ—I consider it (Deadspin) a reliable and fearless source of sports journalism and an indispensable part of the modern sports journalism landscape.”
The panel Steinberg put together included Chris Chase of USA Today, Ryan Hudson of SB Nation, Lindsay Applebaum of The Washington Post, Jon Press of Japers’ Rink and Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo Sports. All professional; addicted to Twitter but dedicated to their craft and optimistic about their futures.
“To do my job, I have to be available all the time,” said Chase. “It’s a 24-hour job,” said Wyshynski.
”Most stories break on Twitter, so you stay on that,” said Hudson, who is social media editor for SBNation. “ We all know: No traffic, no jobs.”
Applebaum, an editor for The Post’s website and newspaper, said the “editing standards” for the two mediums have become more similar. Observed Press: “We want our site to be the first place Washington Capitals’ fans go.”
“We’re all looking for communal participation,” said Wyshynski. “Like a gigantic conversation.”
And to compete with the likes of Deadspin (why can’t they do away with vile headlines?), Yahoo! Sports, SB Nation, Sporting News , Grantland and Bleacher Report, to name several, more established newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times understand the changing market and recognize the competition.
“I consider all of them competition,” said Ron Fritz, who runs the sports department at The Baltimore Sun.
“Some of the sites operate under a different set of standards than we do,” said Mike James, The Los Angeles Times’ Sports Editor. “Are they competition? Well, they are in that we do read sites across the internet, and if a site we consider reliable a site that publishes something that would be of news value in our publication, we’ll often pursue it and try to improve on what has been reported elsewhere.
“I’m walking out to the driveway day and night to make sure there isn’t something there that we’ve missed,” he added. “That said, our standards for publication remain as high as they’ve always been and I don’t see that changing.”
And, is there a Red Smith or Shirley Povich holding an iPhone out there?
“Well,” said the venerable sportswriting legend Dan Jenkins. “Tommy Craggs (Deadspin) might be the best sportswriter around these days.”
“Of course,” added Jenkins, “precious daughter (Sally) is still the best.”
