Haudricourt condescension toward blog participants ("Adam's" message to Brewerfan in reply #159)

[dadofandrew]

The in depth analysis is pretty much limited to bloggers. I can't say I've seen a old media guy do that, if ever, in ages.

 

The standard "call it in" stuff that Fire Joe Morgan tears apart weekly is why the industry is dying. They blame it on other stuff, but why pay for crap when you can get good stuff for free?

[wisportswriter]

The standard "call it in" stuff that Fire Joe Morgan tears apart weekly is why the industry is dying.

I want to laugh that off because it's so detached from reality, yet somehow I still let it upset me. I wish I was better at that.

 

The print media is in dire straits because of massively declining ad revenue due in large part to a weak economy and the fact it hasn't yet come up with a model to work with the Internet (aka giving away the product for free), not to mention skyrocketing prices in newsprint (paper) and gas.

To suggest that any style of MLB game story writing is the reason the industry is dying is ludicrous. Even to include newspaper-wide writing and reporting is miles off the mark.

People are still reading sportswriting and news reporting, and mostly from newspaper writers (or at least former newspaper writers). They're just not paying to get it anymore.

 

Doug:

I can respect your wants for different kinds of content from TH. While a beat writer can't please everybody, your last post is not entirely unreasonable.

I take more exception to the posts that suggest TH is 'phoning it in' or using a 'formula' when writing his stories. I know it's fun for a lot of folk here to destroy the guy at every chance they get, and if you don't like his style, that's fine.

But I guarantee that TH - and I've said this before - cares a great deal about his work, and for anyone to suggest laziness or a lack of effort upsets me as a colleague (so to speak).

[dadofandrew]

Needless to say, I disagree that the old media's issues are all completely irrelevant of the quality of their product. If it's the economy, they will be coming back soon, as it looks like the last quarter was strong.

 

I see an old industry that is stuck deeply in a "this is the way we've always done it" mindset, printing ridiculous and out of touch crap. Dick Justice "reporting" about the Crew's locker room is a single example of the "phone it in", cliche ridden mentality. The NY Times printing the McCain mistress rumor a few months ago doesn't tell me their problems are because of the economy...it's because they are simply awful at what they do, and getting worse.

 

Dinosaurs do not adjust...Woolworth's, KMart, GM, and many others are shadows of what they used to be. They can sell ads on the web just like other sites ( I hear Google has made a pretty penny with web advertising), but for the most part, the stuff they have on their web sites are not as good as others. Add in journalists printing names and emails and deriding them for calling them the buffoons they are, you got yourself a painfully out of touch industry.

[wisportswriter]

Even if quality of product is an issue in some cases, it's nowhere near -- light years below -- the factors I listed. You can cast those issues off if you like and rail away, but it doesn't change the reality.

 

And what you ignored is the fact that people have not stopped reading the news. News and sports Web sites are thriving. And the content of those sites comes mostly from writers who cut their teeth at newspapers.

 

The writing and reporting is not -- is not -- the problem at newspapers. The problems are severely declining ad content, skyrocketing overhead costs and the fact so much information is out there where people can get it for free. Frankly, I'm amazed circulation hasn't dropped even worse than it already has. Why would you subscribe to a newspaper, when every one in the country is giving it away for free?

 

The only way newspapers are 'out of touch' is in the fact they haven't yet figured out how to make the Internet work for them, and online advertising doesn't bring in near enough revenue to support an entire staff. And comparing ad revenue at Google to a newspaper is like comparing apples and airplanes.

 

You hate TH and his writing. I get that. But to insist that the issues you have with him are the same issues that are hurting the newspaper industry right now, that's just factually incorrect, plain and simple.