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A different, vet scribe, Sam Smith of the Chicago Tribune, has this to say about the differences between new media, blogging and the traditional media:
I don't read any blogs. I find it interesting the way the national political campaigns (my first love and job) have hired people to interact with the blogosphere. You may say I'm old, out of touch and cranky, and I probably would have to agree. I'm also probably resentful on some level as I see this unsubstantiated, personal opinion passing for journalism and weep for America and the world. People do seem to read this stuff and equate it with what we do at The Tribune or other media and don't make much distinction.
How is it I can work for decades developing contacts around the NBA and traveling regularly around the NBA and talking with the decision makers and some guy in his basement in his underwear is writing something that has credibility? As close as I can figure, these bloggers are the electronic version of the neighborhood tavern. You used to go in and hear people wailing about sports or politics and offering opinions on all the major issues. We did our man in the street interviews when such issues came up. Now, these people we used to ask for opinion started these blogs and are supposed to be experts. How can that be? I never see any of them, I never hear the coaches and general managers and players I talk to saying they talked to them. So where do they get their information?
People often doubt the traditional media, but we are out asking questions, developing sources of information and interacting with the participants. What are these bloggers doing? I'm fortunate on some level to be getting close to retirement because if these blogs are credible sources of information, there's no point in spending all the time on the road that I do. And did you see that kid eating his ice cream and putting his hands on everything and can't someone shut that baby up and whose idea is it to give these kids a snow day and when I was their age I used to walk 15 miles to school in the snow. And without shoes!
Now, the one thing that I will add to Sam's view is one of the biggest problems and issues with journalism: the fact that the 'traditional' media build relationships, are out beating the beat, traveling, asking the questions, etc. AND THEY STILL GET IT WRONG a good portion of the time.
So, the dilemna? The guy, situated in his basement in his underwear, getting it wrong by making assumptions fans are making everyday OR the guy, dressed slightly better and 'out there' in the trenches getting it wrong because he takes information from a source that has no insight, or gets used by a player/agent/front office type, or just plain-out is lazy and doesn't go the extra yard to check his facts and sources.
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My view on the issue: I recently gave a national basketball blogger the cold hard facts on the exact methods the NBA uses to suggest/test/check/vote/implement on-court rule changes. The blogger and an NBA team owner each had it wrong in their statement that NBA Commissioner David Stern can implement a rule change on his own or via the NBA Basketball Operations department (Stu Jackson).
I pointed out that the rules are governed by the NBA Competition Committee and that teams suggest rule changes, either get support or do not get support. The NBA office is only there to facilitate the rule change, test it if need be, then implement the rule change after it has been adopted by the Competition Committee and approved by a majority vote of the NBA Board of Governors (one vote per team, usually the team owner who has consulted his top 'basketball guy' for the vote).
The blogger, by the way, who has a zillion contacts and works hard to build relationships, proceeded to 'get it wrong' TWICE.
Such is life.
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So, Bear Stearns was nearly history. $2 bucks a share in the same 52-week period where it towered atop the financial pages (last April 25th it was at 159.++).
Delta announced they are cutting 30,000 jobs by overing pay-outs.
As my pal, Chris B. often says, "Sooner or later, we'll all be working for one company."
My buddy, Spy, chimed in: "Yeah, that company might be the Chinese government."
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I like the new USA Today sports blog. Funny? When Dick Young ran a similar list of items in the NYC tabs, weren't "blogs" called "Notes Columns?"
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Gotta love the fact that NY News reporter Frank Isola checked the flight records of Jim Dolan's plane to help substantiate a story about the Knicks pursuit of Donny Walsh as team president/GM. Walsh is a good guy. Smart. He would be a good fit for the Knicks.
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The Boston Herald business section ran a story on Yao Ming and Reebok this past Wednesday, noting that Reebok will base its Olympic marketing efforts on the shoulders of the Chinese national team center who is recovering from foot surgery.
Donna Goodison wrote:
A foot stress fracture proved to be a season-ending injury for Houston Rockets center Yao Ming, but Reebok International says the setback hasn’t altered its Olympics marketing strategy.
The Canton athletic footwear brand is betting on a big rebound by the 7-foot-6 Chinese athlete in time to play for the Chinese national basketball team when the Beijing games start in August.
Reebok is relying on Yao’s hero status in China to make its brand a household name in the nation of 1.3 billion as it continues an expansion plan that will double the number of its retail stores there to 500 this year. “That’s 30 percent of our global retail presence,” said Todd Krinsky, Reebok’s vice president of sports and entertainment marketing. “It’s one of the biggest growth opportunities in the world for us given what’s going on from an economic standpoint.”
And so Reebok has incorporated Yao’s injury into its “Fuel Yao’s Unlimited Power” campaign, its first major Chinese marketing effort integrating TV, Web, billboard, text message and retail components, including the launch of two new Yao sneakers. Its Chinese Web site, www.reebokyao.com, now allows fans to offer well wishes to Yao during recovery.
The campaign stems from consumer research that showed most young Chinese don’t see Yao as simply a sports figure and are not just hoop fans. “He’s the first Chinese athlete to achieve a lot of things in the U.S., so they really look at him as a hero,” Krinsky said. “We took that insight and created a campaign where the consumers have a chance to be a part of who Yao is.”
“The Rockets are one of the hottest teams in the NBA, and it would be nice if he was playing,” Krinsky said. “But everyone feels comfortable about his rehabilitation, and that he will be on schedule to play in the Olympics.”
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Some confusion over a prior post in this space regarding media reports about Carmelo Anthony and his representation. A spokesperson for Bill Duffy emailed to set the record straight in stating: "Carmelo Anthony is still represented by BDA Sports Management. His agent is BDA's Sr. VP Calvin Andrews. Said BDA: "The BDA Sports Marketing group still represents Carmelo Anthony, but Carmelo is hiring an additional marketing firm to work on marketing endeavors." .... (**** More to come on this topic)
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This from Forbes.com via the AP: As of Wednesday, March 19, 2008, at least 3,992 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes eight military civilians. At least 3,251 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.
The AP count is four more than the Defense Department's tally, last updated Wednesday at 10 a.m. EDT.
The British military has reported 175 deaths; Italy, 33; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 21; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Denmark, seven; El Salvador, five; Slovakia, four; Latvia, three; Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand, Romania, two each; and Australia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, South Korea, one death each.
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A French authority became the first in government to utter words of support towards political action against the 2008 Beijing Olympics when they suggested possible boycott of the event's Opening Ceremonies.
The boycott and other actions against China stem from this report from September, 2006, as reported then by the Washington Post:
Wang Guangya, China's ambassador to the United Nations, made a formal statement on Darfur that calls into question China's claim to be treated as a responsible international player. Mr. Wang began by saying that China wants U.N. peacekeepers to be deployed in Darfur, calling this a "good idea and realistic option," one that should be done "as soon as feasible." But then he went on to explain that China was refusing to support the U.N. resolution calling for such a deployment. Unless China changes its position, the result may well be tens of thousands of civilian deaths.
Now, a boycott of a made-for-TV show as the method to raise leverage against China's lack of support to a UN resolution to stem the tide of genocide in Darfur? That's it, use the sporting event... that'll get 'em where it hurts. Now, fact is that China is the Sudan's largest trading partner. So, c'mon? Why wait? Why, on earth, would government (any govt) allow sports to play any role in this issue? Move on it, before the Olympic Games.
The protests in Tibet have added to the controversy.
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2 comments:
See this on the Beijing Olympics:
By Charles Hutzler
Associated Press / March 22, 2008
BEIJING - Don't expect to turn on your TV during the Beijing Olympics and see live shots of Tiananmen Square, where Chinese troops crushed pro-democracy protests nearly two decades ago.
more stories like this
Apparently unnerved by recent unrest among Tibetans and fearful of protests in the heart of the capital, China has told broadcast officials it will bar live television shots from the vast square during the games.
A ban on live broadcasts would disrupt the plans of NBC and other major international networks, who have paid hundreds of millions of dollars to broadcast the Aug. 8-24 Games and are counting on eye-pleasing live shots from the iconic square.
The rethinking of Beijing's earlier promise to broadcasters comes as the government has poured troops into Tibetan areas wracked by anti-government protests this month and stepped up security in cities, airports and entertainment venues far from the unrest.
In another sign of the government's unease, 400 American Boy Scouts who had been promised they could go onto the field following a March 15 exhibition game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres were prevented from doing so by police.
"It was never specifically mentioned to me it was because of Tibet that there were extra controls, but there were all these changes at the last minute," said a person involved in the Major League Baseball event who asked for anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The communist government's resorting to heavy-handed measures runs the risk of undermining Beijing's pledge to the International Olympic Committee that the games would promote greater openness in what a generation ago was still an isolated China. If still in place by the games, they could alienate the half-million foreigners expected at the games.
Like the Olympics, live broadcasts from Tiananmen Square were meant to showcase a friendly, confident China - one that had put behind it the deadly 1989 military assault on democracy demonstrators in the vast plaza that remains a defining image for many foreigners.
"Tiananmen is the face of China, the face of Beijing, so many broadcasters would like to do live or recorded coverage of the square," said Yosuke Fujiwara, the head of broadcast relations for the Beijing Olympic Broadcasting Co., or BOB, a joint-venture between Beijing Olympic organizers and an IOC subsidiary. BOB coordinates and provides technical services for the TV networks with rights to broadcast the Olympics, such as NBC.
Earlier this week, however, officials with the Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee, or BOCOG, told executives at BOB that the live shots were canceled, according to three people familiar with the matter who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
The decision by BOCOG may not be final. The change was relayed verbally, one person said.
Some confusion over a prior post in this space regarding media reports about Carmelo Anthony and his representation. A spokesperson for Bill Duffy emailed to set the record straight in stating: "Carmelo Anthony is still represented by BDA Sports Management. His agent is BDA's Sr. VP Calvin Andrews. Said BDA: "The BDA Sports Marketing group still represents Carmelo Anthony, but Carmelo is hiring an additional marketing firm to work on marketing endeavors." .... (**** More to come on this topic)
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