The sad state of the mass media today

[Ward]

I'm in the camp that sees nothing wrong with the Waters article. There were rumors all over the internet, pictures floating around that may or may not be him (anyone who is on here saying they 100% know it is or isnt him based on those pictures is lying because the angle and resolution makes it almost impossible to make a strong stance either way), and a popular local radio show is talking about it on the air. Very few know what actually happened, the rest are acting like fans normally act, quick to support the player on their team and try and shoot down any possibility of it happening because they don't want to believe it happened. Theres nothing wrong with that, I'm glad we have fans who act in such a way instead of the other where fans turn their back on anyone who makes a mistake. Something obviously happened at the mall or MCW wouldnt have tweeted it was a miscommunication or a misunderstanding or whatever he said and then quickly deleted it. Then he just summed it up and ended it saying End of story I didnt get arrested. Not I wasnt at the mall, not I didnt go to Lord and Taylor, not anything like that, just that he wasnt arrested. If he wasnt arrested then who cares what may or may not have happened.

I think the article helped MCW when I read it. The police said nothing happened and the Destiny USA people said they didn't have a report on it. In these situations I feel like Waters was in a no win situation. If he addresses it he has people like this thread sayign he's a horrible journalist blah blah blah, if he doesn't then he has people who see these bigfootesque like pictures and are saying they witnessed it all over the internet and are speculating like crazy, and are mad saying its a big cover up, athletes get away with whatever they want blah blah blah.

It's kind of ironic because everyone is complaining that they want the rumor to die down and go away, but we're the ones keeping it alive by making threads such as these and having pages upon pages of speculation. Pretty much every article or blog on it has said the rumors are blowing up and swirlign on the internet and some mention message boards. As far as I'm concerned something happened at the mall, whatever the issue or miscommunication was he didnt get arrested so who cares. It's over and done now lets stop talkign about it so it goes away. Let it die and stop almost indirectly baiting some journalist or blogger somewhere to go find more just to prove to everybody telling them it was all a huge lie that they were wrong.

 

[Cadillac]

"People are talking about it" is now a reason to run with a story.

It's bizarro land.

I gotta get out. Go back to school. Any school. Barber school.

 

[sandman525]

So if Mike hadn't written the quick blurb that essentially quashed the rumor, this story would continue to have legs. Is that the right way to go? Just don't pay attention to it? I think the problem here is our perception of the "reach" of the Internet. In less than 24 hours that picture posted on an anonymous twitter feed was already being talked about by local sports radio, and was trending upwards on the Internet. The story had "reach" at that point and needed to be looked into. Some people feel that this forum, and that little space in Twitter and Facebook are small scale.

Truth is, we're all broadcasters now -- what we say and what we post has the chance to reach millions, even if it is false (or not as true as was made out to be). In my mind, when there's that type of scope to a story, it is a reporter's duty to do some actual reporting and let everyone know "not true, I have the sources to back that up" or "there's something to this, and I have the sources to back that up." It sucks, but the crap in Pandora's Box has long been let out, and it is a journalists duty to follow up on these "rumors."

I'm not saying that the story would have gone away immediately, but how long did the Jay Wright rumor have legs? Even though the MSM has little or no credibility in my eyes, when Waters reports on this it gives the story credibility in a lot of other people's eyes. If he had found something concrete, then obviously it is not unethical to write a story. But he essentially posted an article on a newspaper's website referencing a rumor on twitter, and claiming that he tried to get some information about it, but was unable to. Now some national outlets may pick up on this nonstory because of his article in the PS. His irresponsible article has given this story longer legs than it otherwise would have had.

 

[DoctorBombay]

I'm not saying that the story would have gone away immediately, but how long did the Jay Wright rumor have legs? Even though the MSM has little or no credibility in my eyes, when Waters reports on this it gives the story credibility in a lot of other people's eyes. If he had found something concrete, then obviously it is not unethical to write a story. But he essentially posted an article on a newspaper's website referencing a rumor on twitter, and claiming that he tried to get some information about it, but was unable to. Now some national outlets may pick up on this nonstory because of his article in the PS. His irresponsible article has given this story longer legs than it otherwise would have had.

I read where the Jay Wright rumors started last July but no one had anything concrete- so it stayed quiet.
Only when Mrs. Wright didn't accompany hubby Jay to some hoity-toity function, did the divorce speculation start...and the rumor rekindled.

 

[billsin01]

People were talking about the Fine story. And that stuff about the Coaches wifes was also internet fodder. Hopefully we can keep the thread count down on that so it doesn't get another story.

It used to be journalists didn't report rumors. They checked them out and if they found truth to them they then reported on it (as zibby alludes to with some of the stuff he covered). I consider internet banter to be rumors. So it disheartens me to see what used to be a somewhat respected paper giving internet banter coverage. The "We found no truth to the widespread rumor of" stuff is lazy journalism and should lower the respect given to the PS as a news source.

I don't ever remember seeing threads about BF and his wife and Bobby Davis, etc., until ESPN "broke" the story. I'm not on Twitter but I wasn't aware of a ton of people accusing BF of being a child molester all over Twitter prior to ESPN. The media knew, investigated and decided not to go forward. And, obviously, the stakes were remarkably high in that instance.

But why do you keep saying that journalists "used to only report the truth"? Muckrakers? Yellow journalists? Gossip rags? And haven't they always looked into rumors and tried to see what they could dig up? Isn't that what Mike Waters did and what, in all likelihood, he's doing right now?

 

[Knicks411]

When I was working in Pennsylvania, there was a rumor that a prominent member of the Pittsburgh Steelers was arrested for soliciting a prostitute...a homosexual prostitute. Big story or something people wanted to believe about a player who wasn't very popular at the time? The Steelers wouldn't comment, the police wouldn't comment and the player's agent didn't even return phone calls. That's where it used to end. Nowadays, @Yinzer420 saying it on StillerFan.com is apparently good enough to go on the air with it.

Kinda surprised the thread didn't go off on speculation about who this player was...

 

[billsin01]

"People are talking about it" is now a reason to run with a story.

That's how a lot of stories get started. If you look at this from the other side, you could say everyone is talking about this and yet the PS doesn't publish a single word on the matter? No clarification? No story? No leg work?

A big part of their job is to make an effort to get facts about stories that start as rumor. It's never changed.

 

[billsin01]

Kinda surprised the thread didn't go off on speculation about who this player was...

I had just assumed kordell stewart. I remember hearing those rumors.

 

[Sgt Cuse]

That's how a lot of stories get started. If you look at this from the other side, you could say everyone is talking about this and yet the PS doesn't publish a single word on the matter? No clarification? No story? No leg work?

A big part of their job is to make an effort to get facts about stories that start as rumor. It's never changed.

Stories used to be investigated because the journalists heard people talked about it, through rumors. But if the paper found nothing to substantiate the rumor they did not report it. And if the PS did not report it people would assume they could not substantiate it (see Fine example or the Kordell example).

The PS needs to decide what kind of organization it wants to be, a gossip column or a legitimate newspaper.

 

[br801]

"People are talking about it" is now a reason to run with a story.

It's bizarro land.

I gotta get out. Go back to school. Any school. Barber school.

Be careful. Barbershops are a hotbed for rumors.

 

[DoctorBombay]

I had just assumed kordell stewart. I remember hearing those rumors.

At one time I heard something similar about Franco Harris and/or Lynn Swann.
Rumors tend to do that- stay vague and unsubstantiated...until its posted on Twitter. :blah:

 

[Ward]

Stories used to be investigated because the journalists heard people talked about it, through rumors. But if the paper found nothing to substantiate the rumor they did not report it. And if the PS did not report it people would assume they could not substantiate it (see Fine example or the Kordell example).

The PS needs to decide what kind of organization it wants to be, a gossip column or a legitimate newspaper.

So putting a widespread and swirling rumor talked about all over the city and by other media members, the city in which MCW and the team currently are rock stars, to bed and basically saying theres nothing to it is becoming a gossip newspaper?

As I've said I don't really see the issue with Waters article, I think the one who almost forced him to write the article is the guy talking about it on the radio, taking it from an internet he said she said rumor to a story a local media member is acknowledging. Thus, almost forcing the hand of the others, such as the beat writer for the local newspaper/website, to address it.

 

[Knicks411]

I had just assumed kordell stewart. I remember hearing those rumors.

yeah thats who i thought as well.

guess we just started a rumor...

 

[PoppyHart]

yeah thats who i thought as well.

guess we just started a rumor...

Kordell rumors have been around since he was in college.

 

[Sgt Cuse]

yeah thats who i thought as well.

guess we just started a rumor...

Yes, and IMO the point of the OP was, that it is a sad departure from past policy for a respectable newspaper to then write a story about this, such as "We found no evidence to support the widespread rumor of..."

 

[MyMeloMyMan]

Kordell rumors have been around since he was in college.

He has a dime piece wife now..with a reality show. Maybe its just a really nice beard..

 

[El Jefe Syr]

Definitely hear what you're saying, but I think that the internet (social media phenomenon) has left serious journalists, like Mike, in a weird place. On the one hand, it's bad form to give credence to rumors, on the other the internet has a funny way of turning speculation into fact (i.e.. the radio guy actually reporting the MCW rumor, the response in the Twitter-shpere). Give credit to Mike for investigating the rumor with primary sources - and then for rectifying the rumor, before it goes viral.

After his investigation turned up nothing, Mike's other option of course would have been to forget about it and write nothing, in which case the rumor would perpetuate and possibly be picked up by some other half-arsed radio/media personalities with an agenda - or nothing else useful to report...

 

[PoppyHart]

The guy from VUSports did a good job of quashing the Wright rumors. Hopefully MW will have similar impact. But unless the store issues a statement, I doubt there will ever be complete resolution.

 

[priestp]

Local news outlets have evolved over the last few years, I just feel that the PS went in the wrong direction.
People can get instant news (rumor) through different sources. Whether it's facebook, message boards, newspaper, cable/regular tv etc.
The problem here is that it becomes difficult to weed through the lies and rumors to get the facts. The Post-Standard has positioned itself to legitimize its place in news. Here is where they went wrong in my opinion.
The PS has gone by way of opinion drenched information. By the time I go to the PS for info, I have all the opinion pieces I need to see. At this point, the PS should just give the true basic facts and show the readers the truth and let them form their own opinion.
Just as Waters did in this story. Gave you what he knows to be absolute true facts and that was it. Make your own opinion.
When it comes to news, the most trusted, factual, unbiased outlet will always prevail. The PS has gone the other way, it reruns stories from places like "Slate" and runs sports stories by writers that give a long winded colorful piece about nothing.
I have no problem with the piece in question...even though it shows how small town we really are.

 

[SUintheVille]

Responsibility and Accountability.

Two words that have been dropped from too many people's and media's vocabulary and actions.

 

[Cadillac]

That's how a lot of stories get started. If you look at this from the other side, you could say everyone is talking about this and yet the PS doesn't publish a single word on the matter? No clarification? No story? No leg work?

A big part of their job is to make an effort to get facts about stories that start as rumor. It's never changed.

Um, I agree? I think we're talking about different things.

 

[moqui]

I want to say I'm shocked that the PS reported the rumors, but I'm not. It just epitomizes the sad state the mass media is in today. Mike Waters is old enough to remember when reporters didn't report rumors. I've been out of the game for almost nine years. Maybe the rules have changed. If so, it's really, really sad.

When I was working in Pennsylvania, there was a rumor that a prominent member of the Pittsburgh Steelers was arrested for soliciting a prostitute...a homosexual prostitute. Big story or something people wanted to believe about a player who wasn't very popular at the time? The Steelers wouldn't comment, the police wouldn't comment and the player's agent didn't even return phone calls. That's where it used to end. Nowadays, @Yinzer420 saying it on StillerFan.com is apparently good enough to go on the air with it.

I could go on and on. Remember the fire in Pompey that killed two Manlius firefighters? I was working in Syracuse at the time. A couple days after the fire some guy called and said fire investigators determined the fire was caused by a meth lab and the owner of the house had been arrested and charged with two counts of murder. It was 10:30 at night, but I called the Manlius FD, the Sheriff's department, the jail and I even called the town justice at his home and woke up he and his wife. No one would confirm it. Silly old me just left the info for the guys who worked during the day to follow up. I guess what I should have done is fire up the BREAKING NEWS sirens for the 11PM newscast.

Local mass media is at its absolute nadir right now. I can't even watch local TV news anymore. It's all garbage. I only read the paper for the sports page and the coupons. I don't feel like I'm missing a thing by not paying attention to it.

1. I agree that journalists can be self aggrandizing self promoters who ignore their field's supposed standards when it suits them.
2. But I disagree that this is anything new.
3. I don't like the PS, but I will defend them here - once MCW tweeted on the topic and basically confirmed that he was involved in something, then it was no longer a rumor. Waters' post was empty and shallow and a transparent attempt to get to "the lead" on the story, but it fell within the slippery standards of a sloppy profession.

 

[sufandu]

The PS had to run something because so much of the public thinks anything put on the internet is fact. At least they tried to contact people and ultimately said it was a baseless rumor.

 

[billsin01]

Stories used to be investigated because the journalists heard people talked about it, through rumors. But if the paper found nothing to substantiate the rumor they did not report it. And if the PS did not report it people would assume they could not substantiate it (see Fine example or the Kordell example).

The PS needs to decide what kind of organization it wants to be, a gossip column or a legitimate newspaper.

I don't know. I think the following assertions you're making are false:

1) Some golden age of newspapers existed where they all worked tirelessly for stories, never reported on innuendo or rumor unless they had 3 solid sources, and stuck strictly to covering news and not "making" it never existed. I would agree that media, in terms of the mass quantity of complete drivel out there, is not exactly in a golden age now, but some of the worst "journalists" I ever worked with were the veteran, experienced guys. One fairly well-known baseball writer followed the team from his couch on many occasions, watching the post-game presser on TV.

2) That this is somehow gossip column vs. legitimate reporting. I agree with whomever pointed out that MCW acknowledged some sort of 'misunderstanding' -- that adds some spark to this whole ball of smoke. And all Waters did was contact the parties and get statements and leave open the possibility for following up on an issue that, if true, could potentially lead (could have led) to some sort of suspension.

I also think you're more or less intentionally omitting any acknoledgement of one extremely crucial fact as it pertains to newspapers in general: Newspapers have to adapt to the new media scene. They have to. Didn't Syracuse have three newspapers at one point? They now don't even have a single, daily printed paper and the one they do have, is thinner than one of my kids' DK readers paperbacks.

They can't ignore things on Twitter or Facebook or message boards as much as we (and they) would like to. Trying to handle that information with some sort of journalistic integrity -- which I think you have to agree they weren't simply passing on false rumors -- is the best they can really do, IMO.

 

[billsin01]

Waters' post was empty and shallow and a transparent attempt to get to "the lead" on the story, but it fell within the slippery standards of a sloppy profession.

I agree with much of your post (though perhaps not quite the unmitigated disdain for many media members) but this part I take issue with in the sense that I"m not sure non-newspaper/media people understand how difficult a job it is in many ways. You have to live with the fact that there is simply no way to please everyone and the fact that very few readers even understand what your job is in the first place.

I worked, when I first started, for a paper that covered high school sports here in MD. I remember the first time I did our annual Fall high school all-star teams. Basically the entire coverage area called or yelled at me somewhere about how I was biased or a complete idiot or somehow intentionally trying to deny their kid a scholarship. I was blown away. I tried to explain that not only was I not biased (I wasn't from the area and had no idea of the history of each school and the demographics and the backgrounds of the kids, etc) but that I, and my editor and fellow writer, did the best we could from the games we saw and solicited feedback from every single coach on their kids and others.

The point is, I had no dog in the fight but still put hours and hours and hours into this stupid team that I would have been perfectly happy not doing and the only response -- pure disdain.