Blog Post #4

“The New ‘Toy Department’?”

In this case study, the authors first review and discuss previous coverage of sports by journalists and traditional media outlets. Steve Wilstein, a writer who challenged the idea of baseball as “America’s pastime” by exposing a player’s use of performance enhancing drugs, is referenced in the article as his actions provide reasons to why the sports department is often referred to as the “toy department.” Sports journalists’ often avoid topics such as that in Wilstein’s article, “for fear of alienating sources and the teams they cover.” Rather these journalists seek to maintain their relationships by protecting their sources and avoiding negative stories. Wilstein suggested that sports journalists were giving major league baseball a “free pass.” With the introduction of new media, such as blogs, “survey research suggests bloggers see themselves as filling a void left by traditional sports journalists in the form of commentary and analysis.” Although sports journalism has emerged popularly in new media outlets, the case study looked to assess whether the coverage of sports media differs when presented online. To properly analyze the coverage, the case of Manny Ramirez’s suspension from major league baseball was used.  After using five-research method questions, the results presented the idea that “stories still trended toward a more ‘neutral’ approach,” further perpetuating the “toy department” reference. The authors also discussed that although journalists had the opportunity to assess the problem of drug use in baseball, most did not. Overall, traditional media was found to have better accomplished the goal of a problem-oriented approach. Coverage from traditional and more mainstream outlets “engaged controversial-yet-critical issues” compared to the new media outlets that were mostly “neutral.” Finally the authors state, “Traditional media outlets should continue focusing on providing sports news that adheres to the ‘importance of traditional journalistic procedures’” and avoid neutral coverage.

“The Whitening of Sports Media and The Coloring of Black Athletes’ Images”

Blackistone’s article directly discusses the contrast between the lack of color in sports journalism and the abundance of colored professional athletes. According to studies in 2009, 67 percent of players in the NFL were black, 77 percent in the NBA were black, and 40 percent in the MLB were of color. The article expresses that media over the decades showed that mostly white journalists were serving white audiences and therefor creating a “lens.” Serving these audiences perpetuated the idea of stereotypes in the media about racial superiority. Black athletes were often associated with their “natural” athletic ability compared to white athletes that represented “diligence, and most importantly, intelligence.” Although ASNE looked to increase the racial diversity in newsrooms, they moved their goal to 2025 including a “mission statement that called on newspapers to ‘reflect the racial diversity of American society by 2025 or sooner’.” However, since 2001, black journalists have declined more than 30 percent. In 2008, according to research, 78 percent of the staff at Associated Press Sports Editors newspapers and websites was white men and 88 percent of columnists were white men. Many other media outlets were found to have significantly less journalists of color compared to white journalists. The article refers to this problem as “whitening of sports media,” while it is “coloring the image of black athletes and athletes of color.” These two issues further perpetuate the stereotypes of black athletes while victimizing them. Blackistone discusses that “while the improprieties of black athletes draws lots of coverage, scandals involving white counterparts seems to get swept under the rug.” Examples include Michael Vick and Tiger Woods compared to Ben Roethlisberger. Finally, concerns continue to be raised as sports media outlets increasingly have less diversity among writers while continuously stereotyping and singling out colored athletes.

Research Paper:

With prior interest as well as reading Blackistone’s article, I am interested in revolving my research around the coverage related to the signing of Michael Vick to the Eagles and his first game with the team after his jail time. 

Week 5 Articles

The Babe Ruth Times

"Heroes are not born but made." Because of the huge growth in newspapers and especially sports journalism, Babe Ruth became a legend or hero in the press. It was quickly established that sports couldn't do without journalism and vice versa. Babe knew this so he always made himself available for the journalists. In return, during the Golden Age of sports, journalists turned players into heroes, especially Babe. Journalists would only write of their greatness towards the game and leave their character out because it was considered, "dangerous ground." Because of this many things that Babe did which wouldn't seem heroic were left unmentioned in the press. The metaphor-style of journalism started in the 1920's and what is did precisely was turn athletes into legends or heroes. The athletes status was built by the journalists so those that would read about them would see the illusion of a hero and assume that everything they did was greatness. When people would finally question the athletes they would just respond "It's in the paper isn't it?"

"The Whitening of Sports Media and The Coloring of Black Athletes' Images"
By: Kevin B. Blackistone

April 2001, the number of black journalists declined for the third straight year and is led almost exclusively by white men. from 2008-2010 the percentage went for 11.7 down to 9.42. During this time white male journalists increased by three percent. More importantly, the census found that racial minorities made up almost 85% of the U.S. population growth over the last decade. 
These studies supported stereotypes in beliefs of racial superiority rather than challenging them. Black athletes were credited with success due to their natural athletic ability, while the success of white athletes was tied to diligence and intelligence. Black athletes are portrayed in the media as more deviant and in a "pejorative manner," in comparison to white athletes.
President Lyndon Johnson set out to find out the root cause of the civil disorder and what was found was that the media is to blame. They reported their view on the issues in a way that didn't reveal the truth. The commission gave recommendations to this misrepresentation including "News organizations must employ enough Negroes in positions of significant responsibility" and "The news media must publish newspapers 
and produce programs that recognize the existence and activities of the Negro, both as a Negro and as 
part of the community." As a result, ten years later a plan was created to diversify the newsroom but it admitted that it failed. (2000) ASNE pushed their goal back to 2025 and said that in order for reporters to fully cover a community they must reflect the racial diversity in the newsroom as the American society.
According to this article, we haven't even started to progress to that goal and some five percent of sports reporters are black. (2005) 
Evidence shows that because the industry is mainly white men, black athletes continue to be victimized by stereotypes developed over the years. Black athletes are also more often victims of being referred to by their first names which reduces their maturity. It shows a lack of respect towards blacks compared to what is said about white athletes.
Arguments or excuses for the lack of diversity range from budget cuts, to online media not having any stated goals like newspapers have to make diversity a part of their game plan. This continues to decline in diversity and the consequences have been proven through research that black athletes are portrayed negatively and stereo-typically  They are concerns that will continue to heighten anxieties of these athletes in society.

"The New Toy Department?"

According to Wilstein, journalists who avoid negative topics such as the performance-enhancing drug scandal with Mark McGuire contribute to the labeling of the sports department the "New Toy Department."
The review before the study suggests that sports journalists fail to offer critical perspectives toward athletes and their organizations. It also suggests that they don't meet standards set by their colleagues. This leads to the bad name given of the toy department because of the lack of professional standards and inability to serve as the watchdog function. A conflict reporters face is that of boosterism, which is the practice of writing positive stories for an organization and they don't want to ruin the reputation of that organization. There are also accounts of journalists completely avoiding important social issues when given the opportunity. Because sports stories often do not reflect problem-oriented stories and remain "neutral" according to Rowe, when addressing bigger social implications, they are viewed as a toy department.
According to Lowe, sports reporters are under great pressure since their stories are still highly sought after even with the decline in newspapers. They understand the importance of having really great sources and keeping those sources and if they were to produce a negative story they might lost that great source for all of their content. They could lose their jobs for such a story.
Rise in New Media
The internet has become the new marketplace of idea's. This opens up the opportunity for almost anyone to release information but according to research many bloggers compared to print media use far less sources and present a more one-sided perspective.
Online Sports Communication
Sports journalists see blogging as a waste and that it takes away from journalism where bloggers see that they are doing the job of the journalists. According to Ji and Sheehy, these perceptions have a bigger implication, "blogging becomes more identified with journalism, the long-standing importance of traditional journalistic procedures and standards may begin to weaken."
There is a battle between bloggers and journalists. On one hand bloggers challenge news corporations who control content and expose more touchy issues than sports journalists might. But on the other bloggers fuel a problematic atmosphere by posting stories not based on fact. In a comparison study, research showed that sports journalists were more likely than bloggers to engage the story on issues of racism and included historical context. They were also more likely to speculate on socio-cultural implications. This disagrees with Hartman's study. 
This Research and Background
This content has not been studied extensively and basically needs to be. The story of Manny Ramirez' fifty game suspension due to PED's. Five questions were asked about traditional and new media coverage and how they dealt with this story. They found that out of ninety-four articles, transcripts and web posts that were coded, 45% of the stories came from new media outlets. This was much more than the articles from any print publication.
Discussion and Conclusion
The results found that reporters still trended toward a "neutral" approach, which again leads to the idea of sports journalism being a "toy department." The newspeg allowed for reporters to assess a systemic issue of drug use in baseball but they did not go that route. Nor did they cover any analysis of a steroid problem in baseball. Traditional journalists better accomplished the problem-oriented approach as they were more likely to 1) connect the Ramirez story to other players — suggesting that the failed drug test is not an isolated 
incident; 2) address the league’s substance abuse policy and; 3) provide information about why an elite athlete might use HCG. New media outlets were more neutral, suggesting that the new toy department may be in the online environment. The most interesting finding was that traditional media linked this story with other players connected with steroids even with the threat of losing credible sources. This may suggest a step in the right direction for traditional media.

Mark Valeriano
Topic: Either Cinderella Man or Ali's battle with the Government

Week 5: Blackistone and Whiteside

As we have already gone over in previous weeks, there are several issues facing journalism. Among these issues were the problems of diversity and professionalism. This week’s readings, written by Kevin Blackistone and Whiteside, Hu, & Hardin, respectively, tackle these topics as they see them; Blackistone recognizes the lack of diversity in the newsroom and how it manifests itself into coverage of minority athletes, and the reading led by Whiteside addresses the topic of blogging and how this practice creates its own set of issues.

Blackistone’s article focuses on the topic of diversity and puts a lot of emphasis on the lack of diversity in the sports newsroom. Blackistone begins his article by diving straight into the issue with hard statistics. These statistics show the declining number of people of color in the newsroom of sports departments. Blackistone contradicts these numbers with statistics of the US population and the breakdown of minorities in sports, which clearly shows the misrepresentation of minorities in sports departments across the country. Blackistone also puts all of this in perspective by looking at the historical context. He cites a 1968 report that identified the need for more minority representation in journalism, yet the problem still persists today. Not only did a previous plan introduced by the ASNE in 1978 fail in getting more minority representation (including women) in the newsroom, but the altered version of this plan is also set to fail to reach its goal in 2025. This problem is also found in the structure of sports departments; in 2010, only one editor out of 1,456 total daily newspaper’s sports department was black (Blackistone, 2012).

While this may only seem like an issue in the structure of the newsroom, Blackistone points out that this problem manifests itself into the coverage of sports and athletes as well. He mentions early in the article that black athletes are seen as naturally gifted rather than intelligent on the field, and “thugs,” self-centered and arrogant off the field (Blackistone, 2012). He also notes how black athletes are judged more critically than white athletes, citing the examples of Michael Vick’s and Tiger Woods’s respective situations in comparison to Ben Roethlisberger’s incidents of alleged sexual assault. While Vick and Woods were severely criticized for their actions, Roethlisberger’s situation flew more under the radar in the national media. This is even found in more subtle ways, as Blackistone points out many black athletes are referred to by first names rather than their last, treating them with less respect than their white counterparts. Blackistone concludes by stating that unless changes be made in the structure of newsrooms, it will be virtually impossible for coverage of minority athletes to change.

The article led by Whiteside focuses on a different issue facing sports journalism: the idea that the sports departments have become “toy departments” within journalism. One of the reasons for this, as Whiteside explains, has been the rise of “new media,” which largely consists of blogs and other similar sites. To determine some of the differences in traditional journalism and new media, Whiteside analyzes the coverage of Manny Ramirez’s suspension in 2009. They seek to answer several questions including how the story was covered, what sources were used, how the story related to the larger issue of steroids in baseball, and who the suspension impacted.

The study found that the differences in coverage were very different between traditional journalism and new media. The study found that traditional journalism used direct sources, while new media only cited third-party sources such as other published works. With regard to addressing the larger steroid issue in baseball, as traditional media placed the suspension into a larger context moreso than its new media counterpart. Similarly, traditional media also found that traditional media was more likely to report on MLB’s drug policy, while new media was unlikely to do so. The study also found that traditional media was also more likely to put the drug Ramirez used into context, while new media was unlikely to do so, if they even mentioned the drug at all.

While this is only one example, Whiteside notes that this exemplifies the problem facing sports departments. Although many readers are viewing traditional media and new media as one in the same, the differences in coverage are vastly different. Most new media coverage is not as in-depth as its traditional counterpart, thus leading readers and even other journalists to buy into the idea of the sports department being the “toy department” of journalism. However, traditional media does everything any other journalism department does: they gather a great deal of information, contextualize it, and talk about the greater issue. Whiteside argues that in order to avoid this “toy department” label, traditional media needs to continue to view themselves as journalists, avoiding the stories that lack depth and context that seems to overwhelm the new media field.

For my paper topic, I would like to discuss the 2008 Beijing Olympics. This was obviously a major world event that not only showcased the best athletes in the world, but also started a conversation regarding China's status in the rest of the world.

Blackistone and Whiteside: Neutrality

        People tend to root for the underdog. We are addicted to upsets. When it happens, the media flocks to it, questioning the favorite's integrity. Since we love seeing the disadvantaged win, why do we still not favor the minority?

        Blackistone sees this ongoing tension in sports. Right away he shares the statistics of races in professional sports. While social minorities ultimately dominate basketball, many people find themselves rooting for the majority because now they are the minority. For example, so many times have I heard people say “I'm a Kidd fan because he's a white man playing in a black man's sport.” It's true. Society (since dominantly white) sees their counterpart as a minority in some sports and then supports it.

         We are not sure if society will ever evolve fully. The ASNE set a goal in 1978 to hire a more diverse staff by gaining the minority. By 2000, they admitted they were not there yet and set a new goal for 25 years later. Journalists and newspapers claim they are trying to create equality; however, they are still not meeting their goals. It was reported that 88 percent of sports' journalists were white males. There are some slight changes however; Three of the biggest sporting news' outlets have black editors (ESPN,The Sporting News, Yahoo! Sports).

          Blackistone continues on this thought by sharing the coverage of diversity. He brings up the punishment of Woods and Vick, two black male pros who were harshly convicted by the media for the wrongs they had done. Even years later, we still associate and remind them of the injustice they have caused. Strangely enough, Big Ben committed a more serious crime and was only given a two-game suspension and the media dropped it after a couple of weeks. The same with Favre, who sent pictures of his genitals to a female other than his wife. The media dropped it within a couple of weeks. There were other examples like the black athlete who was taunted after a game so he threw a punch and was forever labeled a thug. We continue to state we want more diversity; however, we continue to create unequal routes for minorities.

          Another underdog seems to be the sport's journalist. They are batted and criticized and some disrespected due to lack of professionalism.

          According to Whiteside, sports journalists are stuck in a “toy department.” This department lacks credibility and professionalism because it used to not tell the entire story. It also fails to fulfill the watchdog element. There is this thin line where beat reporters know they have to share the story, but wonder how it will affect their team and the relationship they have with their team. Journalists are aware that once you break a negative story, there will be much hatred coming your way. This creates a problem because Lowes states about the constant demand of stories in sports. It is the duty of the journalist to break the story.

         He shared the story of the University of Minnesota's men's team, who was suspected of cheated. Not only did 500 readers and the mayor create backlash and disgust for the story, but the football team refused to cooperate with that newspaper the following year. Journalists cannot be afraid and many were not when someone finally broke the story about special enhancement drugs.

        Whiteside tells the story of the changes in media when superstar Manny Ramirez was exposed for using a banned substance. Here, Whiteside breaks down the importance of research. Journalists have to see the story at all angles, know when they have enough to release the story, and gather enough institutions and sources for credibility. He shares the best way to release a story like this and how many news outlets did. As he further explained how the story was covered, it was shocking that only a few over half of stories used a pretty explanation by Ramirez. Finally Whiteside noticed the evolution of journalism since they were no longer maintaining a neutral status.

       Neutrality is such a confusing word in journalism. There should be neutrality amongst athletes when it comes to race and the journalist should equally report on all types of athletes. A journalist must keep a neutral opinion when it comes to breaking stories; however, they cannot be neutral to the athlete and not share the important facts. All we can do is stay neutral and be effective as possible while doing so.

        Speaking of neutral, my topic for the upcoming research paper focuses on the 2007 Betting Scandal in the NBA. Tim Donaghy was betting on games that he would then professionally ref. There is still some wonder whether the Rockets should have won their series after falling from a 2-0 start or whether Nash would have finally made it to the finals.

Blog #3

“The Sports Beat: A Digital Reporting Mix—With Exhaustion Built In”

“So journalists know what they must do. Build the brand. Drive traffic. Draw an audience. And hope that someone figures out how to make the money that makes it possible to again do real journalism.”  -- Dave Kindred

With this quote, Kindred points directly at his argument throughout the entire article. His argument is that journalism has taken a whole new pathway with the emergence and popularity of blogging, Twitter, and various other media outlets. Discussed in the article, the crowds of fanatics that are constantly checking these outlets have a “lust for information.” A long time reporter, Wally Matthews states, “It matters if we get the lineup posted first by 45 seconds,” as he discusses the importance of tweeting constant news to fans and viewers. This new form of journalism is seen as revolutionary, however, many reporters find this new way to be lacking “real journalism.” Lisa Olson, a columnist for AOL Fanhouse explains that “For reporters whose skills have been shaped by years of newsgathering, this work must be as much fun as playing Scrabble with a poodle.” The process has become “awkward” as conversations and random thoughts are shared between “boys-at-the-bar” and reporters through Twitter. Lastly, Kindred expresses the idea that this new form of journalism “records everything with little regard for context, perspective or narrative.”  By the statements of these various journalists and Kindred’s last point, the hope is that “real journalism” emerges again.

“It’s a Brand-New Ballgame—For Sports Reporters”

Malcolm Moran emphasizes the lack of quality represented in past generations of journalism in his article by addressing the process of new journalism in the technology age. Similar to Kindred, Moran discusses that students seeking to become journalists are “being asked to produce more content and do so more quickly than any generation before them.” Journalists are not just simply watching games, taking detailed notes, interviewing players, and compiling a story, they are simultaneously doing this while blogging, tweeting, and carrying on conversations with fans through these outlets. Moran best describes this idea when he writes, “Today’s sports beat reporting seems more about producing fragments of information than in shining a light on core issues of our time.” Later in his article, Moran gives the reader two deficiencies among beat reporters: “a lack of discernment  and a reluctance to engage.” With the ease of access to create, send, and converse about sports through different types of technology, reporters are beginning to leave behind the idea of getting to games early, staying late, and making the extra phone call to get the best information possible. These reporters merely depend on their technology and abundance of media connection to get prevalent information needed to finish stories, blogs, or tweets. New reporters have moved passed the old model of passing along sensitive information to be looked over throughout a day by various editors to a new model that seems to believe in 80 percent accuracy rate and getting information out quickly and constantly.

Week 4 Kindred and Moran

"The Sports Beat: A Digital Reporting Mix- With Exhaustion Built In" By: Dave Kindred

"It's a world of flying thumbs."
There is so much emphasis on having information first and immediately. Fans and followers expect the information so immediate that if they don't get it they hassle the beat reporters they follow and criticize them if they aren't first.
Matthews joined a beat position for the Yankees and says the new routine of reporting is borderline suicidal. All the work done at good speed was counterproductive to good reporting. Workload of beat reporters make quality reporting impossible. How much time spent writing each segment of a story during a game takes away from capturing the story as a whole and leaves almost zero time in watching the game at all. This also takes away from what is happening on a grander scale maybe aside from the game. Writing non-stop four hours before the game and sometimes more than two hours after it is over is what is considered "normal" in this 21st century. These days beat reporters are getting run into the ground! All this constant writing is thorough but it records everything without regard to context, perspective or narrative. "But it's the world we're in." Consumers pay for this and if they don't get what they want then these reporters lose their jobs or their company loses business.

"It's a Brand-New Ballgame- For Sports Reporters" By: Malcolm Moran

"Your safety net is gone, likely forever."
With all of this new technology how do we prepare the next generation? This is a major issue that must be addressed because things are indeed changing and the older ways of reporting are become outdated although they are still being taught. A great quote that goes along with the last article goes, "When is there time to exhale?" So much time writing and releasing new information to the second that beat reporters have little time for anything else. But today's beat reporting seems to be more about producing fragments of information than in shining a light on core issues of our time. All of this time spent on digital media contributes to two deficiencies among beat reporters today: (1) A lack of discernment, and (2) A reluctance to engage. This can lead to reporters not finding out information that their readers deserve to know.
But there are a few givens that remain unchanged in this world of new technology. (1) There is an expectation of precision and careful preparation and importance of arriving early and staying late. There is still much payoff from making that extra phone call or contacting that extra person. (2) The art of assessing a complex situation, of choosing a topic worthy of question, and framing that question to gain insight as well as information. And (3) There is still essential need to develop relationships as a way of earning trust and relevance on those relationships to gain access to the truth. Technology has changed "everything else."

Mark Valeriano

Week 4, Beat Reporting: Moran and Kindred

It is every aspiring sports journalist’s dream: covering a professional sports team’s beat. Spending day in and day out with the team, following and tracking the team’s movements, transactions and daily on-goings is the perfect combination of journalism and being a sports fanatic.

But as this week’s readings point out, there is much more to beat reporting than what meets the eye.

One of the readings, written by Malcolm Moran, talks about the new landscape of beat reporting in reference to sports journalism. Moran frames his discussion through his own perspective as a sports journalism professor and how teaching the subject to a new generation of journalists is vastly different than it ever has been before. He acknowledges that the speed of news has increased exponentially, thus affecting the world of sports beat reporting. Not only are journalists and beat reporters expected to get news out fast, but they are asked to generate much more content on many different platforms, something that past reporters did not necessarily have to do.

Along these same lines, Moran states that today’s sports journalist, in most cases, does not have the time for adequate reporting. Because the speed of sports journalism has gotten to be so fast, it is more difficult for journalists to gather and dissect information and then go on to use that in a high-quality sports journalism piece. Moran compares today’s sports journalism and beat reporting to tightrope walking; sports journalists must be able to discern good and reliable information from the bad, while still producing quality journalism that they feel confident in reporting.

The second reading, written by Dave Kindred, echoes Moran’s statements. Kindred also talks about the increased speed of sports journalism, citing the example of the posting of lineups in MLB clubhouses. Even though this may seem like minuscule information in the big scheme of sports journalism, sports journalism has gotten to the point where beat reporters must be the first to do simple things like posting a lineup to social media.

Kindred goes on to describe that not only is sports journalism and beat reporting evolving, but it is revolutionizing the entire field of sports journalism. Using examples such as reporters live-blogging everything they see as well as still covering the game itself, Kindred shows just how much work beat reporting is for sports journalists and how the field has changed from simply walking into the clubhouse, grabbing quotes, and then writing a story.

Kindred concludes by posing the question, “is all this good or bad for reporting?” While this answer could certainly be debated among journalists of all fields, it is quite evident that this type of journalism, specifically sports journalism, is here to stay. But as Kindred points out, it will be even more interesting to see how this type of reporting affects the economics of sports journalism. 

Beat Reporting: Moran and Kindred

    Beat reporting sucks.
    It’s hard. It’s fast.  It’s competitive. It’s time-consuming; however, it’s a challenge.
    According to Moran and Kindred, it is not an easy route to being a beat reporter.  It  does not only take skill, but dedication. To be a beat reporter, there has to be passion underlying for this tricky field.
Kindred tells the story of Wally Matthews, a beat reporter for ESPN New York. In 2010, he busted out of boxing to cover the elite Yankees.  Since then, Matthews arrives “four hours early” and leaves “two hours” after each Yankees game.  It has become such a lifestyle that he informed his wife not to call him after 3:30pm unless there is an emergency.  There is so much pressure to have the line-up out first and knowing facts about injuries right away.
       Matthews claimed fans tweet constantly about a topic until he can get it up.  It may seem ridiculous that fans might get so angry when they are not immediate update; however, consider  Malcolm Floyd, the veteran wide receiver of the San Diego Chargers.  After leaving the field in the Eagles’ season opener, people were constantly tweeting, asking updates about his status.  The people want to know as soon as possible and will badger a network until they have the information.   Kindred shares the stressed and consumption of beat reporting through Matthews.
       Another reporter, Lisa Olson retaliated saying beat reporting does not need to be so consuming and she’s right.  People want statistics and they want them fast, but the live-blogging and constant tweeting can be overbearing.  It does not need to be so absurd.
        Absurdity has grown especially through tweeting and social media.  According to Moran, technology has “changed the ballgame” with being able to be so instant.  With everything so quickly accessible, the safety net is gone from “tightrope walking.”
         Reporters are forced to constantly update; it is taking away from enjoying the game.  The passion of sports is weighing heavy and this career has just become another job.  Beyond that, fans are sometimes avoiding actual writing due to accessibility through social media.
           Basically beat reporting is changing.  Society seems unsure whether it’s more stressful due to constant updates or less stressful because the in-depthness has seem to left the beating community.            Technology will continue to change journalism.  It may consume us.  It may take weight off our shoulders  It may make us more desirable to fans.  It may make us less credible.  It is just too new to tell how sports journalism will ultimately be affected.

Blog #2

In Drew Hancherick’s article, he discusses the evolution of journalism as it relates to sports and implications of technology on both present and future sports journalism. Hancherick explains that sport’s popularity grew with the increasing number of radio broadcasts. The radio broadcasts of sporting events gave people “the opportunity to experience a live event without actually being there.” With the popularity of sports and radio, the coverage of other sporting events began to grow as well. Television soon became a major component to sports journalism, as games were broadcast live for the country to watch and enjoy. Along side television broadcasts, the development of magazines gave sports journalism another outlet, especially in 1954 when Sports Illustrated was first published. Following later was the emergence of specific sports programs and networks on television, including ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” and ESPN’s SportsCenter. These developments gave people the ability to engage in sporting events around the country without actually having to be at the actual events. It also provided them with a source of entertainment outside their professional and daily lives. The most important development, the Internet, has played a major role in journalism as a whole, especially sports journalism. The Internet gave people the ability to access specific information quickly instead of waiting to receive a specific story in a 30-minute or hour-long segment. People could now access exactly which stories they were interested in, right away. Hancherick states the idea of “information on demand,” in which people constantly seek new information in a quick and easy way. The emergence of Twitter and the ability to access the Internet on mobile devices has created a whole new way of delivering news. Discussing the implications of these outlets, Hancherick states, “With the demand for up-to-the-minute news and information increasing daily, reporters are under pressure to break news quickly or risk having their story published first by another media outlet.” This then leads to stories being published with little confirmation or lacking enough sources.” With this type of access, whether stories are note worthy or not, people will continue to demand content.

In Salwen and Garrison’s article, they conduct a study to examine the perceived problems of both sports journalism. After conducting their study and interviewing professionals in the journalism and sports journalism fields, general conclusions were made relating to the problems in sports journalism. Professionalism was the top rated problem for sports journalism. One sports editor, Jim Ruppert, stated, “too many hacks…mostly the electronic variety invading locker rooms.” Another top-ranked problem in sports journalism was found to be economics. As it has been discussed previously, journalism as a whole faces issues of journalism as outlets compete for reader attention. Print journalism has been affected by the economy the most, as traditional newspaper readers are getting older, while young readers are looking to specific niches, which technology provides the most. The study found that concerns were raised regarding sports journalists’ “knowledge and their focused interest in sports.” It was stated that there is a “need of sports journalists to expand their knowledge beyond ‘the game’ to include law, medicine, business, politics, and other sociological matters that have become increasingly relevant to sports journalism.” Lastly, sources/access ranked as problem within sports journalism. Some felt that stories being published lack credible sources due to coaches/managers and athletes enjoying social status in society more and more. 

Post #2: Salwen & Garrison, Hancherick

As a profession that is constantly under scrutinize by the public, it should come as no surprise that journalism field has its own set of concerns for the landscape of the profession. Michael Salwen and Bruce Garrison, in “Finding Their Place in Journalism: Newspaper Sports Journalists’ Professional ‘Problems,’” examine these sets of problems from the perspectives of the journalist themselves. As the article title describes, they do this from the perspective of sports journalism, examining the relationship between the problems existing in sports journalism and journalism as a whole.

The article begins by first distinguishing the field of sports journalism as a separate entity of journalism. The study, as the results will show later on, shows that the challenges and problems sports journalism faces are not quite the same as those seen in the broader field of journalism. Within their study, Salwen and Garrison interviewed several sports journalists and editors. These same sports journalists and editors were asked to answer a series of questions of what they believed to be an issue in sports journalism, what issues journalism faces as a whole, and what similarities or differences might exist between the two. As a follow-up to these questions, a sample of responders was asked to provide an in-depth interview to explain their answers in the initial survey.

Interestingly, the responses showed that the journalists believed sports journalism faced several issues that other journalists might not necessarily face. For example, Professionalism, Issues/content, Economic/resources were the top three issues believed to be facing sports journalism, while those same three ranked second, fifth, and fourth in the journalism in general poll. However, there were some similarities found as well. Common issues between sports journalism and journalism in general included professionalism, economic concerns, and diversity (both in content and perspective).

As a whole, there were several topics that kept popping up throughout the study. One of them was the distinction between broadcasting and journalism. Sports journalists generally regarded broadcasting as a hindrance to the sports journalism field, providing unnecessary competition between the two fields, as well as “ruining” the reputation of sports journalism. Another common topic was that of diversity. Though not seen as a major issue, it was highlighted in several in-depth interviews. As the study points out, the sports journalism field is a male-dominated field and offers little other perspective. Even with regard to content, diversity is hard to come by as the major sports (baseball, football, men’s basketball, etc.) dominate the field, while other sports (women’s basketball, polo, etc.) go largely uncovered.

However, the issues of sports journalism are not limited to these topics, as Drew Hancherick’s own study points out. Hancherick analyzed the constantly changing landscape of journalism, specifically through the realm of sports journalism. He examined the role technology has played in changing the face of sports journalism throughout its history.

Although many believe that sports journalism has not changed until fairly recently with the additions of Twitter and social media, Hancherick points out that this is not necessarily the case. Technologies dating back to the radio completely changed the face of sports journalism, popularizing sports and bringing them into the mainstream media. Along with radio, technology advancements such as television broadcasts also helped to shape sports journalism, further popularizing sports as sports networks such as ESPN and other programs began to flourish.

Of course, Hancherick then goes on to describe social media, specifically Twitter, and how it is again revamping sports journalism. With technology such as the internet and Twitter, sports journalism has become much more demanding and instant, as people actively seek out sports news, even if the news has not changed. People demand news and updates because of the technological advances that allow for this. As Hancherick points out, these advancements have also led to direct communication between athletes and fans.

In all, both articles point out that there are several issues facing sports journalism – and journalism as a whole – that have greatly changed the field of sports journalism. These articles explain that they are ongoing, and the field of sports journalism has not only changed immensely since its inception, but continues to change at a rapid pace.

Salwen, Garrison, and Hancherick

      Journalism faces a tough road when it comes to peer evaluations. People are always finding reasons to pick apart stories. Whether the news is late or the source is unreliable, some of society would claim they have lost faith in journalism due to negative exposure. The only thing harder than being a current events journalist is being a sports journalist.

       In Finding Their Place in Journalism: Newspaper Sports Journalists' Professional “Problems”, Michael Salwen and Bruce Garrison break down the difficulties of reporting sports. As a whole, sports journalism was considered a general disappointment by “traditional journalistic standards.”

According to the article, there are nine categories that are concerns in sports journalism: professionalism, reader-related, economic/resources, diversity, writing/reporting, issues/content, job related, and sources/access. Professional and reader-related were obviously the top choices since it is hard to take sports seriously (in a career manner) and it is hard for readers to relate to athletes when they are not one. Clearly all that journalists can do is try to provide more insight in athletes' lives such as criminal, personal, and family-related; however, then this makes reporting more unprofessional. This is just a concern that cannot fully be fix, only adjusted.

      Garrison and Salwen question many editors in hoping to find the concerns with sports coverage with each carrying his or her own opinion. After reading, I found the most reasonable explanation to be under the togetherness of journalism. Sports bring people together; therefore, people desire updates on sports. There may always be questions of whether this is news, but sports fans will always want to hear it. It’s time to stop questioning and pushing sports journalism down, but instead embracing it.

In Tweet Talking, Drew Hancherick went over the changes that journalism (mainly sports) have brought to society. Ever since the first tweet that confirm Randy Moss back to the Vikes, social updating has been evolving how we get news. Hancherick touches on how the professional concern was changed when ESPN began in 1979. ESPN has grown to one of the most watched, read, and sought after stations. Although it might not always be credible, many people rely on ESPN for updates. Journalism has come far especially in sports; however, it has one final step.

       Besides the question of credibility and research with sports, it also lacked a connection with minority and women. According to the study, female's present in media has increased; unfortunately, there still has not been much “representation” in the field. There was a claim that females did not fit and of course, that statement was correct. Most professional sports dealt heavily with males and the competition level was more advance, thus creating appeal to audiences. Plus society usually focuses on the three major sports (basketball, baseball, and football), and the WNBA is the only one professionally covered. Leba Hertz, who is the San Francisco Chronicle sports editor, believes that the “attitudes” of those in sports lacks respect for women. While women are pressure for more to prove, there still has been an increase in hopes of breaking this stereotype.

      While Garrison and Salwen have concerns how sports journalism will always have doubters, Hancherick is speaking how twitter and social media (although not always respected) is credible as well. Receiving news is changing and whether professionals find it reliable or not, society does. Thus there is a brilliant life ahead for sports journalism and we are just lucky enough to want to be a part of it.

Blog #2 Salwen and Hancherick

"Sports Journalists Finding Their Place"
By: Michael Salwen and Bruce Garrison

This article focused on the beliefs of problems that sports journalists and journalists in general have, and recorded the most important down to the least with similar in between. Sports journalism use to be and still sometimes is mentioned as a diversion from the days serious news. And not too long ago is wasn't held to traditional journalistic standards. The field of sports journalism is being questioned of its seriousness from both sides of journalism: sports authorities and from other forms of journalism. An early study mentioned in the article stated that sports journalists actually believed it was improving and on par with other journalists as far as creativity and ethics were concerned. This is highly debated still to this day.
The article mentioned two ways to speak with sports journalists and they are: Quantitative tradition and Qualitative tradition. The first refers to a survey using standardized instruments and draw broad and reliable generalizations but little in-depth understanding. The second gains understanding but provides limited knowledge of the big picture.
The main study of this article focused on two open-ended questions that were asked. The first was what are the problems facing sports journalism and then the problems facing journalism in general. Of those who were asked some ninety-five percent were white males, so it did lack some diversity but the results hold accountable information. The answers were broken down into nine different categories: Professionalism, reader related, economic/resources, diversity, writing/reporting, competition, issues/content, job-related and sources/access. Following this came the second stage which were in-depth interviews with the people that responded. Overall findings indicated that sports journalists perceived the problems facing SJ and J in general as very different matters. Sports Journalists viewed sources/access problems as far more relevant to SJ than to the field of journalism in general. Journalists in general had no mention of sources of access being a problem. These two fields shared several common problems that were major concerns, according to the respondents. These were from the professional and economic categories. They were really concerned with the perception of ethics and credibility that new journalists coming in were being taught and the lack of resources and money their companies will have in the future. One main concern from both fields was that television broadcasters had more authority over them which caused them to lose time with their sources. Another commonality amongst both fields was competition. Broadcaster journalism was a focus here but also from other newspapers and companies producing the same news. Their overall concern was the competition against the newspaper industry and if they will survive with new technologies. The big picture of the results was that this is a troubled group concerned about its future and the role and status of newspaper sports journalism.

"Changes in Sports Communications"
By: Drew Hancherick

October 5, 2010 is a "watershed moment in sports journalism history." The mention of a trade of Randy Moss to the Vikings. The story was no where in the media except that Bill Simmons released a short tweet about the idea. He was lucky this ended up being true as the rest of the article kind of explains.
The rest of the introduction gets into the background and usage of Twitter in short detail. It is then followed by the history of newspaper, radio, magazines, television and the internet. The 1920's is referred to as the "Golden Age of Sports." Radio broadcast was first introduced in April 11, 1921 and featured a boxing match. Baseball quickly became America's pastime because of three factors: radio broadcasts, the emergence of Babe Ruth, and the end of the Dead Ball Era. Sports writers captured more than the game and really connected with its readers. Then came magazines and television. May 17, 1939 was the first T.V. broadcast which aired a college baseball game. Sports Illustrated started in 1954 which started the evolution of sports journalism as a respected field. The "Wide World of Sports" started in April 29, 1961 but later died when ESPN launched on September 7, 1979. It had sportscenter broadcasts twenty-four/seven in over one-hundred fifty countries. Then came the internet which became a viable source in the 1990's. ESPN's website launched in 1995 and provided all the information that the newspaper, radio and television combined did. The World Wide Web provided two innovations for consumers: Immediacy and content control. The internet eliminated the waiting game and user control reached an all time high. This helped to raise the me-first generation.
The implication is the with new technology comes new ways of gathering and publishing information. Now there is the "Rapid Fire News Cycle": pushing out news as fast as possible. The rush leaves reporters with ethical dilemma, should a story be published before it can be verified by credible sources?
Two stories where people published misinformation which led to a huge controversy. The breaking of Code of Ethics, "Public is entitled to as much information as possible on sources reliability," and "Clarify and explain news coverage." Pressure from audience forces reporters to bend the rules to deliver fast and exciting news. Because these two people releases misinformation which led to other companies expanding on it when it wasn't even true led to credibility issues amongst themselves and their companies. It severely damaged their reputations as well. Because sports organizations and athletes use Twitter to directly connect with fans in real time it puts an increasing amount of pressure on journalists story and ultimately their jobs. The up to the second information reduced the cycle from twenty-four/seven to sixty/sixty: sixty seconds a minute, sixty minutes an hour.
The conclusion of this article is that with the constant demand from audience for any kind of up to date news causes news stories to be based on gossip, speculation and hearsay to receive as much time in headlines as deserving news stories. Hancherick says, "Constant change and adaptability is key, but at some point enough is enough." I believe he is right, journalists shouldn't be risking credibility and code of ethics just so that they can produce the most up to date news without reliable sources. I think we as a society have lost the sense of time and don't focus on the important issues facing journalism. We want what we think we deserve without consideration of those who are giving it to us.

Mark Valeriano

Blog #1

“But what newspapers do, better than any other medium, is deliver information in an unbeatable, retrievable, storable form.”

Ford discusses the argument that many people believe newspapers are dead. Her first argument against those who believe that revolves around the fact that Internet users don’t pay for news. She explains that newspaper readers don’t pay for the content but rather they pay for the delivery. The content is survives and is paid for by the advertisers who place ads throughout the newspapers. Moving forward, Ford quotes a professional who explains that journalism is needed in society, not newspapers. The primary argument of the article is that society needs reputable journalism, which readers can distinguish between in print newspapers compared to the Internet. For example, The New York Timesdoesn’t print the same type of content as People or National Enquirer. Ford states, that the Internet has not yet delivered “reputable journalism on its own,” and that newspapers have had centuries of existence in the mass market to gain a good reputation of journalism. Reacting to this article, I found that although I am a fan of the online, easy access news, when it comes to “real” journalism, I seek out printed versions of The New York Times or The Philadelphia Inquirer. With the high rate of hackers and availability to anyone to edit content, I don’t fully trust many online news sources.

In James Carey’s article, he discusses the craftsmanship, creativeness, and poetry of journalism. The very first sentence explains that “journalists are the writers of stories and, after hours, tellers of stories,” but they are much more than that as Carey portrays in his descriptions of use of language, construction of sentences, etc. First discussing the lead of an important article, he explains that in good journalism, the lead represents “a profound collaboration between the writer and his audience.” Continuing past the description of crafting good journalism, Carey describes some problems within American journalism. He refers to the fact that students merely take an introductory course to journalism and see it as the entire curriculum with nothing else to learn or expand on. Carey describes American journalism to have been shaped further by not the actual curriculum but by such things as the economy and politics. According to Carey, American journalism relies heavily on “motives for explanations” and that many stories contain language, terms, and meanings that only “constant readers” can understand. Carey explains that both the "why" and the "how" of journalism are also problematic within American journalism. These being the hardest to describe, Carey states that readers crave the "why" just as much as any other element. The idea of fast and separated news, according to Carey, makes the content hard to connect; it is "disconnected and incoherent."

Readings for Week 2

In explaining the “why” and the “how” of American journalism, James Carey argues that these two items are “the most problematic  aspects of American journalism. While Carey also touches on the aspects of the “5 W’s and the H” of journalism, his focus is on what he describes as the “dark continent and invisible landscape.” He argues that these two elements of journalism are difficult because these are the elements we desire most, but are most unlikely to actually be given. Throughout his essay, Carey explains the difficulties of the “why” and “how” as it relates to journalism, using specific examples to illustrate the problem with these two elements.

To begin, Carey describes what he calls the Greider-Stockman episode. This particular example was regarding an essay published by William Greider described some of the economic decision-making during Ronald Reagan’s term as president. However, it was not as simple as just an essay. By putting this essay together, Carey argues that Greider illustrated some of the bigger issues facing journalism, which mainly surrounded the “why” and “how” elements.

Next, Carey goes into detail about how American journalism has developed. Journalism, as Carey argues, has been “stripped away [from its] ideological context” through a series of events: the partisan press, penny papers, and the development of the telegraph. The partisan press is recognized as one of the first steps of American journalism, as it set a foundation for journalism that focused on business. However, as the penny press began to popularize, more and more news became geared toward the general public and not necessarily towards commerce and business. The telegraph then further impacted journalism, allowing news to travel faster. Along with this “instant” news, the content also changed; it became shorter, more “objective,” and more universal than in the past. However, with these developments, Carey argues the problem of “why” and “how” began to emerge as each element was now eliminated from journalism.

Over the next few sections, Carey describes in great detail the issue of “why” in American journalism. Carey argues that, while almost all other elements are concrete, the “why” element of journalism is a far more abstract concept or description. Carey recognizes that readers desire this “why” element just as much as any other element, yet it is the hardest to describe. However, regardless of where the story might come from (political, economic, etc.), this element must be answered in some form. As Carey later goes on to describe in more detail, this can be done in a variety of ways. Motives are questioned, analyzed, insinuated, and the list goes on and on. Carey argues that journalism is rooted too much in finding motive. In a lot of cases, as Carey points out with specific examples of the Roman IRA among others, the motive is often oversimplified. It also, as Carey points out, turns journalism into a competition analysis (who is winning?) rather than an actual analysis of the situation.

Overall, Carey finds that American journalism is currently “disconnected and incoherent.” He argues that journalism needs to be read as a whole rather than read as its individual pieces. As individual pieces of news in a newspaper, the content does not connect. If journalism is taken as a whole, the narrative becomes much more coherent and connected. But as Carey points out, journalism is a reflection of the culture as a whole. While these problems certainly exist, they will continue to exist as long as the culture surrounding it does not change.

Catherine Ford touches on this topic of change as she describes the fundamental changes of journalism. She describes the current landscape of print journalism, as most people see it; print journalism – newspapers, especially – are currently dying and moving toward digital. This change, as Ford describes, is a change that has not been fully made yet. Despite the emergence of digital journalism, the structure has not yet been perfected as news is not seen as nearly as reliable as a newspaper had been. Ford argues that the entire structure of journalism is in a very fluid state and is still working on becoming “reliable” communication. But as Carey also pointed out, Ford states that even with the death of the newspaper, the culture has a whole will have a stake in the new structure of communication and journalism.

Carey How and Why, Ford Revolution

“Print is a dying field.”  It’s pretty obvious that most of the public sees newspapers as worthless when they can access stories by laptop, tablet, or phone.  With this apparent problem, society views print as good as dead.  However Catherine Ford sees passed this and analyzes that journalism as a whole is not dying, so why is society concern?

According to the article, Lahey’s details and conclusion is what drove the coverage of the media case.   The analysis of this story was the summary of Why and How.  It was amazing that a journalist could analyze a story and changed it into multiple stories.  They could keep their opinions and facts spewing making each story, according to the article, like a new chapter every week.

Journalists not only have the power to exploit the news, but also turn it.  They are capable of sharing simple news and forming it into a full on story by sharing past facts and prior knowledge.   The article praises journalism stating how it can bring creativity and education to society.  It usually has some crazy and bizarre incident to grab the media’s attention.  Whether dealing with the economy, policies of deep background, heart transplants, or murder cases, a journalist tells a story beyond the facts.  The key to the argument was keeping with the facts; however, journalism needs to go beyond the facts.  According to Carey, journalists should decode the evidence and create a story through that.  This allows the journalist and the readers to analyze a case and figure out a motive or uncover a new side.

On to Ford,  Many newspapers recognize how easily people can access news.  Whether it’s blogging, online print, or social media, people can quickly access current events just by carrying a cell phone.  This has began challenging print since stories can only be as recent as the day before’s news.  Due to proximity, society began looking at news online.  While it put more pressure on journalists to constantly update, people became impressed with current news.  It seemed whenever new facts were released, online media had a story about it within the hour.  While this was cutting edge for journalists, print was falling behind.  People did not want to wait for news a day later when they could check the web.  Since no one was purchasing print, newspapers faced the “free” problem.  But as mentioned in the article, people were never paying for their news, just paying for the shipment of their news.  Although this was only a minor concern, many newspapers began charging online subscriptions.  So even the most up to date news would still be a price.

Certain aspects do falter in situations; however, the “revolution” will stay alive in journalism to keep it flowing.  “Nobody can predict” the future for journalism; so for now, we can only adapt.  We can stay in this revolution of presenting and storytelling with the facts or watch is develop and leave us behind.

Week 2 Readings

Why and How? "The Dark Continent of American Journalism"

Journalists are "tellers of stories," of all kinds whether they got the story or not. The stories that are told are less in truth than in the point that it attempts to make. All writing, narrative and art depends upon dramatic unity which brings together plot, character, scene, method and purpose. The "omission" of the how and the "insinuation" of the why are the standard practice of journalism. How is less important than the what or who, it fills in a space: tells us how "the why" becomes "the what." How mergers in why: the description becomes the explanation. Why answers the question of explanation and searches for the deeper underlying factors. How and why are the most problematic aspects of American Journalism. This is explained in tons of detail throughout the entire article. It is told through many previous articles that have been covered and controversial that James Carey uses to illustrate his idea. The how and why are rarely in any individual story. Journalists try to keep the story alive long enough for interpretation, explanation and description to be added but marketers and editors make the front page look like a new chapter in human history. So it seems as if they don't really work together in this process. As readers we want more than facts, we want to know how to feel about events and what to do about them. We not only want to know but to understand. Why and how provide depth that satisfy us. After explaining a story in which Greider exposed Stockman and Ronald Reagan, Carey went on to explain that journalists don't write for the public but for one another, their editor, for their sources and for other insiders. The Atlantic article broke through the coded text and presented the private dialogue of government that was supposed to remain private. Following this Carey explains that when the news reported is broken down to daily fragments, important descriptions and explanations of journalism are lost. Journalists speak in an invented code and participate in the making of fiction or storytelling. The Newspaper presents a disconnected and often incoherent narrative with its individual stories and its total coverage. He then speaks about the partisan press and how it made sense and gave news meaning and that it was a matter of time. Following the partisan press is the Penny Press. This did three important things: It was a consumer good for a consumer society, it displaced partisanship and explicit ideological context in which to present, interpret and explain the news, and it imposed the cycle and habit of commerce upon the life of society generally. The telegraph was involved in shaping the news in that is got rid of forms of speech which lead readers not knowing how to connect. They couldn't understand it and explaining news entails that journalists account for it in four forms: Determining motives, elucidating causes, predicting consequences and estimating significance. With causes journalists are at the mercy of others and with motives they go with their own knowledge. Carey repeats the fact that why is often left unanswered and the American journalism always begins from the question "who." The primary subject of news is people and what they say and do. Why is answered by identifying the motives of these individuals. But often motive explanations are too easy and that it takes time, effort and substantial knowledge to find a cause. Motives can be misleading and simplifying. A journalist is a detective or investigator. When there is a move to non rational motives, we move into the domain of causes. If journalists cannot find a rational motive they bring out experts to provide the irrational motive. The article talks a little about precision journalism but that it is not really used anymore, and then a little about cause and consequence stories. They are embedded one in another and when moving towards consequence stories they tend to focus on the future rather than the past or present. Finally when he goes to sum it up it sort of comes together. For the most part this article seemed very all over the place that is why what I have been writing is also somewhat all over the place. I left out a lot of the examples he puts in as I believe they are just in there to illustrate the highlights. But Carey states that journalism is a curriculum and not merely a series of news flashes. Journalism is deeply embedded in American culture. He says that journalists mirror the scholar but because they rely on motives it weakens the power of their work. Carey says that if you look at the entire curriculum of journalism you will find reporting of enduring and persistent news despite the idea that American culture has no sense of time or longevity. Journalism became defined by breaking news at some unknown time in history and when that happened our understanding of journalism changed. Journalists became obsessed with being the first rather than the best; with uncovering the unknown rather than clarifying and interpreting the known. To restore the sense of time to journalism and scholarship is going to take a lot of work and luck. Carey ends his article with the advice that we need to start by reading more wisely.
"What Society Requires is Reputable Journalism"

This article is on the topic of newspapers being declared, "On the way out," according to Michael Kinsley. The argument is that newspapers deliver information in an unbeatable retrievable and storable form better than any other medium. "But internet users won't pay for news." Newspapers are reputable and have built a foundation for being reliable and accurate which they have to live up to everyday. Internet is not reputable, although it can be, there is no method to replicate the trust. New technology has yet to deliver a new model that would cause the newspaper to indeed be on the way out. It will take much longer for online commentary to achieve the state of trust that can compare to and replace respected newspapers, states Ford.

Mark Valeriano