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is a major issue that must be addressed because things are indeed changing and the older ways of reporting are become outdated although they are still being taught.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