In a post about professionalism -- or the lack thereof -- inside of sports journalism -- Jamie Fitzpatrick had this to say:
Avoiding conflicts of interest, keeping a professional distance, asking the impolite but necessary question - they teach this stuff in Journalism 101. But it seems the butt-kissers and toadies - the "jock sniffers" as they're known - remain a fixture of the press box.Of course, there are plenty of irresponsible bloggers too. But the same standards don't apply. Sports blogging isn't a profession. It's the unfiltered, unedited, happily biased voice of the fan. It's great, and it improves the media landscape. But it's not journalism.
Fair enough, but there are also plenty of unwritten rules to blogging too -- ones that can help you separate the wheat from the chaff pretty easily. There are more than a few journalists who could learn a thing or two by observing just a few simple rules that most bloggers who have been around for only a couple of months know by heart.
And while a blogger might have a rooting interest, that doesn't prevent him/her from using the sort of analytical tools that until recently were mocked by the vast majority of folks who could be defined as professionals when it comes to major league sports.
For instance, Bill James wrote about baseball out of sheer love of the game and intense fascination with the way it worked. I'd bet that most journalists wouldn't say he belonged inside their club, but it's pretty clear now that he discovered more unbiased truth about the game than many baseball writers.
In the end, it isn't about what you call yourself or who you work for. It's about what you do and how you go about it. When you look at it that way, it's a whole lot easier to identify the bad apples on either side of the divide -- a divide that admittedly is growing more meaningless everyday.
Good points….
Reminds me of the old Duck test, simple as it may be it often times works. If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, then it is most likely a duck.
I have been working with Eric now for nearly a year on OffWing (we have been friends for much longer) as photographer. “Professionalism” doesn’t come from a paycheck, it comes from the attitude of the person doing the job.
I am proud to say that everyone at OffWing takes a professional attitude about their work. I think this is reflected in the content and our success.