Friday, January 11, 2013

Baseball Writer Hypocrites

How long do you think the steroid era in baseball would have lasted had sports reporters investigated the story in front of their face at game after game?   Baseball writers watch a player's neck size double and triple and don't see a perfectly obvious story to investigate?   Those bulging muscles didn't come from eating Cheerios guys.   Knock! Knock!  Anyone home in that reporting head of yours?

With the money involved, one can understand why a professional athlete would be inclined to cheat.   One can understand why the aging athlete might be inclined to cheat.   It's not ethical, but it's understandable.   It's also understandable why Baseball Writers didn't investigate.  There's a difference between being a writer and being a journalist.   There's a difference between being a reporter and being a cheerleader.

Had there been more reporters and fewer cheerleaders, the steroid era would have been short lived.  Any activity has to be placed in the context of the time.   Baseball has certainly taken steps to clean up its act.   What about the writers?  There were lots of stories about nobody being voted into the Hall of Fame.  Did you see many about the baseball writers who failed to report on the problem at the time?

Anyone wanting to be an actual sports reporter can benefit from listening to this video from Bruce Hooley, a sports talkshow host who was fired for criticizing Ohio State.  


When journalism fails, bad things happen.

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