Sportswriting Can Transcend Sports

INQUIRER SPORTS COLUMNIST David Aldridge was fired in January. He was among the staff who were let go because of budget cutbacks.

After everyone freaked out, Aldridge (on the right in the photo) was brought back. The management realized that Aldridge has a powerful voice that the staff and readership appreciate.

It's a good thing he's back. Not only is Aldridge among the most plugged in reporters covering the NBA (and other sports), he is a fine writer with compassion and sensibility. And yesterday, the Inquirer published one of his most poignant columns ever.

"I'm angry that people cry about Sean Taylor's death because he was an outstanding football player, as if his death has extra meaning because he had great closing speed," Aldridge wrote. "This is not about sports."

"We have buried 200 Sean Taylors in this city this year. We don't know what would have come of their dreams and hopes. They deserve our tears, too, for they may have been anonymous to you, but they weren't to their mothers and fathers, their best friends and lovers, their teachers and mentors."

Read his piece. It shows how the world of sports connects to society at large. He has taken an event and connected it to the issues facing our city, and the culture in general.

IN OTHER SPORTS NEWS: Joe Paterno is making Bill Conlin money, but if it wasn't for journalists, you never would have known.

ALSO: In Pittsburgh (and anywhere there is local news for that matter), they are using sex and football to draw in readers.

Memo to Conlin: The Web Is Now World Wide

PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS sports columnist Bill Conlin will respond if you e-mail him. And he doesn't seem to take criticism lightly.

When a blogger questioned one of Conlin's recent articles, Conlin wrote back, "The only positive thing I can think of about Hitler's time on earth-I'm sure he would have eliminated all bloggers."

Whoa.

And then Conlin explained how a 73-year old sportswriting legend pays the bills:

"My fastball has slipped so much that when I attempted to accept the buyout on the table in 2002 (I was already 68), the editors took me to lunch and asked what it would take for me to keep working. I replied one less column a week and reduced travel. At a second meeting, they gave me a two column a week schedule, sharply reduced travel and a mandate to write mostly commentary. They also gave me a generous signing bonus, a quarterly performance bonus and matched the lump sum that would have accompanied the buyout package. They also continued the subsidy of my Florida condo that has been paying the taxes and monthly maintenance since 1987. By law, they had to begin paying me my full pension in 2004, so at age 73 I'm making the top salary at the paper plus collecting the biggest monthly pension check ever paid out. With the social security check my wife and I receive, I'm making ballplayer money for two columns a week."

Is there anything wrong with the old guy cashing in? Was it wrong for the blogger to post the dialogue? Or should Conlin realize that bloggers can publish just about anything these days?

IN OTHER SPORTS NEWS: The beat writers covering the New York Knicks say that if they write critically about the team, the team won't give them access or information. READ the story. It is awesome.

A Journalist In Jail

ASSOCIATED PRESS photojournalist Bilal Hussein, an Iraqi citizen, is being held by American forces in Iraq. He's accused of being an insurgent, although exact charges are unknown. The US military has not disclosed details of his April, 2006 arrest or the reasons behind it.

"In the 19 months since he was picked up, Bilal has not been charged with any crime, although the military has sent out a flurry of ever-changing claims," AP president Tom Curley wrote. "Every claim we've checked out has proved to be false, overblown or microscopic in significance."

Hussein was on the AP team - along with Jim MacMillan - that won the Pulitzer Prize in 2005 for their war coverage.

The AP reports that U.S. officials have asserted Hussein offered to provide false identification to a sniper seeking to evade U.S.-led forces, that he possessed bomb-making equipment, and that he took photographs that were synchronized with insurgent blasts. The AP has found no corroboration of the accusations.

"We believe Bilal's crime was taking photographs the U.S. government did not want its citizens to see," Curley wrote.

By the way, yesterday's guest, Jim MacMillan, will be teaching a course in Journalism and Psychological Trauma next semester. Check out the course description here.

Journalism: Isn't It Romantic?

THE MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES broke up with his girlfriend. Is that news?

What if the relationship was an affair that began when the mayor was married?

What if the affair was with a local television anchor/ reporter?

That was the case - the mayor dated Mirthala Salinas (pictured above) who was then working for Telemundo. She actually read the news of mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's divorce on air ... but failed to mention that she was a major factor in the split.

Was it wrong for the reporter to date the mayor (forget for a moment that he was married with children)?

Here in Philadelphia, NBC10 anchor Renee Chenault Fattah is married to a congressman who wanted to be mayor. Should she have stepped away from her job during the mayoral campaign?

A New York Times political reporter wound up marrying the White House press spokesperson whom he dealt with daily during his coverage of the Clinton administration. Was it wrong for them to begin the relationship?

Or is love uncontrollable? Why should you pass up on romance because of your job?

Online Sex Predators Are Bad. News at 11.

THE IDEA OF ADVOCACY journalism has been around as long as niche publications, with the main concept being that the media outlet should act in the best interests of the community it serves.

The danger is that you are allowing the media - which has a vast audience and massive influence - to decide what the values of the community are.

But everyone can agree that adults should not be preying upon children online, right? And now an Albany, NY local newscast is championing laws against online predators.

Metroland writes that WRGB "reporters get behind specific issues of the day, agitate for change, and act as the mouthpiece for their viewers." When education reporter Michelle Smith (pictured above) reported in September that there are no laws in New York state to make it a crime for an adult to use the Internet to attempt to arrange a meeting with a child, hundreds of parents responded, and Smith had found her cause.

“They started asking for my help,” Smith told Metroland. “They wanted to know what they could do.”

Should the reporters advocate for change? Isn't it their responsibility to make the community better, safer? If government is dropping the ball, isn't it the role of the journalist to stump for action?

Or is this just a blatant ratings grab, a massive suck up to the community on an issue that is such a no-brainer it's almost insulting?

BY THE WAY, welcome back from your mini-break. Here are a few other interesting items worth mentioning:

Inquirer columnist Tom Ferrick makes fun of Ann Weaver Hart and John Street: How he chose Temple.

And a Time magazine editor-at-large blames a great book for creating the cult of personality presidential election process.

Does The World Care About Donda West?

THE PLASTIC SURGEON who operated on Kanye West's recently deceased mother appeared on the Larry King Live program. For about 1 minute. Then he left without really saying anything (click the blue link to see the video).

Bizarre. And now I'm full of questions: why did the guy even show up? He says the media has the story all wrong. What's the story? Why did the guy leave? Did Kanye scare him?

More importantly, should Larry King even be interviewing the doctor who operated on the mother of a celebrity? Do we really need that kind of information? Is that news?

Should The Journalist Name Names?

A TEENAGE GIRL in Missouri killed herself after receiving nasty messages via MySpace.

A reporter from the St. Charles Journal reported the story, and wrote that the messages were actually sent by a fictitious person - a made up account from an ex-friend of the dead teen. And the parents of the ex-friend helped their daughter craft these evil messages that wound up causing 13-year old Megan Meier to hang herself.

But the reporter did not publish the names of the evil message sender or her family.

Should he have printed their names? The family was not charged with a crime. But the messages did lead to the death of young Megan.

What is the responsibility of the journalist here?

Either way, read the original story. It is heart-wrenching.

What If He Used His Real Name?

AN NY1 REPORTER called in to a talk show on his own station and asked a question. Except rather than using his own name - Gary Ramsey, he posed as "Dalton from the Upper East Side."

And now he is unemployed.

The topic was Bernie Kerik, the former NYC police chief who is currently facing federal indictment charges. Ramsey, posing as Dalton, came down hard on those who were giving Kerik a perceived easy ride in the press.

What if Ramsey had used his real name and asked questions? Would it then have been good journalism rather than deception?

You Need To Appreciate Diversity.

A NEWS EDITOR at a Minnesota college newspaper was fired after he hung a noose in the newsroom.

His message was to get work done in time, and the noose was a joking threat. Some, however, thought the noose in the newsroom was racist.

The student says he was completely unaware of the racist connotations of the noose, and he knew nothing of the noose-inspired tension in Jena, Louisiana.

"I am definitely aware of it now," the fired student says.

The noose hung only briefly, and when he was made aware of the connotations, the student removed the noose.

Should he still have been fired? Is his ignorance an acceptable excuse? Or is this yet another example of why people need to have an understanding and appreciation for a world beyond their own?

Half-witted, Useless Crackhead? Ouch.

AFTER A WASHINGTON POST reporter received an unsolicited e-mail press release from former DC mayor Marion Barry, the reporter freaked out.

He e-mail responded: "Must we hear about it every time this crack addict attempts to rehabilitate himself with some new -- and typically half-witted -- political grandstanding? I'd be grateful if you would take me off your mailing list. I cannot think of anything the useless Marion Barry could do that would interest me in the slightest, up to and including overdose."

Barry, who is now a DC council member and a former crack smoker, wants the guy gone. Should the reporter be fired?

Television To The Rescue?

THE CHAIRMAN OF THE FCC says newspapers need to be rescued..

"In their role as watchdog and informer of the citizenry, newspapers are crucial to our democracy," Kevin J. Martin wrote in the New York Times today.

He also points out this stuff: At least 300 daily papers have stopped publishing over the past 30 years. Those newspapers that have survived are struggling financially. Newspaper circulation has declined steadily for more than 10 years. Average daily circulation is down 2.6 percent in the last six months alone. Newspapers have also been hurt by significant cuts in advertising revenue, which accounts for at least 75 percent of their revenue. Their share of the advertising market has fallen every year for the past decade, while online advertising has increased greatly.

So he is proposing an FCC rule change. He wants newspapers to be able to own television stations in the same market, a practice that is prohibited now to prevent the creation of monopolies.

Is there a danger in media in one town being controlled by one company? Or is it smart business for media operations to combine?

Should Diversity Be a Hiring Factor?

A FORMER CNN anchor is suing the cable news network for discrimination. Marina Kolbe says that CNN released her because she was a 42-year old white woman.

Her lawyer, according to the Fulton County Daily Report, claims that CNN, "embarked on a plan to replace its white anchors with on-air talent who were younger or who were ethnic and racial minorities."

According to the article, Internal CNN memos suggest that, beginning in 1999, in some cases a job candidate's race and ethnicity were key factors in hiring on-air talent.

One memo also revealed a push by CNN to hire "younger, more attractive anchors" to draw younger audiences in what was fast becoming a highly competitive 24-hour news environment.

Is having a diverse staff a good or bad thing? Shouldn't the staff be representative of the viewing public? Doesn't a diverse staff only introduce a diversity of thoughts and ideas?

Or should the best candidates get the jobs regardless of their age, ethnicity, gender, race, religion, whatever?

Shouldn't TV just be populated by really good looking people anyway?

And here's an interesting article about Gerald Boyd, the pioneering African-American newsman whose journalism legacy was tainted by the Jayson Blair debacle at the New York Times.

Television is Dying (That's Why You're Watching Re-Runs)

A CO-CREATOR OF THE television hit Lost wrote an op/ed in today's New York Times. He says that television is dying.

The culprit? Video on demand, specifically TiVo, says Damon Lindelof. (I love it when people make me sound like I know what I'm talking about ... like when Sweeney mentioned that Craigslist is killing newspapers).

"It (TiVo) enables you to ignore the commercials that keep the whole system running," Lindelof writes. "Twenty percent of American homes now contain hard drives that store movies and television shows indefinitely and allows you to fast-forward through commercials. These devices will probably proliferate at a significant rate and soon, almost everyone will have them."

The writer is on strike with other members of the Writers Guild of America, the people behind the lines your favorite actors recite.

And one of the major issues in the strike is whether the writers will make any money from programs broadcast via video on demand and over the Internet.

The Internet is changing everything. The way television generates money is changing. What impact will this have on you and the future of communicating?

How Far Would You Go To Get The Story?


THE CONCEPT OF WATERBOARDING became a huge sticking point during the confirmation hearings of new attorney general Michael Mukasey.

But what exactly is waterboarding? It is a technique used by the military to get information from suspects, and some people consider the practice to be torture.

Since so few people are aware of what waterboarding looks like, a journalist underwent a simulated version for Current.TV.

I'm not looking for reactions to whether the practice is torture and should or shouldn't be condemned. I'm curious whether you believe this is good journalism or not? Would you do it? Is this overly sensational or is this something that the public needs to see?

Killadelphia: Whose Fault Is It?

AN OIL HEATER REPAIRMAN was shot and killed not far from the Temple campus on Wednesday evening.

Police have no suspects for the murder of Carl Tomberlain, which occurred near 18th and Norris Streets.

The Inquirer story in Friday's paper had these details:

In 1992, Tomberlain was sentenced to three to six years in prison in a multivehicle DUI accident on I-95 in Bucks County that left a 21-year-old woman dead on Nov. 13, 1991.

He also was awaiting a preliminary hearing for an arrest on an assault charge last month, details of which were not immediately available late yesterday afternoon.

Tomberlain was the victim, not the perpetrator, right? So why do we need these facts? Are the reporters hinting at something? Do they suspect that the victim was up to no good?

Is this negligent journalism or is this simply presenting as many facts as possible?

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