Q: What is sadder than a sportswriter whining about an NFL team not letting him blog or tweet?
A: A sportswriter who doesn’t even want that access whining about it.
Yes it’s true, our intrepid columnist managed to break his hot streak by stinking up the joint today with a pointless whine about the Colts’ treatment of the media. The same man who encouraged bloggers to use their real identities for the purpose “gaining access” to the team, today complains that the team allows ignorant fans to do real time tweeting from training camp, but not members of the media. Remind me again why I didn’t file for that press card?
To begin with Bob’s mini-screed is utterly disingenuous. Bob says:
12…teams (Colts again) have determined they don’t want those dangerous new media around.
Wait! Bob Kravitz, the man who called bloggers weenies and said in his own words:
I do not tweet. I do not blog. When it comes to the modern tools of the media, I’m one of those old fogeys who pines for the days of the Gutenberg press.
is now decrying the lack of tweet/blog access? Sorry Bob, but you don’t get to mock new media openly AND complain that the Colts don’t respect it. Try leading the way next time. Try being an advocate for new media yourself, then you can rip the team for its antiquated state. The truth is that I don’t blame the Colts for being tight with information. As a fan, my only concern is that Jim Irsay fields a winning team. Beyond that, who cares? Is it great when guys do wonderful in-depth features on my favorite players? Yes. Is it more wonderful when my team wins? Hell, yes.
I’ll trade access for wins any day. Ultimately, I don’t really believe that being tight-fisted with access leads to more wins, but Polian does, so for now I’ll defer to him. I doubt that having BBS or Demond Sanders in the press box would hurt the Colts at all. Those guys would lay down in traffic if it meant helping the team win. By the way, that is the real issue with bloggers…we are ‘homers’. That’s the only thing that should worry people when it comes to credibility. Somehow that never comes up in these discussions.
Kravitz is still hung up on the issue of credibility:
If a tweeting fan sees that a player is not participating in practice, he can inform the public that so-and-so is hurt and was held out of practice.
A reporter, however, can go to the public relations director and find out the player had to attend a relative’s funeral and will return the next day. If a reporter can’t tweet the true story, that fan-produced misinformation is then out in the public sphere for an hour or even more.
Nothing against Bubba from Beech Grove, but in terms of credible, accurate information, I’d rather get my camp news from a beat reporter with access than some guy who bags groceries.
He doesn’t seem to understand that the team agrees with him. The Colts don’t take bloggers seriously. They don’t care what bloggers write; they figure no one will take it as seriously as info from the main stream media. Now, we can argue the validity of that point all day, but the fact is: Kravitz is criticizing the Colts because they believe what he believes.
Now, I agree that prohibiting notebooks was overkill. It was just a nice little “eff you” from the club to the press corps. I’m glad they saw the light of day on that.
Beyond that however, Kravitz should ease up. Until he is willing to accept that bloggers and fans can have legitimate, credible insights, he has no right to complain that the Colts treat fans and media differently. He’s worried the MSM can’t compete with the immediacy of blogs. He shouldn’t be. I thought the MSM had access and credibility and insight. Even in the “give it to me now” online world, those things still carry tremendous weight.
But if the access of the MSM doesn’t matter because fans can watch the press conferences live, and the credibility of the MSM is shreded by stuff like the Roethlisberger mess, and the insight of the MSM is limited to the stuff that Kravitz offers…
Well, let’s just say I can see why he’s scared.
I think both the Colts and Kravitz are wrong. But they obviously agree with each other.
It makes me wonder what Bob will find to whine about next.
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