If you want a clear idea of just how silly, how irrelevant, Bay Area media folks have become, consider this: we have a fairly significant story about a major newspaper whose Warriors' beat reporter and his editor have repeatedly copy and pasted several articles. Deadspin has jumped all over it and the Columbia Journalism Review had the original story.
Not surprisingly, the Chronicle isn't talking --other than EIC, Audrey Cooper saying "We talk 'this matter very seriously." And parenthetically, according to my Chron sources, the wheels are in motion in the upstairs conference room for someone to take the fall over this embarrassing development.
The far more telling angle is that virtually all Bay media has ignored the story. KCBS announced a benign story shortly after the 8 AM news but it was short and quick.
Predictably, KGO Radio was mum. So too, the "Sports Bleeeder", KNBR, which has both Chronicle and Warriors' tentacles across the board. In fact, God forbid the day if a major news/non-sports story occurred --KNBR would probably still be talking to Cliff from Fremont about the 49ers' secondary. They simply have no capacity of covering news stories --they're an embarrassment to the news-gathering business.
This journalism malfeasance isn't surprising anymore but it appears to be close to a mini cover-up. That too isn't so surprising.
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Makes you wonder how much of the news in the business section of the Chron is pure PR? PR generates a ton of content in the press for every section - it's a big way for journalists to find out about current topics. However, the press release should only be the tip of the iceberg for a journalist if he finds a press release interesting as far as a topic. Sports is big business and I'd like to find out why Salesforce decided to sell the land to the Warriors because Benioff is a major donor to UCSF, which is right next door. As someone who's not looking forward to the Warriors moving from Oakland but realize why Lacob and Co. want to do it, I'd just like to know more beyond a press release. I also think the Chron should tell the source of a story if it's generated by a press release - that would be refreshing.
ReplyDeleteKRON and CHRON....pathetic "News".... Hmmmm
ReplyDeleteI'm waiting for Christine Ward to show up again to defend her husband & dazzle us with her brilliant writings on why she is right & all of us are wrong.
ReplyDeleteKNBR has made the conscious choice to be a sports station and not a news station. That's their chosen business model. They're not an embarrassment to the news-gathering business because they aren't in the news gathering business. Would you make the same comment about music stations that have a similar non-capacity to report on news stories?
ReplyDeleteSimmons regularly appears on KNBR programs and writes about the Warriors--not mentioning this on their talk shows is laughable.
DeleteYour statement that KNBR isn't in the news-gathering business is absurd. It was on KNBR during the Barbieri/Tolbert years Fainru-Wada and Lance Williams interviews, the Bay Area radio audience got exposed to the PED stories.
Just because you're a "sports station" doesn't preclude you from reporting sports/journalism stories--its NEWS, even for a sports station. And it needs to be reported. But KNBR is incapable of that very basic tenet.
Message to Greg B.
DeleteKNBR is in the cheer leading business.
Homerism strives at the Sports Leader.
Rich -
DeleteYou said it right when you pointed out that "it *was* on KNBR..." They are no longer in the news-gathering business. They are in the sports entertainment business now.
I gotta agree with Rich. This is a big story from a local sports angle. I can see Brian Murphy staying away from it, but I think Ray Ratto would be ballsy enough to tackle it if the subject came up. I don't think he'd call out former co-workers, but I'm sure he'd talk about it in general journalistic ethical terms. It's especially relevant today where newspapers and cable news channels are routinely taken to task by their oppositions as PR machines for their respective political sides. The verbatim cutting some Euro guard story only bugs me a little as laziness, but not as much as the Warriors land purchase story. But you know what the team is thinking: Heck, if this guy will repeat a non-story word for word, I bet we can get him to regurgitate a big story like the arena land purchase without a blip.
DeleteTo some degree this may be semantics. I agree it should be discussed, and if it hasn't been mentioned at all, that seems a bit shady. My only contention is with the label of "news-gathering". They don't have a news department. Sure, they have their regular "updates" but those are not exactly intended to be intense exposes.
DeleteLet's say there's a significant news story involving a musical act. Do you necessarily expect a music station to "report" on it? At most you'd think they may mention it in passing, that's about it.
The example Rich pointed to even showed that in that case, the PED story was mentioned as part of an interview, not reporting on the part of KNBR.
So, ya, I do agree it's odd for the topic not to come up. I just don't look to KNBR for hard-hitting news, even sports related, and I don't think they present themselves as a source for that.
Simmons is a reporter of the highest caliper. I'll never forget the time we sat in the Yankee dugout together while Don Larsen was throwing his perfect game during the World Series.
ReplyDeleteGood post there at 12:59pm.
DeleteYou sure you don't mean the highest caterpillar? The highest caliphate? Wee! Illiteracy is fun!
DeleteThe San Francisco Comicle is living up to their nickname. They are joke!
ReplyDeleteI hate to say it, but the reason it isn't getting a lot of play is that Tv and radio rip off from newspapers all the time without accreditation. They "report" news releases verbatim.
ReplyDeleteThat this is getting as much attention as it is - when there are far bigger problems in the industry (this is more of a symptom of the disease, than the disease itself) - shows how out of touch the CJR is. Seems to me the main "crime" isn't rewriting a press release, but not rewriting it enough.
Exactly. Every single newcast repeats something I read online or in the Mercury News earlier in the day.
DeleteAbsolutely completely totally correct! Everyday.
DeleteEveryone is right here. Scribes get fed stuff from the team flacks. That's why flacks write news releases in newspaper style, so an editor can pick it up verbatim.
DeleteAnd the TV and radio stations pick up what's printed in the newspaper and call it their own.
What a vicious cycle.
You just KNOW "Flunkster Dude" knew all about this. I'll bet that ring is shiny though.
ReplyDeleteI'm a PIO for one of the state agencies here in Sacramento (spent 18-years on local news...in four medium/major markets.
ReplyDeleteI get a big kick whenever I come across a TV or radio station (and sometimes, even a newspaper!) running my News Releases verbatim! I like to think I still know how to "speak" to the stations--and lots of times, this pride manifests itself in the form of a quick "reader" in radio or VO/reader on a TV newscast!
"news" is dead. Look across the media spectrum today. They are all paid by the same masters. Ratto is getting paid by the giants, sharks, etc..via CSN so you think he would talk about it? Same for political news, reporters are not reporting, they just repeat whatever is put in front of them or leak to their bosses by Congress, the Whitehouse etc...the news is dead
ReplyDelete