Wednesday, August 26, 2009

The case to credential bloggers

While the SEC and other sports-related organizations and consortiums are resisting inevitable changes in the ways sports are covered and consumed, we argue, in an opinion piece this week in Sports Business Journal, that organizations should instead look for ways to get bloggers into the press box. Some, such as NASCAR with its "citizen journalists," have already taken positive steps in that direction, having garnered publicity and offered a "carrot"to responsible bloggers. We also suggest that as bloggers get out into the environments about which they're writing, they're more likely to adopt the professional values of journalists who cover sports -- and that's a good thing.

3 comments:

Hilary said...

Great post.

"...as the media world changes so must NASCAR," NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France said.

Andrea said...

To be given the opportunity to have journalistic independence through NASCAR by becoming part of "Citizen Journalists" will provide a different perspecitves on what is highlighted and reported at an event.

But although NASCAR.com will feature columns, they will need to be selected and approved by Turner Sports. So is this actually free independent journalism or instead what Turner Sports feels is more interesting coverage?

pt said...

"We also suggest that as bloggers get out into the environments about which they're writing, they're more likely to adopt the professional values of journalists who cover sports -- and that's a good thing."

Maybe, but after reading the posts about journalists gambling on the sports they cover and the sudden interest in Lingerie Football by the Chicago papers, I'm not so sure it is a good thing....