The Sports Corner

Ill informed readers don’t belong in sports journalism

It’s about time people realize the truth about sports journalism because I’m getting sick and tired of reading and hearing claims that sports journalists can’t be biased.

What are these people talking about?

There’s a reason why it’s called a column or an opinion article. The only time when bias should not be in play is when the reporter is doing a news story of some sort. And even then, those stories are tailored towards a specific audience.

Basically, sports writers are paid to have a bias.

When Damien Cox writes his articles, he understands that his readers are from Toronto; therefore he has a biased perspective in mind - whether it’s positive or negative - towards the Maple Leafs. When Ed Willes trashes Vancouver’s play in a specific game, it doesn’t mean he’s biased because he’s not worshipping the local team. He’s just not going to be writing an article all about the visiting team with no mention of Vancouver because it would be irrelevant to the readership. It’s still considered a bias, but that’s the point.

Another thing that readers need to realize is when writers say they got information from a source, it’s not a made-up-read-it-off-Eklunds-blog type of source.

Writers, with such high profiles, would have to be in a career-suicide mode to write down the name of their source for the world to see. Do you hear the Canadian or American military giving away names of all their insiders? Sure, that might not be the best comparison since it deals with life and death but when it comes to sports journalism, giving up sources can ruin the writer’s own credibility amongst the sports world, as well as the career of their source.

And I know this for a fact, several newspapers require their columnists to disclose that specific source to their editors before being allowed to post source-based hearsay, just to make sure they aren’t becoming the next Stephen Glass.

Maybe that “source” turns out to be wrong and isn’t reliable, but trust me guys, it’s way more credible then any other so-called connections us readers have in the sporting world. To consider every mere mention of “an insider” to be a write-off is not the brightest way to approach this niche. Sport fans should embrace rumours and opinions, otherwise the business section is a few pages over, maybe then you can find a true love in hard plain facts.

It’s sad to see that the people, who accuse a local writer of not knowing a certain sport just because they put down a certain player or team, are the same people who claims that the media is evil, blah blah.

Trust me again on this one, these writers have watched and been around sports much longer then the normal complainants. These professional journalists have a deeper knowledge and understanding of the game, much more then general bloggers or common fans have, and I admit, that includes me.

Sports journalism is all about reporting for a targeted audience and opinions are written to kick start discussions and debates. If writers just drum up boring fact after fact with no colour to their story, then what’s the point of newspapers hiring journalists? Editors can easily just post the Canadian Press version of everything. All this no-biased crap is exactly that, crap.

People complain that writers make up rumours and controversy just to draw readers to their paper. Of course they do. Have you ever heard of a bland, stick-to-the-facts newspaper or personnel being praised? Guys like Don Cherry, Neil McRae, and heck, even Rick Reilly have an audience because they write or talk about biased, opinionated topics. It’s their shtick.

There’s a reason why the reader is just an armchair GM while the journalists gets paid to be writing about the sporting world.

So for next time, before you decide to trash your local journalist or a certain media broadcaster, there are two things to ask yourself. Do you actually know more about, and have an inside bond with, that certain sport then the person producing the medium? And do you want someone to be trashing you every time they disagree with the work you put any effort towards, whatever that may be?

If you answered no to any of these two questions, then embrace sports opinions - whether you agree or not - and move on with life without conforming to acts of an anger-minded fool.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing bad about disagreeing with the writer’s opinion, since fans are allowed to have an opinion of their own, but threatening or disrespecting the writer just goes to show that the specific reader is not only ill informed but immature.

There’s a simple solution, if you can’t handle any controversy, stay away from sports. If you can’t handle bias, don’t watch T.V. or read the newspaper. If you want bland unappealing facts, then I suggest you quit being a sports fan altogether because opinions is what makes this genre unique.

If you’re not open-minded about sports journalism to begin with, then ignore the media completely and go back under the rock you came from.