Yes, blogging is competing with TV; so what…
A reporter for the Lousville Courier Journal was thrown out of the press box recently for blogging during the game.
The NCAA argued that by doing a play-by-play on his blog, he was violating their television contract with ESPN, which had exclusive rights to broadcast the game.
Bull-oney.
Blogging is here to stay. The NCAA and professional sports leagues need to come to terms with reality. Many commentators have pointed out that the Lousville reporter was covering a college baseball game, which isn’t exactly the most high profile sport. Does it make sense to kick a reporter out of the pressbox?
It seems to me that a double in the gap is news as soon as it occurs, and fair game for a newspaper Web site to report. If they can report it only moments later, so much the better.
At The Evening News and monroenews.com, we have plans for extensive blogging during sporting events and news events. It’s another tool in our toolbox for keeping our readers informed.
On a related sports issue, reporter Jeff Meade blogged on the Tigers’ announcers refusing to mention that Justin Verlander was working on a no-hitter (see “The Press Box” blog).
My two cents. I agree that the in-stadium announcer shouldn’t mention the pending no-hitter, because of the “jinx” superstition. But for the TV and radio announcers to avoid reporting the biggest news of the game, that’s ridiculous.
By failingto do their job, they let down many casual listeners who checked on the game mid-way but didn’t stop what they were doing and sit down in front of the TV, riveted by every pitch, because they didn’t realize a no-hitter was under way.