In some circles, it can be considered a good thing, in others, it is considered as bad as any other four letter word that makes people cringe when they here it. What has happened in the journalism community over the past few years is it has seen a change in how we see blogs.
The original intent of blogging was to give people a daily update, or glimpse, into our mundane lives. Today, for some unknown reason, it is considered “news”. Why? Who really knows why it started to become so-called news, but today, it truly has become tabloid journalism in its lowest form.
Oh, there use to be something called an “opinion column” in the newspaper, but today we’ve changed it to be called a daily “blog”. As someone who has seen what the internet become in all of my years in the computer industry, let’s finally call it what it really is: Crap.
Let’s face facts, blogging is the new way of shooting your mouth off without having to fact check anything. Just say whatever it is you want, and let the facts be damned. God knows there is no one to challenge your word because you’re not part of a publication where management actually cares about its reputation. Just say whatever it is that is on your brain and hope someone clicks on your article to crank up your hit counter to help generate ad revenue.
The hockey community has seen blogging take off. The problem is, some of the more popular web sites are considering themselves as a “news source”, when even they openly admit they only get 10 percent of what they report correct. Of course it’s not their fault that they are not correct on a “rumor”, it’s their sources’ fault. I mean, why after all would you be willing to take any responsibility of your own when you can blame someone else?
So why has rumor spreading become so popular you ask? The answer is simply because rumor and innuendo have become popular. Period, end of story. Why deal in facts when the rumors are so much more fun?
If you’ve been paying attention to the hockey related web sites over the past three years, you know exactly what web site is the main culprit I’m referring to without mentioning any names. But, of course, how could I name drop anyway when certain people go by the name of “Anonymous”.
I actually find the anonymous part amusing for a few reasons. For one, because most people have found out who he is, myself included. How do I know who he is? For a couple of reasons. For one, I’ve seen his media credentials at Flyers’ games. I also sit two seats away from him in the press box at those games.
Now I could have misread his credentials, but when you go to away games and look at the seating charts, his name is on the list. Various news sources have done stories of him, including a story last year on fanhouse.com.
I think it is hilarious that on his own web site he claims he stays anonymous because, and I quote, “I wish to remain anonymous for many practical factors. Some are personal and some are related to the business of trying to get the best hockey rumors from anonymous sources who can only give information if they are fully protected.”
Ask any other “hockey insider” in the industry if being public has hurt them in their business. Do you think it has hurt E. J. Hradek, or Bob Mckenzie to be known? Funny, but you don’t see them hiding their faces behind a black silhouette.
But names aside, let’s look at the real reason blog sites are popular. Did you know that more people read the supermarket tabloids than major newspapers? Now, why do you think that is? It is the old high school mentality of being “in-the-know”.
In high school, we wanted to know who was dating whom, who was doing what, and why were they doing it? Gossip reigns supreme in this country. The truth is, some people never got out of the high school mentality. We turn to web sites and blogs now for the so-called truth, especially in an election year when BOTH parties put out their agendas and propaganda for their own parties gain.
The truth? Who cares if it’s the truth or not, even if there is only the slightest grain of truth. Well, that’s more than enough for me, some readers say. We all want to know what is going on in the world, and sport is our fantasy world. It’s not our reality, but because we love sports so much in this country, we’ve come to enmesh it into our daily lives. Not only do we love to get involved on game days, but now we want to be involved in the game before and after the game.
Passion is a wonderful thing, and today we’ve taken passion for our sport to a new level. Regardless of our passion however, when we pick up a newspaper and read an article on our favorite teams, we want the truth to be told, nothing more and nothing less. The same high standards should also be held to web sites like prohockeynews.com or blogging web sites.
Let me make one thing very clear regarding our web site. We do not blog, we never have blogged, and we never will. What royally ticks me off is, now, for some unknown reason, bloggers feel that unless you blog, you’re not REALLY a journalist.
What’s worse is, our web site has been accused of blogging when we have never done so in our entire history. Another criticism leveled at prohockeynews.com is being a “fan” web site. We are not a “fan” web site run by fans. We do not encourage anyone to join our staff just so they can get on our site and brag about their favorite teams. What we do encourage is that if you love hockey and love to write about the sport, and want to cover a team we will always encourage people to apply to prohockeynews.com and gain valuable experience in journalism.
Indeed, we have had a significant number of writers and editors go on to academic and professional careers in journalism for which we at prohockeynews.com are proud.
Ask anyone who is looking for a job these days and the most important thing on any resume is experience. We will always encourage anyone who has a desire to be what they want to be on our site and if we can help propel them to greater things, then so be it.
We hold all of our writers to the mantra that they report accurate and vetted news and not rumors.
While we cover hockey, we are not in the hockey business, we are in the Internet news and information business. As mentioned above, to gain ad revenue, we need people like you the reader, to come to our web site and read our articles.
The truth is, and you and I know this anonymous blogger could care less if he is correct or not about a rumor as long as someone surfs into his site and drives traffic data up. That is all his clients care about.
One of the most laughable rumors last year was the garbage that Alexander Ovechkin was on the trading block. Now, while Mr Klessel claims he does not lie on his web site, if the story is not accurate it suggests the piece is a fabrication.
I know people in the Washington Capitals’ organization, and when they heard the rumor about Ovechkin it was laughed out of the building, including by majority owner, Ted Leonsis. The second most laughable rumor last year was that former New York Ranger, Jaromir Jagr, was also on the trading block.
Like anything else in life, you’re entitled to do whatever you want in life. This is the greatest country in the world and if spreading a rumor gets you ahead in life that’s your choice, but when web sites like ours are lumped into rumor-based blogs and others like them by the NHL then I’m going to defend journalistic web sites. The last time I checked being a good journalist meant more than just making sure your spell checker corrects spelling mistakes.
Prohockeynews.com will always do its best to not only entertain you, but tell you what is the truth in the goings on in the hockey world regardless of the league or franchise. Our readers deserve a web site that won’t dick you around and will only publish what we have fact-checked and vetted with multiple sources. Period, end of story. Sorry, but I’d rather have respect in life than a cranked up hit counter.
And you can bet if we publish something, we won’t have a rating system of how good or bad the rumor is.
We at prohockeynews.com love hockey, and we know you do too. We look forward to another great hockey season and we look forward to having you along for the ride.
In the next week to ten days, NHL training camps will begin. The best thing about that is, it’s not a rumor, it’s a fact. I don’t know about you, but the sooner the better.
This is one my favorite times of the year. Baseball pennant races are coming to their conclusions. Football season has officially started, and the hockey season is right around the corner.
Now that is something worth writing about.
Contact the author at Brian.Jennings@prohockeynews.com
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