by Brian Brady
Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL
In the ultimate irony, sportswriter Buzz Bissinger blasts Will Leitch of Deadspin.com for his sports blog with language more appropriate for a blog than television.
TWO COOL FACTS CAME OUT:
1- The average age of a newspaper reader is 55 years old.
2- Only 19% of the 18-34 age group reads newspapers.
BISSINGER: ” This guy, whether we like it or not, is the future. The writing on blogs is despicable. ”
LEITCH: ” Deadspin is large enough to get credentialed but as soon as I start doing that, I write for the other members of the press box. ”
BISSINGER: “If you are the future, the future is going to dumb us down”
My opinion? Start a weblog, Bissinger. You’re a Pulitzer Prize winner so you’ll have access. Write daily and sell advertising. If quality is what the market demands, then let them vote with their eyeballs. Of course, life in the entrepreneurial lane is difficult; ask the folks at Curbed or Ariana Huffington. I could start a baseball weblog with Jeff Brown, Dan Green, Morgan Brown, Toby Boyce, and 15-20 other webloggers and be credentialed in two years. I dare say that the writing would pretty damned good.
So which is it readers? Are “real” journalists the guardians of quality or just another chokepoint?
PS- I’m biased. I haven’t read a newspaper box score in 10 years. While I love Rick Reilly, Sports Illustrated better slap some ads around his online articles and get rid of the gated-access or he will become…irrelevant.