Indiana University

National Sports Journalism Center

Based at IUPUI with programs at IU Bloomington SPORTSJOURNALISM.org

Sports Media News

“Twitter is a wonderful tool which, like any tool, can be used or abused”

"Twitter is not killing journalism, journalists are killing journalism," Tim McGuire writes, reviewing the ongoing discussion of the positives and negatives of the social media tool as used in the profession. McGuire details a recent give-and-take between George Packer of the New Yorker and Nick Bilton of the NewYork Times on the issue, before concluding that "Increasingly, we see reporters using Twitter to broadcast single-sourced stories. Worse, other tweeters then follow these single-sourced tweets. . . . The key here is not to demonize Twitter. Twitter is a wonderful tool which, like any tool, can be used or abused."
Tools: | permalink |

Leave a Reply

Our Voices

Eric Deggans

Mike Wise’s biggest mistake: Not grasping the new world of online journalism

Sep 7, 2010

This will probably look like old news. Or that I’m piling on a well-dissected, long-resolved issue. But I want to devote one more column to suspended Washington Post sportswriter Mike Wise, who was given his involuntary month-long vacation by the newspaper last week after making up news about Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in an unfortunate attempt to spoof the herd mentality of some sports media. My goal isn’t to take an easy potshot – though I’m not promising that won’t happen, too – but to explore one side of this that hasn’t been talked about much.

Dave Kindred

All kidding aside, Wise’s Twitter stunt “sad beyond sadness”

Sep 3, 2010

In March 1980, the late Kirk Scharfenberg of the Boston Globe wrote this headline above an editorial on a Jimmy Carter economic initiative: “Mush From the Wimp.” “I meant it as an in-house joke and thought it would be removed before publication,” he said. Uh-oh. Before anyone noticed, the headline appeared in 161,000 copies of the Globe. It was then replaced by a proper, dignified headline: “All Must Share the Burden.”

Jason Fry

The Curious Case of Jerod Morris and Damien Cox

Aug 30, 2010

Two summers, two columns, two different results. Last summer, Jerod Morris of Midwest Sports Fans wrote a blog post about Raul Ibanez of the Philadelphia Phillies and the excellent season he was putting together. Responding to jibes from a fellow fantasy-baseball GM, Morris tried to prove it was unfair to speculate that Ibanez’s numbers were the result of performance-enhancing drugs. He reluctantly concluded that he couldn’t single out other factors that would clear Ibanez of suspicion, and blamed Major League Baseball for the fact that such suspicions are now routine.

The Buzz

Aug 24, 2010Richard Deitsch: I’m not responsible for ESPN nixing Jenn Brown’s IceHouse deal

"Obviously, I stand behind my objections to Jenn Brown serving as an Icehouse endorser but the notion that media voices such as myself and @Ourand_SBJ [...]

Aug 10, 2010Dan Le Batard: Annoying media causing less and less candor among today’s athletes

"Let's say you've just finished a brutal day at work," Dan Le Batard writes, adding, "You come out of your cubicle and are immediately met [...]

more of The Buzz »