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It’s a big problem that isn’t going anywhere . . .
As do all of you.
We are in the “click-bait” era. There is no way around it.
Shoot first, ask questions later.
If used to be that newspaper wouldn’t print stories unless the writer had two sources, and often they had to tell the editor who their sources were.
Now it’s too often stories with one source, even if the source isn’t entirely credible.
Boston Herald columnist Ron Borges is having a bad day.
“Borges believed he had a major scoop in today’s paper: A column citing unnamed ‘sources’ close to Tom Brady saying that Brady was ready to hold out of off-season work if the Patriots didn’t give him a significant pay raise, comparable to the contract the 49ers just gave Brady’s former backup Jimmy Garoppolo,” wrote Pro Football Talk. “But then WEEI revealed that one of its listeners had hoaxed Borges with a text purporting to be from Brady’s agent, and that the whole premise of Borges’ column was bogus.”
The Boston Herald has pulled the column off their website.
The prankster got a hold of Borges phone number and texted him this info, and then actually picked up the phone to confirm the bogus story, posing as Brady’s agent.
Obviously the prankster has a broken moral-compass, but Borges should have done more due diligence.
But the bigger issue to me is a sickness in my industry with editors pushing for click-bait from their writers.
“Click-bait” is writing salacious stories to get people to click on links to go to your website.
The Daily News is infamous for this, like when a reporter wrote that a source told him Mo Wilkerson looked like a “Goodyear Blimp” at Temple’s Pro Day last year. Diabolical click-bait that was wildly successful.
Another major New York-area newspaper/website has a sports editor who is constantly criticizing his writers for not enough clicks. A few scribes quit because they couldn’t take it anymore.
And this leads to stories like Christian Hackenberg is so inaccurate that he hit two reporters with passes in practice. This story was a national sensation – clicks galore.
Whatever your political persuasion, it’s hard to argue there is a lot of “fake news” out there these days (from all sides), and the sports world isn’t immune.
Former Boston Red Sox’s star Kevin Youkilis used this Borges debacle to make a few points.
“I hope we have reached the apex of sensationalism in sports media. #FactsOverClicks,” tweeted Youkilis on Friday.
Former ESPN reporter Ed Werder tweeted his support for Borges, a long-time friend.
“Congratulations on deliberately ruining the reputation of an innocent reporter and jeopardizing his job for laughs,” tweeted Werder.
Youkilis responded on twitter, “Sorry Mr. Werder but this has to work both ways in sports. Many innocent athletes have had their reputations tarnished by false stories written by reporters.”
Both sides are at fault – the unscrupulous prankster and Borges.
Look, I hear things all the time that could be huge stories, but I’m not going run with them based on one source.
What is going now in sports journalism is sad, but I don’t see it getting better anytime soon because of editors pushing their writers for nonstop click-bait.
February 9, 2018
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