Mainstream Media Continues To Forget Previous Articles Written About Steroids
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
I'm not entirely sure why Jay Mariotti decided to wait a whole two weeks to chime in on the Raul Ibanez/Blog thing, but I'm more interested in the premise of his article. Mariotti is now about the 30th mainstream media member to comment that "steroid guessing is bad journalism", but forgetting what he has written about the subject in the past. Before we get into all of Mariotti's accusations about members of the Cubs, let's look at what he wrote late last night....
Yes, given the staggering bulk of guilty names and relentless flurry of new information, we all wonder to ourselves if every major leaguer who has played since 1995 used steroids. But that doesn't mean anyone has the right, legally or ethically, to start speculating for public consumption just because he has a functioning computer, a miniscule niche in cyberspace or a column in the dying newspaper industry. The methods of dissemination may have changed, but journalistic standards suddenly shouldn't go to hell.Okay then. That's certainly an opinion someone can get behind, and if people want to follow that journalism tenet, I obviously have no problem with it. What I do have a problem with, is when it comes from someone who wrote the following:
If you know an athlete who uses steroids, convince us that it's true with corroborated material.
If not, please keep it to yourself.
The joke isn't funny anymore. Every time I ask Sammy Sosa about ster-oids, he uses a four-year-old punchline about his favorite vitamins. "I take my Flintstones once a day," he says, smiling as always.For some reason, mainstream media members continually forget the words they wrote, if not days ago, at least a few years ago. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, what is wrong with speculating? Sports as a whole is speculation, and whether it's who used steroids?, or will Albert Pujols win the Triple Crown?....What's the big deal?
But now that baseball's worst-kept secret finally is out of the medicine closet--vast numbers of players are juiced up on 'roids--it is incumbent upon Sosa and other prominent big-leaguers to start speaking up and taking a responsible stance concerning the sport's latest self-destructive issue. Very simply, he needs to tell the truth. If he hasn't used steroids, tell us. If he has used them occasionally, tell us. If he uses them regularly, tell us.
He really should just grab the cup, piddle in it and send it to the lab. It's the only way Sammy Sosa ends all suspicions, quiets the riffraff, blows away the steroid clouds and lets us resume enjoyment of his immaculate career, currently in an innuendo warp. He is sadly mistaken when he says, "The whole world knows that I am innocent."
Also, what's worse in your mind? Writing out a debate with your friend about a player you have on your fantasy team, and trying to defend his stats? Or telling a player in a national publication to send his pee to a lab? Sure it was Sammy Sosa, and we all know how that turned out, but back then it was complete SPECULATION.
It's also funny to me that someone who has been taken for task about doing zero research by both clubs in Chicago, is calling out people for laziness.
Steroid Guessing Is Bad Journalism (Fanhouse)
Letter To Chicago Sun-Times (White Sox and Cubs)
11 Comments:
Just looking at the steroid issue alone, I think it is completely okay to speculate. The players and owners let this problem grow to the point where I can't dismiss someone saying "XXXX never did them, all his marks are pure."
Do I think Greg Maddox had any help. No... but his statistics are an outlier and if not given the name and just the stats I'd think "hmmm." Since the players and owners allowed an environment to fester where anything was allowed PED wise, then for me the end result is an environment where I'm never too sure about anyone and anyone can be a suspect.
Clearly, if you have an online moniker other than your name, you are never allowed to talk about anyone critically.
Journalists were critical of other journalists when they didn't ask the questions in the "steroid era" but now that bloggers are asking tough questions about PEDs it is not okay?
Please.
Of course these journalists conveniently forget what was in the past. They bigfoot themselves into major events on the expense account while those who actually report news get laid off.
You also gotta hand it to the Cubbies and the ChiSox. Their joint response promoted MLB's collaboration with the Partnership for a Drug-Free America -- an outfit financed by legal drug money.
Why is Jay Mariotti paid actual U.S. currency for his insipid opinions? If your one redeeming quality is making Skip Bayless seem less retarded it might be time to seek employment in the lucrative field of at-home assembly.
I don't even know how I found this blog - just a dumb Aussie who wuz surfing the web clickin' on links and here I am.
But FWIW: Jay Mariotti sounds like a Grade A bonesmoker.
i want to know if Mariotti wrote a response column to that letter...and where can i find it?
or did i change the subject?
The sad thing is that Jay Mariotti is a mainstream media guy who was kicked to the curb and now writes for ... A BLOG! I know, I worked for FanHouse since the site launched. No matter how they try to repackage it, it is still a blog.
Mariotti has always been a tool. It was the HIS MAINSTREAM MEDIA that looked the other way when all this was popping off in the 1990s and early part of this decade. Meanwhile, blogs and web-based sports sites like Yahoo! have scooped several stories that have turned into major news events (like, USC's troubles). So it is our fault that we ask questions about athletes because you don't?
not at all, certainly it's still important to have good sourcing (even if anonymity is required to get the details), and if you're pretty sure you've got the story, run with it, whether it's on a blog or some other platform!
Why is anyone listening to anything that this idiot says anymore?
Everything is wrong when bloggers do it. Everything is right when the mainstream media does it.