Jay Glazer Asks For A Media Reporting Scorecard
Friday, October 24, 2008
The more and more I write this afternoon, the more and more I realize what a crazy past two weeks this has been. We've had a war of words between two highly respected former QBs and announcers in Troy Aikman and Boomer Esiason. We've had a network that calls themselves, "The Worldwide Leader in Sports," completely ignore a story when they could have reported it as a rumor. AND we had a person at that same "Leader" make a Hitler reference and cause a double standard in suspension policies. Just wild all-around, right?
This site really tries to be a "watchdog for the watchdogs", and while I think it's succeeded in that to some degree, it ultimately just a drop in the bucket. Well a drop in a bucket, from about the 100th bucket, in a line of proverbial buckets. Jay Glazer however has an idea. A very good one in fact. In a discussion with USA Today's Michael McCarthy, he has proposed the idea of a "Media Scorecard"....
Jay Glazer, Fox Sports' NFL insider, says his goal is to make his rivals at ESPN "miserable." Still ticked after ESPN issued an internal "hot list" instructing staffers not to follow his report that New York Jets quarterback Brett Favre snitched on his old Green Bay Packers team to the Detroit Lions, Glazer views this week's leak of the private directive to ProFootballTalk.com as a personal attack.Well, as a pseudo-member of the Sports Media, I had thought about taking on this task by myself, but lucky for me.....someone beat me to it. PFT's Mike Florio....
"It's disappointing. What we should do as a result is start keeping score," says Glazer, who broke Favre's trade to the Jets and the firing of Lions GM Matt Millen. "If they want to talk about credibility, let's keep score, starting from Week One of last year, and see who broke what, who was right and who was wrong. I don't think they'd want that."
And Glazer didn't appreciate the report by Peter King of NBC and Sports Illustrated in which Favre himself described his story as "total" bull. "Did he give up family secrets? Yes. Was it total (bull)? No."
The relevant factors listed will be the scoop, the person who broke it, whether it was confirmed by a credible independent media outlet (OK, that will require some subjectivity as well), whether it was confirmed or denied by the persons involved, and whether the report was accurate, inaccurate, or inconclusive.I think this is ultimately a great idea, but when we start to talk about the "merit of inclusion", I think that's when it gets sketchy. Many of you have talked about not even caring about who breaks news on trades and firings, and I think that's a fair point of view. If you're just a regular Sports Fan, who cares right?
For starters, we need to come up with a good list of reporters to include. Here’s our work-in-progress roster: Jay Glazer of FOX, Chris Mortensen of ESPN, Adam Schefter of NFLN, Peter King of too many media outlets to list, John Clayton of ESPN, Alex Marvez of FOX, Michael Smith of ESPN, Michael Silver of Yahoo!, Jason Cole of Yahoo!, Charley Casserly of CBS. (Let us know who we’re missing, or whether any of these guys shouldn’t be included.)
The exercise begins Sunday and runs through the Super Bowl. We’ll then decide whether to keep it going, or whether to change it or expand it.
I think the lesson that ultimately needs to come from this is that ESPN needs to understand that giving credit to someone else isn't a bad thing. Us Blogs do it all the time and the sharing of information will only make the public more informed. Waiting for Chris Mortensen and Michael Smith to confirm a story, just so you can spin the headline to cater to them, really needs to stop. It's not fair to the viewing audience, or the person who actually broke the news, and just makes you look like a poor sport. Hopefully something like a "Media Scorecard" can make that a reality.
Reporters engage in their own kind of trash talking (USA Today)
We're Keeping Score, Starting Now (Pro Football Talk)
12 Comments:
there is a site that is already doing this. you linked it yesterday.
SN reports that Glazer said, "“Don’t make it personal with me,” Glazer said. “I’ll make it personal with you.”
Unfortunately, FC Fighter reported in 2003 that Glazer slept on the j-o-b. Fighting at...180lbs(!)...with a gut! All those up close shaved head photos means he's sports Tom Cruise.
Anyone have a resume on this guy? We could not dig one up.
http://njfrogman.blogspot.com/2008/10/jay-glazer-sleeping-on-job.html
now i guess they need to add this chick in denver with the water pills story.
Who gives a shit, Glazer is obviously killing Mort and the Bumblers at ESPN.
This is totally pointless and gives these guys more attention than they deserve.
Just give us the news Glazer and Mort, and shut your hole.
I'm sorry, but Glazer just looks like a slimeball.
corbin-
So what? He's had the scoops recently that ESPN would kill for, and their reporters look like buffoons in refusing to acknowledge that there *might* be someone out there with better sources and who works harder.
ESPN continues to look worse and worse week to week, relying on clowns like Mortensen.
Peter King would only be the king of the schlepper list. What is NBC paying this guy for? Talk about an obsolete buffoon....
We blogs
Glazer definitely looks like a slimeball...
He's obviously one the best at breaking stories, but it's kind of annoying that every time he talks, it seems like he's bragging.
He constantly talks about how credible he is... Listen to his interview with Francessa from earlier in the week.
yah i mean holy s*** your job is to find the information and report on it. shut your mouth and do your job, who cares if break the news first. nobody cares who breaks it first, they just care what it is theyre breaking. i never liked Glazer before the Favre story thing, and I still DO NOT like him. Most people on FOX come off arrogant and cocky, its just annoying. ESPN has their flaws, but atleast MOST of what they do shows they have some class. Plus Glazer looks like a slob.
ESPN still hasn't learned their lesson. Saturday, on a crawl at the bottom of the screen, they ran that "Chris Mortensen has confirmed a CBS Sports report...". So now I guess that makes that report true now. In other news: I have confirmed a Walter Cronkite report that man has landed on the moon. See how I broke that story.
Nice post, AA. It has indeed been a brutal week for ESPN, but nobody ever said it was easy being #1. Just look at George Bush: Dubaya has innumberable foibles and has made an incalculable number of mistakes during the past eight years. However, he certainly isn't the main cause of the current financial crisis. Despite this fact, he will forever be remembered as the guy who ran the economy into the ground.
One thing is clear: ESPN needs to address this issue immediately or Glazer will continue to make them look like buffoons.