12.09.2011
ESPN Twitter policy
Back in September the Houston Texans starting running back, Arian Foster, tweeted a photo of his injured hamstring. This was not a violaiton of the NFL's twitter policy and therefore no League action was taken. However, the ability of athletes to break their own news poses serious conseuences for the future of journalism. Some fear that one day players, leagues, teams, or colleges will no longer need a middleman to cover them. Will athletes' ability to release their own information seriously cripple journalists' ability to make a living? Does Foster's twitpic of his hamstring portend a bleak future for journalism?
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3 comments:
I would argue that the ability of anyone to publish information about themselves on a social media site does not negate the need for a strong watchdog corps of journalists to write analytical and investigative stories about matters of importance -- which public figures may not necessarily want the world to know about. In a democracy, there will always be a need for a strong press, no matter what the publishing platform is. Others' thoughts?
I wouldn't think that this would impact journalism much. I'm not that big on sports journalism, but how often does the New York Times or ESPN publish pictures of specific medical information like that? I don't think this will ever be the norm; sports journalism probably has other things to worry about.
There will always be the need for journalists that are outsiders looking in.
While introspection is all well and good, and I hope more players will attempt to break news, bias is inherently there.
People will always look to experts and commentators who can, as the professor said, serve as watchdogs and subjective analysts (At least, more so than the players themselves.).
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