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Undertoad · 12-02-2016, 07:31 AM

It's personal anecdote time

Back in 1999 my then friend Thom (cellar username: darling) developed a large amount of the Eagles' web site, and I helped; and on Draft Day 1999, we were in the media room, building the Draft Day page as facts developed. It was supposed to be the first time fans could follow the draft on the site. No live video, this was 1999, but we would update the page throughout the day and have stories and details and whatnot.

When Donovan McNabb was drafted, one of the first things that went down was a live chat with Donovan and the fans.

After it happened we set up a web page with a bunch of questions, along with McNabb's responses to them. A bunch of reporters happened to be looking over my shoulder as I set it up, and they all kinda noticed that here were a bunch of QUOTES from the player, all ready and written down and stuff.

You see, that's what they were there for. The reporters would get quotes, put them around their story, and then they would have real journalism. That was like, the point, or something; someone specifically talked to the person, live, and asked them things, wrote it down and here it is in the newspaper.

Which is why you'd have a press conference where a bunch of reporters would ask questions.

But when the reporters noticed all the quotes, I could see the lights going on in their heads... hey there are the quotes I was looking for... real quotes of the player... and they actually jotted them down, in their notebooks, while reading the web page.

And I realized they were going to take these quotes and put them in the newspapers that would be printed and appear on people's doorsteps, 14 hours later. And I thought, wow, I am seeing the change in journalism right here.

Because everyone who gives a damn could have seen these quotes, and MANY more of them, directly from the source. There's no need to gather people in a room and ask questions. The room is now the chat room and the source is the website. Everyone see it who wants to. Everyone who wants to ask questions can ask questions. The quotes are the same they ever were. Why have sports reporters at all?

Now it's 15 years later and I don't pay so much attention to the media, now, but on Trump, it's kind of reduced to reading tweets and gathering angry reactions at them, isn't it? Well WTF does anyone need that for?

12-02-2016, 07:31 AM	#44
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	It's personal anecdote time Back in 1999 my then friend Thom (cellar username: darling) developed a large amount of the Eagles' web site, and I helped; and on Draft Day 1999, we were in the media room, building the Draft Day page as facts developed. It was supposed to be the first time fans could follow the draft on the site. No live video, this was 1999, but we would update the page throughout the day and have stories and details and whatnot. When Donovan McNabb was drafted, one of the first things that went down was a live chat with Donovan and the fans. After it happened we set up a web page with a bunch of questions, along with McNabb's responses to them. A bunch of reporters happened to be looking over my shoulder as I set it up, and they all kinda noticed that here were a bunch of QUOTES from the player, all ready and written down and stuff. You see, that's what they were there for. The reporters would get quotes, put them around their story, and then they would have real journalism. That was like, the point, or something; someone specifically talked to the person, live, and asked them things, wrote it down and here it is in the newspaper. Which is why you'd have a press conference where a bunch of reporters would ask questions. But when the reporters noticed all the quotes, I could see the lights going on in their heads... hey there are the quotes I was looking for... real quotes of the player... and they actually jotted them down, in their notebooks, while reading the web page. And I realized they were going to take these quotes and put them in the newspapers that would be printed and appear on people's doorsteps, 14 hours later. And I thought, wow, I am seeing the change in journalism right here. Because everyone who gives a damn could have seen these quotes, and MANY more of them, directly from the source. There's no need to gather people in a room and ask questions. The room is now the chat room and the source is the website. Everyone see it who wants to. Everyone who wants to ask questions can ask questions. The quotes are the same they ever were. Why have sports reporters at all? Now it's 15 years later and I don't pay so much attention to the media, now, but on Trump, it's kind of reduced to reading tweets and gathering angry reactions at them, isn't it? Well WTF does anyone need that for?