The second-guess season in hockey really never ends. What made this summer unique was the increasingly hostile battle between mainstream media and bloggers for authority in breaking stories. Now, questions are being asked as the 2010-’11 season revs up about what place will bloggers have in the media landscape this year. Some bloggers have said they deserve equal status with MSM in press boxes and in the dressing room.
The Vancouver Canucks, who are hosting a six-team prospects tournament in this city on Lake Okanagan, say they will grant equal credentials to approved bloggers. But there will be a strict code of conduct that they must follow. Should bloggers - a contrarian, independent lot - breach those conditions, the Canucks say they will pull credentials and deny access. In short, bloggers will be held to the standards of MSM when it comes to libel, slander, seeking autographs etc.
That might be a problem as “blogger” has come to be synonymous for bending the rules on sourcing or taking liberties with research. Others complain that bloggers hiding behind anonymity don’t reveal their conflicts or connections to either management or players. Things that would never pass muster with an editor go viral on the internet.
Some feel that the threat of pulling credentials should suffice in keeping bloggers in line. Others, who note the lack of sourced material and accountability in many blogs, feel that more needs to be done. After all, if you sue a blogger for slander and win, what can you get? The person’s computer? The lack of risk and absence of assets as compensation makes pursuing a blogger moot. Hit-and-run has been the tactic of many blogs floating on the edge of respectability.
Usual Suspects feels that if a blogger wants a place in a press box or dressing room environment there should be something more tangible at stake - say, a bond of $10,000 that a blogger would lose should a court or arbitrator find he or she broke professional standards or libel laws. Such a policy would sort out the valuable from the voluble in short order.
So would obliging bloggers to face their subjects from time to time. Taking shots at public figures from the grassy knoll and then sneaking away promotes a Dutch courage among many bloggers. It’s a point of honour for most MSM to show up after a tough column and let the subject have his say in person. Having to look Roberto Luongo or Dion Phaneuf in the eye after a critical column about them might produce some sober second thought amongst the bloggos.
Blog Jam: Which should not be seen as an indictment of the blogosphere. Bloggers are the gypsy cabs of journalism. They’ll pick up fares (stories) the mainstream guys won’t touch. They’ll drive to neighbourhoods that MSM avoids. Their custom cars stand out in a sea of conformity. As a former Toronto cabbie, Usual Suspects has a lot of time for them.
Their role model is baseball statistician Bill James, the original blogger. James did his groundbreaking statistical work in the 1970s and ‘80s, well before the advent of the internet itself, mimeographing his research sheets of the Baseball Abstract and selling them to interested parties (making him one of the few bloggers or ever make real money at the process). James revolutionized the way fans looked at baseball. After about 20 years of hoping he’d go away, Major League Baseball - in the form of the Boston Red Sox - finally embraced him.
