1. This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn More.

Where Is The Line In "Sports" Reporting?

Discussion in 'Miami Dolphins Forum' started by Southbeach, Feb 13, 2011.

  1. Southbeach

    Southbeach Banned

    4,154
    1,218
    0
    Aug 22, 2010
    I read today's Herald, the actual newspaper believe it or not. The question of drawing a line in sports reporting came up.

    Farve's *****, Ryan's foot fetish, and now Sancez's dating a 17 year old were mentioned. There are countless others including W Allen, Merling, and the abandoned car on the interstate. Let's take the latest with Sanchez.

    He dated a 17 yead old. She had pics of his bedroom. It is legal in NY. She wanted to post the pics of his bedroom. Then changed her mind. Lot's Of Luck, posted anyway, no surprise.

    Then, the NY newspaper prints her name and high school. Where does it all end?

    I could not care less about any of the above, and have no interest in reading about it when I look to read and talk sports.

    On the other side, there are some funny "off topic" sports reports. A Rod is mad for TV showing his girlfriend feeding him popcorn, in the "privacy" of the Super Bowl . LMAO
    Vince Lombardi was arrested on Super Bowl Sunday. Yeah, a guy with the same name was breaking into a store. LOL

    My question is where everyone believes a line shoud be set or, is everything now fair game? When and where do people's privacy come into play? What now defines "sports" journalism?
     
  2. godolphins

    godolphins New Member

    298
    91
    0
    Apr 8, 2010
    I don't think there's a line at all because that's what reporters are suppose to do if they don't do it themselves someone else will report it and get recognition from it instead
     
  3. djphinfan

    djphinfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

    111,652
    67,546
    113
    Dec 20, 2007
    Without getting all long winded, I will say that I truly believe they are the root of all evil...I hate the fact that they dig for stories outside of the athletes profession.a lot of them are pieces of sh$#, reporters who have bad intensions, reporters who don't know sh$# about sports..TMZ crossovers...Irresponsible journalism has ruined people, and families lives, because they have no regard for the human being, just the rating of the story...Its disgusting to me, and for those with alterior motives, I wish bad things to happen to.
     
    alen1, Dolphin1184 and ScottishFin like this.
  4. MikeHoncho

    MikeHoncho -=| Censored |=-

    52,652
    25,565
    113
    Nov 13, 2009
    TMZ Sports.
     
  5. Muck

    Muck Throwback Uniform Crusader Retired Administrator

    14,523
    22,246
    113
    Nov 25, 2007
    Sunny Florida
    I think that's a cop out (not aimed at you personally).

    It's like if someone leaves their car door unlocked and I steal everything in the glove compartment. "If I didn't do it, someone else would have." Doesn't make it right.

    Reporters are supposed to have some semblance of ethics and common sense.

    There are things in this world that aren't anyone else's business.
     
  6. AdamC13

    AdamC13 Well-Known Member

    2,148
    1,398
    113
    May 3, 2010
    Well, at least Sanchez is starting to date females now.
     
    Garryowen likes this.
  7. AdamC13

    AdamC13 Well-Known Member

    2,148
    1,398
    113
    May 3, 2010
    The best example of how sports reporting has changed (in large part to the OJ drama) was watching an interview with an old Yankee reporter explaining how sport reporting has changed (it was about 10 years ago)...

    He said he was on a train back in the day having dinner with a fellow reporter when the door to the coach opened up and Babe Ruth ran through butt-naked. Behind him was a woman with a knife screaming "I am going to kill you!" When they went to the next coach the reporter looked at his colleague and said, "Did you just see that?" The colleague said, "No or I would have to report it."

    I can't imagine any reporter today not writing about the incident regardless of whether it would ruin the players career or the other persons life. Not only would they report it, then they would try to interview the woman's mother, father, kids, co-workers, etc... and try to get all the dirt they could.
     
  8. NaboCane

    NaboCane Banned

    31,949
    11,899
    0
    Nov 24, 2007
    All due respect DJ, but it's OUR fault. As a society, not you and me in particular.

    If we as a society didn't suborn that kind of reporting with our dollars, they couldn't do it because it would defy the business model. If even just a significant minority of us decided to shun news services which are the worst offenders, then the message would get across and we would see a reduction in that ****.

    There's always going to be a sub-element of our culture that buys the Enquirer and The Weekly World News, and publications/services of that sort always have had a niche market; the problem is that over the last 20 years or so, the worst kind of reporting has become the most mainstream.

    But don't condemn the reporters, nor even the services themselves - condemn those who want that sort of thing, along with those of us who don't do anything about it.

    Exactly.
     
  9. Garryowen

    Garryowen New Member

    1,046
    243
    0
    Nov 26, 2007
    Funny how people act like there was never sensational media
    or yellow journalism.
     
  10. CitizenSnips

    CitizenSnips hmm.

    5,525
    4,219
    113
    Nov 29, 2007
    PA
    Everything IS fair game when you're a professional athlete. A reporter wouldn't be allowed to follow me around and find out who im (trying) to have sex with, but when you step onto the field as an Nfl Player or coach, you become a public figure.

    And when you become a public figure, you accept that everything you do, whether it be banging a 17 year old or creating internet videos of your wifes feet, can and probably WILL become public knowledge.

    These guys make millions to play/coach a game, they can handle the extra attention.

    Also, reporting is completely based on circulation/viewership etc. Journalists don't bother reporting what nobody cares about, so don't blame the news outlets, blame everyone else for being interested.
     
    Garryowen likes this.
  11. Garryowen

    Garryowen New Member

    1,046
    243
    0
    Nov 26, 2007
    Exactly.

    McDonalds didn't get to be the biggest fast food chain and remain there because nobody likes
    to eat there. Funny, but almost nobody you ask will say that they like McDonalds, but they
    remain tops in sales. Wonder why that is.

    Billy Ray Cyrus went gajillion platinum with Achey Breaky heart, as did Vanilla Ice with Ice Ice baby.

    Funny...Now it appears nobody really liked either of them, and certainly didn't like Grammy award
    winning Milli Vanilli.

    We're such a bunch of hyprocrites as a society. We act disgusted that the press is reporting
    ..... or ANYONE is reporting on Brett Farve's *****, Sanchez banging a legal age girl, etc, but
    we're not really horrified. We love it, and we prove it with our readership and patronage.
     
  12. Striking

    Striking Junior Member

    1,775
    646
    113
    Apr 21, 2008
    Aurora, Colorado
    As long as the player is still active then it has cause for being covered by the sports media. Its the coverage former players get once they retire that I wish would end. I'm not talking about a where are they now piece or obituary, I mean the criminal behavior that they find themselves involved in. Once you retire your actions have little impact on sports organizations and the sports media should cease covering these stories. Lawrence Taylor is just another alleged criminal, his story does not need to be followed by ESPN or be found in the sports pages of your newspaper. That's my two bit gripe.
     
  13. brandon27

    brandon27 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

    45,652
    19,304
    113
    Dec 3, 2007
    Windsor, ON. CANADA

    While this is all true, keep in mind the general public is partially to blame as well. TMZ wouldn't exist if there wasnt a "market" for the filth they provide. Some people want to know, and love to know all this crap. It's driving "ratings" and attention lately, apparently its what people want, it creates big headlines and controversy, that fuels itself as people continue to talk about it. Sure the reporters are out there digging it up, and throwing it all out there, but you got to know theyre doing it as well because people are buying it, watching it, reading it and talking about it.

    Its become a really messy situation all the way around though. It's crossed the line at following people around and digging into their personal lives IMO. It's ok to sit with them in an interview and ask them questions about their personal life because there's obviously some sort of agreement to that person giving out the information, but to start following them, digging through garbage and stuff to find information, then speculate and run with it, has just gotten ridiculous. I actually feel bad for celebrities. Hell, theyve got people following camera's with them everywhere they go. There's websites you can go to to see pics of where these people go on a daily basis, getting in and out of their cars, getting a coffee, eating a sandwich, going to a doctor, on and on and on. I can't imagine living like that way.
     
    djphinfan likes this.
  14. Muck

    Muck Throwback Uniform Crusader Retired Administrator

    14,523
    22,246
    113
    Nov 25, 2007
    Sunny Florida
    I'm not following you here.

    Why would a 'public figure' have less rights/legal protections than the average citizen?

    I don't think everything is fair game. It's 'fair' game in the eyes of everyone except party(s) being violated. It's just that the machine is so big there's very little you can do about it.

    It all comes down to free will and the rights of others. If a paparazzo with exploitative intentions wants to park their *** on the sidewalk in front of your house, they can. It's not 'right', but it's legal.

    I'm probably old fashioned.
     
  15. MikeHoncho

    MikeHoncho -=| Censored |=-

    52,652
    25,565
    113
    Nov 13, 2009
    Cue: Bodyguards.
     
  16. Pandarilla

    Pandarilla Purist Emeritus

    14,282
    5,005
    113
    Sep 10, 2009
    Boone, NC
    I thought that's WHY they reported those wack stories, precisely because they have some semblance of ethics and common sense.
     
  17. Stringer Bell

    Stringer Bell Post Hard, Post Often Club Member

    44,356
    22,480
    113
    Mar 22, 2008
    The line is drawn where people will stop reading.

    If people want to read stories about Sanchez and a 17 year old high school girl, then I see no reason someone shouldn't report it.
     
  18. Southbeach

    Southbeach Banned

    4,154
    1,218
    0
    Aug 22, 2010
    VG points. I do still question the "sports" writers for going "off topic." How is some one's foot fetish or relationship with a 17 year old, in the "privacy" of his home sports?


    I fully understand an A Rod in the "privacy" of the Super Bowl. I understand the Farve deal, as it involved the team. I understand Big Ben out in public. I understand any player arrested, as it does affect the team.

    I do not understand the Rex or Sanchez deals. If you post something on the net, depending on where and why, you still do deserve some privacy. Much more so in the privacy of your home.

    More importantly, when does a "sports writer" change his hat to go off topic?
     
  19. CitizenSnips

    CitizenSnips hmm.

    5,525
    4,219
    113
    Nov 29, 2007
    PA
    once you become a public figure, you DO have less rights than a normal citizen. For instance, when South park had the episode about Tom Cruise being in the closet. Tom Cruise was pissed, but he couldnt sue because he's a public figure. In order for a public figure to sue for invasion of privacy/slander/libel, they have to prove both actual malice and false information.

    it was established in a court case in the 80s when Hustler magazine ran a fake advertisement poking fun at Jerry Falwell maybe sleeping with his mother. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hustler_Magazine_v._Falwell Since then Public Figures have had to prove that paparazzi or other news out lets have literally destroyed their entire lives with their articles. Meaning they lost their movie deals, playing contracts, coaching contracts, wife/husbands divorced them, etc. And since nothing that extreme ever happens over a few newspapers being too nosy, they're basically not protected the same as us 'normals'

    Now if South Park were to run an episode saying John Doe is still in the closet, John Doe could sue them easily. Tom Cruise or Mark Sanchez? no way.
     
  20. CitizenSnips

    CitizenSnips hmm.

    5,525
    4,219
    113
    Nov 29, 2007
    PA
    It goes both ways. Why exactly do sports athletes get invited to Jay Leno or David Letterman? They're not comedians or actors. The things they say don't entertain us (or that's not what they do for a living anyway). Some of them even host saturday night live on occasion. These guys go to movie premiers, hollywood parties, etc. They make themselves celebrities and thus they're treated that way.

    How many women do you think live in New York that know exactly who Alex Rodriguez is and have absolutely no idea what team he plays for?
     
  21. Southbeach

    Southbeach Banned

    4,154
    1,218
    0
    Aug 22, 2010
    Here's a thought. This forum restricts any topic aside from the Miami Dolphins. They do this because it is a Miami Dolphins forum. There are occasional exceptions, as there should be.

    How many here would still be posting and/or reading if they allowed off topics to this forum?

    Is this forum better or worse for keeping to what they do, and not dealing with all the "nonsense?"

    Tuff question for posters and mods.
     
  22. the 23rd

    the 23rd a.k.a. Rio

    9,173
    2,398
    113
    Apr 20, 2009
    Tampa Area
    lot of temptation out there.
    never judge a man until you've walked in his shoes.
    besides, what does this have to do with football?
    :couch:
    discretion is difficult with reporters draped over you.
    next time you read something like this ask yourself:

    what's in my closet?
    because the line is usually drawn @ your closet door

    think about it​
     
  23. the 23rd

    the 23rd a.k.a. Rio

    9,173
    2,398
    113
    Apr 20, 2009
    Tampa Area
    not so tough. you go to a bakery to buy bread not shoes. just a matter of what you're shopping for...
    I bet both Oprah & Jerry Springer have internet sites & respective forums to post, if you like that kind of thing.
     
  24. PHINANALYST

    PHINANALYST Well-Known Member

    1,834
    513
    113
    Jan 3, 2008
    North Carolina
    you can talk ethics all you want ... but at the end of the day - it's about sensationalism and selling a product, whether that be in print or TV. I don't agree with it, but tabloid journalism is not going to go away -- it sells too well with the public for some god foresaken reason.

    if folks are ignorant enough to idolise 'celebrities' ... then there is an unwritten expectation that comes along with that - whether you like it or not. if you don't like it, then don't get into the sports, entertainment or public service industries.
     

Share This Page