Dwight Jaynes is a bit of respected voice in the Oregon sports world. He spent years with The Oregonian as a sports columnist and is now editor of the Portland Tribune, for whom he also does a morning radio show. He has been named Oregon's Sports Writer of the Year five times. Dwight knows his shit, is what I'm saying. If you were to judge a book by it's cover, you'd probably assume that Dwight hates sports bloggers. Old school journalist who pre-dated computers, been around the block a few times (but we won't hold it against him), has been around the newspaper business long enough to get jaded if he let himself. He fits the profile to a T.
But that's why you don't judge a book by it's cover. You judge it by the pullquotes on the back cover ("Ooh, Stephen King thinks this is a thrill a minute!"), and if there was a book written about how sports journalists and sports bloggers can live in harmony, you could pullquote all day from Jaynes' latest column:
...The secret to the blogosphere is that bloggers usually don’t have that proximity to coaches and athletes. They aren’t hindered by a need to get along or kiss up to the people they write about. That affords them a certain freedom they can use or abuse.The revolution will be written! In newspaper AND blog form!Don’t get me wrong – those trained, experienced journalists are still the backbone of this business and they shouldn’t be insecure about their role. The mavericks out there blogging provide a welcome supplement to their work.
Like the mainstream media, bloggers usually search for some version of the truth. Some are good at it. Some are not. On the whole, the best of them serve up fresh, creative, unvarnished, unrestricted and entertaining thoughts about the issues of the day.
I think that’s what columnists are supposed to do, too. If we do it the right way, we’re really not all that different.