He Gone
In late August, however, the print media lost one of its biggest names when longtime – and controversial – sports columnist Jay Mariotti suddenly resigned from his Chicago Sun-Times job to pursue Internet writing opportunities. It is the most high-profile defection to date and gives those doomsayers more reason to tout their predictions.
On August 27th, the Tribune quoted Mariotti as saying that during his time in China covering the Beijing Olympics, he realized most writers were not writing for print publications, but for Web sites. After returning home and abruptly resigning his print post, he told Tribune reporter Jim Kirk he was pursuing Internet possibilities for his brand of spitfire sports commentating, and that the future of journalism “sadly is not in newspapers.”
During his 17-year career at the Sun-Times, Mariotti became the star of the sports section and arguably the entire paper. His lengthy daily columns pontificating on local and national sporting events and characters were oftentimes all that was needed for some readers to pick up the tabloid paper. His caustic columns and larger-than-life persona landed him a regular spot on ESPN’s “Around The Horn,” a TV gig he apparently will hold on to as he also seeks a Web-based outlet.
Mariotti’s critics (who are also some of his most avid readers) view his ditching the Sun-Times as cowardly; others see it as a shrewd move that could open the gates for fellow writers to do the same, depending on the outcome. Mariotti summed up his decision with this quote in the Tribune: “I’m a competitor and I get the sense this marketplace doesn’t even compete. Everyone is hanging on for dear life at both papers. I think probably the days of high-stakes competition in Chicago are over. To see what has happened in this business . . . I don’t want to go down with it.”
Chicago is one of the last great newspaper towns, by virtue of its two competing daily papers, a journalism rarity these days whose only notable exception is New York City. The notion that print medium is a sinking ship is a grim reality for local print journalists, but it is also bad news for the general public, as journalistic competition breeds journalistic excellence no matter how it is delivered.
Local print media isn’t the only one experiencing defections to the Internet. Terrestrial radio recently lost one of its most high-profile and outspoken sports commentators to a Web radio show. Former WSCR-AM 670 personality Mike North teamed up with restaurateur Rich Melman (of Wildfire restaurant and the broader Lettuce Entertain You group) for “The Mike North Webio Show,” which debuted September 8th, the day after the Bears season opener. The show streams live at Wildfirerestaurant.com weekday mornings from 9 to 11, with downloads available later each day. This move is the only broadcasting option for North at this time. He left The Score in June – after having served as the signature voice since the station’s inception 16 years ago – when contract talks with CBS went nowhere. An alleged six-month, non-compete clause, during which he cannot take another traditional TV or radio gig, seems to have steered him to the Internet and to an odd relationship with Melman, one that will certainly draw North’s fans to the restaurant’s Web site for cross promotion.
“Radio is still very viable, but the Web is the next big thing,” North told the Tribune. “[My show] will sound like radio. People say, ‘But Mike, I can’t get you in the car.’ Well, guess what? You can get me in your high rise. You can get me in your downtown office. You can get me on your iPod.”
The choices and convenience of the Internet once again trump what traditional mediums can offer.
Regardless of where readers get their news, they still should not believe everything they read. On August 28th, the news outlet Bloomberg mistakenly posted on its news wire an obituary for Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who was very much still alive. Jobs successfully battled pancreatic cancer years ago, a fact that perhaps made the premature obituary (major news outlet often have obituaries for high-profile persons at the ready) more believable.
Last month Bloomberg was involved in another to-do when it ran with news United Airlines filed for bankruptcy, triggering a nosedive of parent company UAL Corp. stock prices. Shares dropped 70 percent in just five minutes, according to the Sun-Times, after Bloomberg posted the report, based on an alert from the Florida-based Income Securities Advisors Inc. Apparently, during the course of Googling relevant news, ISA employees found a December 2002 Chicago Tribune article titled “UAL Files For Bankruptcy” on the Tribune Co.-owned South Florida Sun-Sentinel Web site. Tribune Co. issued a statement washing its hands of the situation, insisting the article was clearly in the archives section. United, though, blasted the Sun-Sentinel anyway, calling the piece an “irresponsible posting” and demanded a retraction.
No matter who is right or wrong, these gaffs illustrate no matter what the medium, misinformation happens.
– Jason Scales
