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Nov. 20, 2009
Rabbi David Aaron: How to make every second of your life come first
Caroline B. Glick: Whither American Jewry
Nov. 19, 2009
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Jonathan Tobin: ADL Crosses the Line with Report Bashing Obama Critics
Nov. 18, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: What Judaism has to say about the secret of the Mona Lisa's smile
JWisdom.com: The (Jewish) Dating Game with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (8 minutes)
Nov. 17, 2009
Steven Emerson: How Does the 4th Amendment Impact Terror Finance Investigations?
JWisdom.com: If Frank Sinatra married Edith Piaf with Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein (2 minutes) Life lessons from what would be regarded as the most inappropriate lyrics ever sung
Nov. 16, 2009
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : When borrowing is stealing
JWisdom.com: Deconstructing faith with Rabbi Warren Goldstein (9 minutes)
Nov. 13, 2009
JWisdom.com Sarah's subjective reality with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 6 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick: Obama's failure, Netanyahu's opportunity
Nov. 12, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet By Marialisa Calta : A sweet sweet potato treat
JWisdom.com Does God get tired? with Rabbi Harvey Belovski ( 5 minutes)
Nov. 11, 2009
Rabbi Avi Shafran: Jews and money: When anti-Semitism isn't
JWisdom.com Marriages are not made in Heaven with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (VERY fast 15 minutes)
Nov. 10, 2009
Michael Doyle: Author of book exposing CAIR ordered to remove supporting documents from Web
JWisdom.com If the creation so loudly shouts the existence of the Creator, why aren't more people believers? with Rabbi Naftali Brawer (9 minutes)
Nov. 9, 2009
Mark Steyn: Shooter exposes hole in U.S. terror strategy
JWisdom.com It's never too late to have a happy childhood with Sarah Chana Radcliffe (5 minutes)
Nov. 6, 2009
Rabbi Berel Wein: Choosing to hear
JWisdom.com Zero to 1/60th: How to Empower An Hour with Gavriel Aryeh Sande (7 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick The mullahs' big week
Suzanne Fields A Fallen Wall for Fallen Man
Nov. 5, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet: Three scrumptious -- but simple -- butternut squash dishes
JWisdom.com Hidden Hints: Unlocking Faith & Prayer with Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz (10 minutes)
Nov. 4, 2009
Tom Hamburger and Kim Geiger: Should prayers be covered?
JWisdom.com When God played peacemaker With Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes)
Nov. 3, 2009
Martin Peretz: Beware, Barack. Beware, Rahm. Beware, Axelrod
JWisdom.com Are you are closet idolater? With Sara Yoheved Rigler (10 minutes)
Nov. 2, 2009
Paul Greenberg: The Holocaust is now on Facebook
JWisdom.com Abraham's Strange Change With Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (5 minutes)
Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review July 17, 2006 / 21 Tamuz, 5766

The end of sports reporting as we know it?

By Evan Weiner

Evan Weiner
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | If you ask an NFL fan who the Washington Redskins' biggest rival is, you might hear any one of three answers: The Dallas Cowboys, the Philadelphia Eagles, and the New York Giants. All decent answers, but all incorrect. The Redskins' fiercest rival next season may very well be the Washington Post, and the battle between Redskins owner Daniel Snyder and the newspaper may fundamentally change the way fans get their sports news.


Snyder and the Post have been at war over various issues for a while, but the one issue that should be at the forefront is reporting. The Post has been very upset with Snyder and his team ever since they decided to break news on the Redskins' Web site. The organization has made a decision that most news about the team should flow from its own site, so the team breaks exclusive news and provides exclusive interviews with coaches, players, and front office personnel on the site. That means papers like the Post and the Washington Times, along with Washington area TV and radio stations, are suddenly left to report old news.


Officials at the Post are probably even more upset about having little recourse. Snyder's Redskins are a private company, one that does not have to give access to the Post, the Times, the Washington Examiner, or the area's broadcast outlets. In fact, Snyder has a deal with a local sports cable network and will begin operating three lowpowered radio stations in the District this month. The Washington Post also leases time to a radio station in the District, which means the Redskins and the Post are competing for news on a number of levels.


The Post is threatening to arm their Redskins beat reporters with video cameras so they can tape interviews and run them on the Post's website, which would create direct competition with the Redskins' site. The Redskins, of course, control interviews with all personnel, so this could set up a battle that might change the very nature of sports reporting. The Redskins could bar Post reporters from attending coach Joe Gibbs's news conferences or from the team's training facility or locker room.


The Redskins' deal with Comcast Sports Net Mid-Atlantic cable TV network includes a live two-hour postgame show from the locker room. Could the Redskins literally bar Post reporters from the locker room if they bring in cameras to compete with both the Web site and the Comcast show? It's a possibility, though it would seem to be an extremely complex situation considering that other TV outlets are shooting player interviews.


But the NFL is already restricting TV access, starting this preseason by limiting the number of TV reporters allowed on the field following a game to do interviews. The NFL claims it has the safety of reporters in mind, but the NFL has its own TV network and has a deal with Sprint to provide cellular users with post-game information.


Both the Redskins and the league could easily get away with limiting reporters' access and still get their message out, whether through the Redskins' Web site, the NFL's website, Comcast Sports Net, or the NFL Network and make money from advertising or Web site/cellular subscriptions.


In Europe, most soccer fans get their news from team Web sites or cellular phones, not newspapers. Sure, newspaper columnists still provide the independent, often critical, viewpoint. But in the age of fantasy sports and statistical analysis, more and more fans are in search of the kind of injury reports, performance updates, and front office information that can be best when coming directly from the source. In America, fans are becoming increasingly accustomed to using their computers or picking up their cell phones for sports information. As cell phones improve and catch up to European levels of sports video and audio, team owners know they can make a boatload of money from both broadband (Internet) and cellular platforms.


Snyder's radio stations are too small to be huge revenue producers, but if he puts streaming audio onto his Web site from the stations, he'll be able to sell Redskins football 24 hours a day, seven days a week, forever. Redskins fans will get news directly from the team, which could do tremendous damage to the Post.


Teams are just beginning to understand how they can control the news. Madison Square Garden owner James Dolan invited seven beat writers to his "informal" session about the Larry Brown firing, but to make sure the message got out "correctly," Dolan's MSG cable TV network taped the proceeding and had Dolan give his version of events surrounding the Brown firing without press scrutiny. Dolan owns the teams and the press outlet.


More and more teams are going that route. The St. Louis Cardinals, for one example, left the powerful KMOX radio for KTRS radio, a station whose signal cannot be picked up 15 miles from the ballpark. But it's Cardinals all day and night for those who do get the station. The Cardinals can break news about the team from two sources: their radio station and their Web site.


The Boston Red Sox' new radio deal, beginning in 2007, includes an option to purchase a minority interest in the flagship station WRKO and its parent company, Entercom. The team will be able to break news from three sources: the New England Sports Network, their Web site and their radio station.


So far, teams have hesitated to stop reporters from attempting to obtain breaking information, but the Snyder-Washington Post feud could be the beginning of a new era in how fans get information about teams and games. Should Snyder freeze out the Post, Redskins fans may decide that getting news from Redskins TV shows on Comcast or the team's Web site or the team's radio station isn't a bad idea after all, and that they don't need the Washington Post newspaper or radio station for information.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.

JWR contributor Evan Weiner is a syndicated radio commentator. Comment by clicking here.


Previously:

07/10/06: Kansas City Finds Itself The Center of Musical Chairs
06/27/06: Newark takes a hard lesson in the pro stadium game
06/16/06: Don't Believe the Gripe: The NHL Is Back
06/05/06: As Bonds Hogs the Spotlight, Selig Goes 3-for-3 at the Plate
05/30/06: State of the NBA Nation Is Strong
05/22/06: NFL owners gather to play stadium game
05/15/06: A legal groundswell builds beneath baseball
05/05/06: Four Years Later, Baseball Finds an Owner in D.C.
05/01/06: Turmoil brews beneath NFL's newfound tranquility
04/24/06: NFL and small town America wherewithal
04/21/06: The Two Scariest Words in Baseball: Salary Cap
04/18/06: Why the major leagues succeed
04/17/06: Fans welcome new stadiums; will stadiums welcome fans?
04/10/06: Fans welcome new stadiums; will stadiums welcome fans?
04/07/06: Don't mess with a congressman/sports fanatic
04/05/06: Los Angles loses yet again
04/04/06: NCAA's highest stakes are first beginning
04/03/06: The real reason Major League Baseball is worried about cheating
03/31/06: Baseball buoyant, better than ever
03/30/06: Affording to be in the big leagues

© 2006, Evan Weiner

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