PFT: LaCanfora to NFLN

The Redskins, as much as I love them, are a major pain for the media to deal with. MAJOR. But if you treat them right, they treat you right. It doesn't mean praising them at all stops, just being respectful. It's hard to explain

I'm guessing it probably means if you play by their rules it's all good. If you rock the boat at all you're done. Is Karl Swanson still around? I've heard that guy is a major prick.

I appreciate your willingness to play devil's advocate here, but you can't distinguish between his blogging and his reporting:

First of all, JLCs blog was more than just a place for him to place his opinion. It was titled Redskins Insider and was presented as a place to get inside information on the skins before anyone else. And for a while, thats exactly what it was. However, JLC decided to use his blog to make thinly vieled jabs at the skins. As a result, the skins stopped providing him as much information. So JLC retaliated by becoming more overt in his attacks, going so far as to accuse the de-facto GM of the team as being a slanderer and its owner as essentially being an idiot. As a result, the Skins completely blacklisted him. Not only did this affect his ability to provide inside information on his blog, but it also affected his primary job:

For a while, JLC was the primary WP reporter for the Skins. However, because of everything he did in his blog, was left without sources. What reporter can continue to do his job without multiple reliable sources?

JLC built up so much ill-will with the Redskins that it ruined his ability to be effective in both his "blog" and his "real job." Perhaps it was all part of a plan to distinguish himself and get his name out there so he could advance to the type of position he has now. If so, he did a marvelous job of it. But what JLC stopped being, a long time ago, was a good source for redskins fans to get inside information about the team.

I dont give a crap what a reskins beat reporter (whoever it is) thinks about my team. I don't want his opinion. I can form my own opinion based on the information he provides. If i need help forming an opinion, or want someone elses opinion, i can go to a forum like this one or read a different sports columnists' take on a certain situation.

Bottom line is this: that the guy who reports the news shouldn't opinionate on the news - otherwise, his ability to report becomes compromised. Hopefully Jason Reid will take note.

Bloggers and columnists are not the same as reporters. I dont care either what the beat reporter thinks of the team because if he is reporting then the reader wont know what his opinion is. He a reporter, not a columnist. A columnist's job is to write his opinion based on his observations/ideas, not report facts. They are 2 totally different jobs with completely different responsibilities and it amazes me how so many people dont understand the fundamental difference.

Bloggers and columnists are not the same as reporters. I dont care either what the beat reporter thinks of the team because if he is reporting then the reader wont know what his opinion is. He a reporter, not a columnist. A columnist's job is to write his opinion based on his observations/ideas, not report facts. They are 2 totally different jobs with completely different responsibilities and it amazes me how so many people dont understand the fundamental difference.

Maybe it is because too many try to do both. No one takes Dan Steinberg too seriously because he simply blogs. He isn't performing any real reporting duties. Now if half his job was to screw around and write funny/interesting blogs and the other was to report on the FO moves of the Capitals it would get hinky I bet.

BHA, you provide a good analysis & I agree to an extent, but ONLY IF you're truly prepared to practice what you preach. You say that you don't need any reporter's opinion.

Well, true journalism & reporting doesn't involve opinions (except reporting others opinions), but a blog is primarily about opinion. So based on what you said, if you truly don't want a reporter's opinion, then you really shouldn't read a blog by a reporter.

I don't care about a reporters opinions. I do care about the opinions of sports commentators, bloggers, and forum members.

you miss the point - RI wasnt advertised as a "blog" for a reporter to write about his opinions - it was advertised as a source for inside information - a place for a reporter to post snippets of news as soon as they became available, without us having to wait for a full-fledged article to be written, edited, and approved by WaPo management. I hope Jason Reid sticks to that formula, and leaves the opinionating to someone else.

Good Bye JLC. You were always the last one to break news anyway.

And its fitting that PFT outscooped JLC on the news of his departure from the WaPo....

assuming this is all even true. I've yet to find a second source that verifies JLC landed the NFLN job.

I don't care about a reporters opinions. I do care about the opinions of sports commentators, bloggers, and forum members.

you miss the point - RI wasnt advertised as a "blog" for a reporter to write about his opinions - it was advertised as a source for inside information - a place for a reporter to post snippets of news as soon as they became available, without us having to wait for a full-fledged article to be written, edited, and approved by WaPo management. I hope Jason Reid sticks to that formula, and leaves the opinionating to someone else.

I don't mind the analytical nature of some of his posts it's is just that far too often they are only of the negative variety. It is fine with em to have a cadre of sources who can give good football analysis but it needs to be a good mixture of sources not just a bunch of sources who don't like the way one guy or team does something in general and then everything they say is negative.

NFLN is kidding themselves if they think he'll fill Schefter's shoes. Guess we'll get a healthy dose of Ravens' news now.

I cannot believe that Schefter is heading to ESPN...wait did you have something to do with this? http://www.thewarpath.net/images/icons/icon10.gif

I don't care about a reporters opinions. I do care about the opinions of sports commentators, bloggers, and forum members.

you miss the point - RI wasnt advertised as a "blog" for a reporter to write about his opinions - it was advertised as a source for inside information - a place for a reporter to post snippets of news as soon as they became available, without us having to wait for a full-fledged article to be written, edited, and approved by WaPo management. I hope Jason Reid sticks to that formula, and leaves the opinionating to someone else.

OK, I may have missed your point, assuming that RI was advertised as you say it was. I've been reading it for years & I never remember it being advertised as anything per se, I just understood it to be a blog & a place where news was available asap.

I won't argue on what RI was intended to be, since I don't know. What it is now though is a blog/news update site. If you take away the blog aspect of it it will just become a news forum, which is what the Wash Post is anyway. As I mentioned in a previous post, J. Reid or whoever takes over (assuming JLC leaves) is highly unlikely to get more "inside" info than JLC was a few years ago. Maybe that's for the best as it pertains to the skins though.

I'm guessing it probably means if you play by their rules it's all good. If you rock the boat at all you're done. Is Karl Swanson still around? I've heard that guy is a major prick.

He's still there, unless something has changed the past few months that I missed.

But it's like this. We (the media) are admittedly constantly pushing the limits of our relationships with teams, players, coaches, etc. Likewise they with us. So we could, for example, maybe go a little too far with the Washington Wizards as far as what we report. And we'd get a call "Hey, we said that in confidence. We don't appreciate what you did..." Ok, sorry. We apologize, forgive, and move on. With the Skins though, and keep in mind this is from my experience with them from 7 years ago, one mistake and that was it. You were done. There was no opportunity to explain or justify. Once they thought you had wronged them, you were persona non grata. You and I both kind of know that first hand.

He's still there, unless something has changed the past few months that I missed.

But it's like this. We (the media) are admittedly constantly pushing the limits of our relationships with teams, players, coaches, etc. Likewise they with us. So we could, for example, maybe go a little too far with the Washington Wizards as far as what we report. And we'd get a call "Hey, we said that in confidence. We don't appreciate what you did..." Ok, sorry. We apologize, forgive, and move on. With the Skins though, and keep in mind this is from my experience with them from 7 years ago, one mistake and that was it. You were done. There was no opportunity to explain or justify. Once they thought you had wronged them, you were persona non grata. You and I both kind of know that first hand.

Word to that.