"New vs Old" Media

A recent phenomenon in the media world is something that I am a huge fan of. I love the New Media phase that sports casting is going through. Though it is not perfect and in its infancy, there are great things that can come from it. The phrased coined by Draymond Green, New Media, has challenged the way things are done in sports. There is a different spin on sports stories that expand past one sport or one genre.

We see current and former athletes now having their own media outlets to present their viewpoints. In my opinion this is very important. Lets take, for instance, the way the media affects the NBA players. In some cases a players income is affected by the way the media views them and votes on them. Players contracts have clauses that allow bonuses based on being voted to the All-Start Team or All-NBA Team. I don't agree that media members should have that much control over whether a player will get millions of dollars based on if the media deems them worthy. With the advent of this New Media, the perceptions can be validated if you will.

Regardless of how you feel about Patrick Beverly, he did an incredible thing during his time on ESPN. He forced the show figureheads to qualify their statements. For so long the audience have been forced to take media members word as law. If at any time there was a situation that put players and writers at odds, the writers had the final say to what was presented to the audience. Beverly shook things up and forced a dialogue of truth in reporting. Not sure how many caught it but he mentioned how players don't always give the full story to media members and Stephen A Smith had to agree that it happens. Under this new style of media, information is coming directly from the players to the audience. There is no filter. There is no loss in translation.

There is a flip side to the coin as well. The New Media does have some downfalls. The first of which is the loss of professionalism. There is a skill to doing what Stephen A Smith, Colin Cowherd, and others do. To me, most notably is the New Media publishing their rough draft. One thing about writing is you do more than one draft. Professional writers will write and rewrite then have it edited. Something that fans love but hurts the skill level is New Media skipping steps and going straight to publishing. This is something you can see as a conflict with JJ Redick on tv. If you pay attention, you can see him trying to decide how much to say as a player versus what to say as a media personality. Because he knows things as a player he has to balance that with how much to divulge due to now being on the other side of the media. He is no longer just being asked his opinion as a player. He is being asked to analyze the situation and then report. Those two don't always line up especially if you have sources to protect.

Another downfall is the lack of awareness to the power of media. Yes players know the media has a huge effect but they don't realize the magnitude until they have become part of the media. One example is Draymond Green and his comment to Kendrick Perkins. For those who don't know, Green used a derogatory term to describe Perkins. That under the Old Media would most likely not have made it past the rough draft. Though he (Green) felt somewhat casual about the term, he didn't realize how that would come across to Perkins as well as the general public. Green has since apologized and I believe learned how much of a reach he has as a media personality.

All in all, I am in favor of the New Media making its mark in the coverage of sports. I will concede there are aspects that need to be polished but as a product it is what fans want. It also acts as a counter balance to the Old Media and its stranglehold on dissemination of information. I'm looking forward to watching this current group grow and refine their skills just as they did on the court.