madbohem wrote:He's from a different time really. I can remember reading him back in the 80's. I can imagine to a guy like that, the change the internet brings is just inconceivable to the notion of why he wanted to be sport's writer in the first place. Newspaper men are no longer real - its changed in ways that I can't imagine being a young kid dreaming of career could have imagined when he was pushing himself towards his future.
The blog and the instant capabilities for feedback encourage nonsense in big ways. I am sure editors and writers from the old school found themselves looking at letters from disgruntled readers all the time, but you couldn't troll through that process. But because SEO likes to see feedback, the more the better, and because just about anybody can leave a comment without it being monitored, there is no real need for discipline to actually write a nasty letter that won't ever be published in the old school newspaper world.
I am pretty sure he feels the integrity behind that world is completely gone. I am sure he is right about that too. Journalism at all its levels has been changed. Older people still look at a guy like Walter Cronkite and miss what felt like unbiased reporting while today points of views seem to be what network a person is watching, regardless of how much fair and balanced is being touted.
I am not saying integrity is gone in the world at large, just how he envisioned himself in the world. I kind of get that, regardless of what I think of his writing and opinions, the world he dreamed himself apart of is no longer possible.
While all that may be true, the really
cool thing about the internet age for a guy like Steve Kelley - that old school journalistic integrity type of writer - is that if he gets the itch to write he can fire up a blog, write
whatever he wants
whenever he wants and not have to worry about offending sponsors, meeting deadlines or whatever other leashes might come with being attached to a big local paper and
still reach the same amount of people.
He's reached a point in his career where he doesn't need the paper to be his platform. He already has a reputation and doesn't need the status of being on the payroll for a paper.
PS: I never liked Steve Kelley. Always seemed like a negative contrarian for the sake of being a negative contrarian.