Does anybody remember what it was like before we had computers? I am not posing this question because I am wondering what people did for entertainment. That bit has been done ad nauseam. The reason for my question is that is that I marvel at how quickly news is made available to us. The rapid fashion we now receive information is remarkable. But it is both a blessing and a curse.Let me explain why.
With the technology we have today, we no longer have to wait for the 10:00 pm newscast or, heaven forbid, the morning newspaper to get the latest headlines. When Michael Jackson made his final moonwalk on June 25th, I knew about it before it was broadcast on radio or television thanks to veteran Milwaukee media columnist Tim Cuprisin, who broke the story on facebook.
The same thing occurred yesterday when film director John Hughes passed on. Cuprisin made it known on facebook before any of the traditional media outlets had a chance to do so. This is obviously a blessing that we didn’t have five years ago.
So where is the curse in all of this? One way is the ability to display false gossip.
When Jacko died, it generated a series of other, ugly false rumors about the expiration of other celebrities. Two of the more notable rumors going around involve the death of actors Jeff Goldblum and Harrison Ford. Although completely untrue, they spread rapidly, largely due to how quickly they can be shared on social media sites like facebook and Twitter.
The other manner that it is both a blessing and a curse affects something that is near and dear to me - sports talk. Whether it is on the radio, television or the computer, I have an obsession with sports and therefore, sports talk.
To illustrate this, let me share with you something that I was guilty of a short time ago. Wednesday night, I caught myself watching a baseball game (with the sound off) on TV, reading Tom Haudricourt’s blog on JSOnline, while listening to both 540 ESPN’s “The Game” stream live on my computer and WSCR on the radio.
Maybe this isn’t a blessing to most, but it is to me, damn it! If I hadn’t had this media overload going on, I might have missed The Games’ Bill Johnson talking about Brett Favre’s family, the "Bugtussle Mafia". You know, Ma Bonita, The Idiot Brother, Uncle Greasy and the long suffering Dee Dee and Colonel Tom Parker.
To miss that would truly have been a shame.
Another way that this glut of information available at our fingertips is a curse falls on the sports talk show hosts and the blog writers. With all this knowledge that is imparted on and made accessible to the public, you better have your facts straight.
It doesn’t take much to google something said on one of these shows that sounds questionable. I realize it isn’t easy to speak extemporaneously during a live radio show. But that being said, you should try to have your facts straight before you allow it to come out of your head.
When you make a statement like Terrell Buckley was among the top fifteen NFL all-time interceptors, it is okay when your co-hosts calls you on it, checks the veracity of this fact and makes it into a humorous bit.
However, when your sole purpose is to impart information, there is no excuse for “making stuff up”. This is especially true if you are called an “Expert” or an “Insider”. Such was the case when I accidentally tuned into a station that I don’t normally listen to.
Milwaukee Brewers beat writer Anthony Witrado was asked if he thought the White Sox would see any benefits this season from their recent acquisition of pitcher Jake Peavy. Witrado’s response was no, because Peavy wasn’t even able to play catch yet.
Hmmm…seems to me, while watching a White Sox game the day before, I saw Peavy pitching off the mound in the bullpen. The announcers made a point to speak about it, so it wasn’t my imagination. “Insider”??? I think not. A definite loss of credibility for Mr. Witrado.
So you see, it is both a blessing and a curse to have all of this enlightenment thrust upon us. Before, we were at the mercy of what we heard or read; with no google or baseball-reference.com to scrutinize it’s accuracy.
Now, we not only have all this information inflicted on us at a breakneck speed, but we also have the ability and responsibility to make sure that it is fact-based. We do. Honest. Trust me.
That’s it for now, I have to get going. Tom Haurdicourt is on the D-List right now. Until next time…from the booth.
2 comments:
Do you remember the "Weekly World News"? That's the tabloidesque newspaper that reports on the extistence of Bat Boy and Jesus shaped cloud formations? I always thought everyone knew that all of that was made up...until I visited my old uncle and he had stacks of them in his apartment. Turns out Uncle Ted took all of that verbatim and swore by the "news" he read in that rag! LOL Just goes to show, there's one born every minute and people will blatantly believe what they hear/read without question which makes the responsibility of accurate reporting even more important.
Great story Mary! You make a great point.
We are at the mercy of what we are hearing or reading. Just the other day I was watching a baseball game with the sound off while I listened to it on the radio. The batter ripped the pitch down the right field line and the radio broadcaster promptly announced, "there's a single to left!" Go figure…
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