ESPN.com has added two of their most prominent baseball writers the their list of bloggers. Peter Gammons and Jayson Stark are now blogging. Unfortunately I just don’t see this as being significant. After reading their initial posts, they don’t read that much different than regular articles. And, like their regular articles both blogs are part of the Insider package. If it means more frequently updated, shorter posts, containing rumors and rumblings I guess that will be a positive.
My main problem with the ESPN.com blogs is their non-linking policy. As Aaron Gleeman pointed out today,
I’m glad ESPN.com sees the value in that as well, and I’m glad they’re willing to take what is a pretty large leap for a major media outlet. Of course, I do have a major criticism, which is that as far as I can tell none of the dozen or so blogs ESPN.com hosts actually link to other blogs. For instance, Olney’s blog is made up primarily of links to outside stories and his brief comments on them, but in nearly a year I can’t remember a single link that wasn’t to a mainstream newspaper.I know from personal experience that ESPN.com has always had a somewhat stringent policy against linking to outside sites, but embracing the blogosphere is an essential step if they’re going to call what Gammons, Stark, and Olney are doing “blogs.” The value of blogs is in not always having to be like everything else, and while ESPN.com is going along with some of that concept they are still holding back on a crucial element.
That crucial element is becoming part of the conversation instead of just the topic. When Gammons mentions something Pinto is doing, as he does in his first post, there should be a link to it. I don’t fault Gammons for this who very recently has been very supportive of the new online media. But if ESPN is going to go the blog route, then go all the way.
I guess the biggest positive for bloggers is that it is yet another acceptance of blogging as a form of journalism. It is possible that as more major media adopt blogs, it could pave the way for increased access and exposure for the independent blogs. Whether that happens or not remains to be seen.
UPDATE: Stark links out to Aaron and becomes one of us. Now the blogs are just missing identifiable permalinks.
February 28th, 2006 at 1:42 am
[...] But sadly, even though more mainstream media organizations are starting to implement blogs, they’ve proven time and again that they still don’t “get” them. How so? Blogs are supposed to be conversations, not just a forum to post quickly edited copy. Let me quote Bill Ferris from BaseBlogging.net (who’s quoting Aaron from AaronGleeman.com) to explain: ESPN.com has added two of their most prominent baseball writers the their list of bloggers. Peter Gammons and Jayson Stark are now blogging. Unfortunately I just don’t see this as being significant. After reading their initial posts, they don’t read that much different than regular articles. And, like their regular articles both blogs are part of the Insider package. If it means more frequently updated, shorter posts, containing rumors and rumblings I guess that will be a positive. [...]
February 28th, 2006 at 1:42 am
[...] But sadly, even though more mainstream media organizations are starting to implement blogs, they’ve proven time and again that they still don’t “get” them. How so? Blogs are supposed to be conversations, not just a forum to post quickly edited copy. Let me quote Bill Ferris from BaseBlogging.net (who’s quoting Aaron from AaronGleeman.com) to explain: ESPN.com has added two of their most prominent baseball writers the their list of bloggers. Peter Gammons and Jayson Stark are now blogging. Unfortunately I just don’t see this as being significant. After reading their initial posts, they don’t read that much different than regular articles. And, like their regular articles both blogs are part of the Insider package. If it means more frequently updated, shorter posts, containing rumors and rumblings I guess that will be a positive. [...]