The industry of journalism in this country is under attack as never before. That’s not news.
What is news is when the onslaught comes from within, as in self-inflicted wounds. And while the division of journalism that extends to sports may not always be held in the highest of regards within the division, it is an essential and perhaps most visible part.
So, when that necessary and noticeable wing of the Fourth Estate catches friendly fire, it’s cause for concern.
Twice, in recent weeks, sports journalism has taken hits, hits that were entirely avoidable and entirely of the making of those involved.
In the first case, the wound should be superficial, but the shrapnel may hurt everyone, but the people directly responsible. During an airing of a podcast, Charissa Thompson, a former NFL sideline reporter, said she would make up reports, particularly if she couldn’t reach a coach at halftime.
Thompson made this admission to Erin Andrews, another sideline reporter, who copped to the idea that she had done the same thing, though in her case, Andrews said she made things up to protect a coach.
Both Thompson, who now hosts NFL game programming on Amazon and Fox, and Andrews issued lukewarm clarifications for their admissions. Neither has been publicly reprimanded by their employers.
Their conduct drew swift and, in some cases, furious condemnation from their colleagues who recognize the damage the admission of phony reporting can do to the institution of journalism, even if you don’t equate asking a coach or player about their thoughts with Woodward and Bernstein during Watergate.
Those sideline colleagues, almost exclusively women, further understand the harm that Andrews and Thompson have done to the cause of female sports reporters who already enter the fray at a credibility disadvantage from many simply because of their gender.
That Thompson and Andrews appear poised to emerge unscathed is a cynical gambit from Fox and Amazon that viewers don’t care what comes from their television sets. Meanwhile, the website Futurism reported that Sports Illustrated posted online pieces from fictitious writers whose headshots were generated by artificial intelligence. Officials at Arena, which owns SI, denied the allegations, but acknowledged that the magazine had carried material from a third-party provider that allowed writers to use pen names or pseudonyms. That material has been pulled, officials said, and an investigation is being conducted. Even if you take these officials at their word, the notion that Sports Illustrated, once home to some of the greatest names in sports journalism, giants like Jack McCallum, Leigh Montville, Gary Smith and Baltimore’s own Frank DeFord, farmed out its space to what amounts to an advertising firm, is anathema.
To be clear, organizations who fly reputable journalistic banners are already testing the limits of AI usage, up to and including posting stories generated by bots, rather than flesh and blood people, in the name of saving money.
But the folks who run places like Fox, Amazon and Arena had better start considering what happens when the public can’t trust what it hears or reads, even if it’s just about silly games.
And that’s how I see it for this week. You can reach us via email with your questions and comments at Sports at Large at gmail.com. And follow me on Threads and Twitter at Sports at Large.
Until next week, for all of us here, I’m Milton Kent. Thanks for listening and enjoy the games.