Will the media gatekeepers let soccer through?
When you control the mail, you control information – Newman
It’s a familiar story: the internet takes over, stifling revenue for the local newspapers, who in turn cut their budget and staff. As a result, newspapers become less and less about local content and more about publishing whatever the Associated Press or Reuters sends along the wires. After awhile, all the newspapers look the same because they’re all printing the same stuff.
But what happens when the guys at the wire couldn’t care less about American soccer? It’s a good question, and Cardillo has a great rant about it today.
And when big events roll around, say a USMNT game or say the MLS Cup, the duties are assigned to the local AP sports staffer in the city who usually doesn’t have any point of reference and comes up with the most throughly uninteresting and vanilla story he or she can file.
Reading these stories you can almost feel the disdain in the writer, “I’ve got to cover a soccer game. Sheesh.”
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3 comments
Will the media gatekeepers let soccer through?
Once it’s profitable to do so. Let’s not mistake this capitalist paradise for a socialist wonderland, comrade.
Indeed.
Don’t mistake my question for a demand. I do think there is a larger point to be made about what will happen when the AP, UPI, Reuters, et al take over the news-gathering for local rags. Soccer is just a part of it.
I do think there is a larger point to be made about what will happen when the AP, UPI, Reuters, et al take over the news-gathering for local rags.
Boy howdy. We (the information-seeking public) are tumbling into a very exciting or scary time, depending on your vantage point.