#kenrosenthal

Here’s a question for you consumers of Indians media. What is news? If you take a journalism class or learn the art of informing the masses, you should understand this question. You get to the true meaning of what news is and why it is important. It is something you should learn early on. Non-journalists know what news is and can understand it’s importance, but a journalist’s job revolves around news, that’s why news and properly delivering it has to be important to them.

Sports is different. Is it important? In the grand scheme of our existence, no, it isn’t. But, in it’s own bubble, is getting the news that is about the topic important? For the people that want to consume it, it absolutely is and as a delivery person of that news, it should be important. You, as a journalist, have a duty to inform the masses and you have a duty to get it correct and make sure it is meaningful. Getting the news out there and making sure it is correct is incredibly important, even in this scope of what “Sports News” is and means to the general public. 

At least in our opinion. Sports news should meet these requirements:

1. Factual and can be sourced.

2. Be informative to the topic the news is about, does not misinform.

3. Tell the reader/consumer something “new” that they didn’t know.

That’s it. It doesn’t have to be hard.

With these parameters in mind, let’s take a look at the latest piece of news that that circulated regarding the Cleveland Indians.

Ken Rosenthal “reported” that the Indians are seeking to add depth to their outfield. If you are a regular consumer of Indians media, or just a Tribe fan, you know that the outfield has been a main point of discussion this offseason. Rosenthal is, from the very get-go, going to be providing a report on a very common subject to Indians fans. His headline is even telling us something you already already know. His first paragraph, stating the Indians are not comfortable with the state of their outfield is just stating the obvious, but this is his lead, he hasn’t given you the “news” yet.

The news? His second line, which states that the team is searching for an upgrade and is engaged in trade dialogue. He cites a major-league source that is unknown. The second bit is that the Indians do not view a deal as likely.

Rosenthal then goes on to establish that the position the Indians are in is not any different now than it was a few months ago. The main difference, even though he said there was “essentially no difference,” is they won’t be trading any top tier starter. They would rather trade another starter, but if you remember the news Rosenthal is reporting, this is unlikely.

So, what’s the news here? That the Indians situation has and will continue to remain exactly the same? Rosenthal, even though unnamed, has sourced factual information, or at least we take him at his word that it is is factual, and can assume so based off knowledge of the Indians offseason and situation. It, while redundant for a more-than-casual Indians fan, is informative to the topic. But, if a non-Indians fan were to read it, it would certainly constitute as meeting our second requirement of news. The third parameter, however, is where he fails to prove that this is news. This does not tell the reader anything new. There’s nothing new about this news and he is certainly not adding to the situation by telling us the Indians are not likely to make a deal, even though he is telling you they want to.

Again, what is news? Does this constitute as it? Why is Ken Rosenthal posting this or “reporting” on it? He’s a national reporter, so he doesn’t fall in line with the local beat and is not consistently covering or providing information on the Indians, but that does not matter in this instance. Even a reader unfamiliar with the Indians situation would glean nothing “additional” to this. A reader will ultimately see “the Indians want to make a trade, but won’t, so nothing will change” and nothing new was contributed to their bank of knowledge. They now know of the situation if they did before, but they didn’t learn anything new about this particular situation and how it has changed. It could inform a few, but not inform all, and certainly doesn’t further an established situation.

Because this is news, or at least reported from a national media member as news, it is treated as such and allows sites and blogs, such as Waiting For Next Year, to utilize it as a post of their own to generate traffic. WFNY also does nothing to further this bit of news, simply restating what Rosenthal is reporting. WFNY’s poster, Josh Poloha does not add much in terms of an opinion, which WFNY is certainly justified to do and what “opinion” is included isn’t really stated as such, it reads more like fact or a reasoned deduction.