Sunday, November 2, 2008

Investigative Reporting in Sports...

I was told in one of my Media Law classes that the art of investigative reporting is slowly dying because of the fact that it is becoming hard to do. The reporters have to fight lawsuits from those they are investigating if what they are investigating is negative. It also involves a lot of time and effort and anonymous sources that reporters have to protect and sometimes go to jail for.

Well in the sports world, investigative journalism is a breath of fresh air and something that ESPN has capitalized on with its shows "Outside the Lines" and its newest one, "E:60".

In "Outside the Lines" they investigate things that happen in sports on a local, regional, and national level. Their topics sometimes include controversies in sports, deaths, new rules that people may not agree with, and recently the presidential candidates appeared on this show talking about their love for their particular sports.

They also take the major sports headlines of the day and cover it with more depth than other shows have done.

In "E:60" they also do investigative reporting but they take it a step further and actually show a round table discussion between the editor and the reporters on why the reporters topic is relevant and why the reporter thinks he/she should cover it. Below is a video where they discuss the controversy over a 13-year-old girl and basketball.



This takes you inside of ESPN's newsroom and also improves the stories that follow the discussion. Below is the actual story called "League of Her Own" about a 13-year-old girl who is the only girl on a all boys basketball team and the controversy that surrounds it.



I think shows like these two add to the overall value of ESPN. Not only can you catch the latest highlights, commentary and opinions on sports related topics but you can also learn about new topics that affect sports on local and national levels.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

My Trip to the Washington Post...

This past Friday I took a tour of the Washington Post.com with my graduate class in Washington D.C. and I have to say that it was a valuable experience. We toured with Chet Rhodes who is the Assistant Manager for News Video.

He taught us some rules to shooting video and he also talked to us about the future plans of the Washington Post and what goes on in the online department of the post. Best of all, he provided us with some food to each and some valuable tips on how to make our website portfolios better including what he would be looking for in hiring someone after looking at a persons online portfolio.

One of the most interesting things that I learned about the Washington Post's online department is the process that they have in place that critiques and improves reporters' videos. I feel that this process is needed in a lot of newspapers because a lot of print journalists do not have the experience to produce top quality videos.

After the trip I found a video of Mr. Rhodes on YouTube where he talks about the future of print journalism and talks more on video and online journalism.



I'm glad I was able to be a part of this learning experience.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

In Fantasy and In Real Life...

We all know that there are sports journalists who cover real sports that occur in real time and also produce videos and highlights that support this. But what if I told you that there are sports journalist who cover sports in the fantasy world? No, I'm not crazy. I'm talking about fantasy sports.

For those who don't know what fantasy sports is, it is basically games based off of real sports where the results of a real game translates into points based on a scale created by those in charge of the fantasy sport. Users draft dream teams that consists of their favorite players and then are pitted against each other in hopes that their players scores more points than the other user's team.

ESPN.com and other sports news outlets all have journalists that they use to cover this type of game. These journalists provide users tips on who to draft and what the users can expect to gain from the player they select in terms of how many points that player will get and so on.

ESPN also has their provide a place for users to play fantasy sports for free on their website so that users can get the best of both worlds (Real sports coverage and coverage for their fantasy games.)

To take it a step further, they also air funny and entertaining commercials that promotes fantasy sports and tries to get more users involved. Here is one of the funniest ones I've found on YouTube:

Sunday, October 12, 2008

ESPN.com: Equal Opportunity Employers


When you apply for a job and the employer tells you that they are “equal opportunity” employers your probably think that they are telling the truth. Well here is a perfect example of this in action. ESPN.com not only employs accomplished sports journalists but they also now employ accomplished rappers to write blogs for them. Their most recent blogger has been none other than Lil Wayne.

For those who aren’t familiar with Lil Wayne he is a rapper from New Orleans who has went platinum with his most recent CD called “The Carter III”. If you turn on the radio or watch MTV or BET you are bound to either hear his songs or catch a glimpse of him.

Now for those who are familiar with him I bet that you didn’t know he was also a sports enthusiast. He likes sports so much that he has volunteered to write a blog for ESPN. And this isn’t just something he is doing to attract more fans. He is so dedicated to writing the blog for ESPN that he has gotten himself an ESPN tattoo. What blogger do you know who is as dedicated to his work as that?

I think that this is a good thing for both ESPN and Lil Wayne. ESPN has been always trying to become more hip and urban to reach the younger generation and what better way to do so by getting the best young artist today to write about sports. Lil Wayne also benefits because even if his goal wasn’t to attract more fans to his music the blog will accomplish this.

I feel that this is just the beginning and that known celebrities who are true sports fans (#1 Laker Fan Jack Nicholas or the only real Knicks fan left Spike Lee) should all have blogs professing their love for sports and their love for their sports teams. Just stay away from getting their favorite sports team or sports show tattooed on their bodies. Tattoos aren’t for everyone.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

ESPN: Covering Everything Involving Sports...

When people think of sports people go to ESPN for the coverage. For news on crimes and things that happened in court people go to their local news stations. However, what if I told you that ESPN’s coverage extends further than just what athletes do on the field? ESPN also covers crimes that involve athletes off of the field. An example of this is the current OJ Simpson incident.

For those who don’t know what happened, OJ Simpson, one of the greatest NFL running backs ever, was accused of holding up memorabilia dealers in a hotel room at gun point. He was accompanied by another man who was assisting him. When this case came out, many of the ESPN television personalities had their own opinion on the case and were free to address it. Jim Rome certainly did this:



To go further with the legal topic, ESPN even has its own lawyer to provide analysis on certain topics like this. His name is Lester Munson and he acts as a journalist and a former Chicago lawyer. Anything that you would want to know about this case has been probably written by him and it can be found on ESPN.

ESPN also has there own legal analyst, Roger Cossack, who provides in-depth analysis of the case and other court cases that athletes may find themselves in. The only difference between him and Munson is that Cossack usually appears on Sportscenter to provide his analysis of the case.

Another thing that I like about the coverage is that it is unbiased. When I was reading an article from the Associated Press posted on ESPN.com about the OJ Simpson case I found that the dealers had a web cam and recorded when Simpson entered the room. The AP reporter also said that the Las Vegas police were heard saying at the end of the recording that Los Angeles didn’t get him (OJ Simpson) but we (the Las Vegas police) will. This hinted that maybe OJ was set up all along.

In the past ESPN just covered sports and highlights and maybe would just mention an athlete’s legal woes but now it’s different. ESPN just doesn’t give you the news on the case but now provides in depth information that can’t be found on your local news station or even one of the big four news stations (CBS, ABC, NBC, and Fox). And this just doesn’t apply to the big cases like OJ’s. They’ve done it for most of the athletes who are accused of committing a crime. Some of these athletes would only be mentioned briefly on a news channel.

This is why ESPN is the worldwide leader of sports. Not just of highlights, games, or in-depth interviews with athletes. It is also the place where you can find in-depth news on anything that involves sports. Even if sports finds its way into the court room.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

NBA Players Turn Reporters…


When many people think of NBA players a lot of times it is associated with how much money that player makes or how good (or bad) that player plays on the floor. But what if we dug deeper and talked about how skillful of a writer a player is or how interesting his blog was? For many of the general public, they wouldn’t even think that at NBA player has the time or the skill to write an award winning blog. Well if you do think that you are wrong.


Gilbert Arenas is a point guard who plays for the NBA’s Washington Wizards. Many people know him for his skills on the court but off the court he is the winner of the 2007 Weblog Award Winner for the Best Celebrity Blog. His blogs are also referenced sometimes in sports media outlets such as ESPN simply because of the interesting opinions he puts in his blogs and the inside news he reports on.


What does Gilbert Arenas write about? Surprisingly it isn’t all about basketball. His most recent post has him talking about the fact that his girlfriend has just proposed to him. He describes his feelings about it and even posts pictures of the event. 14 people have commented on it so far and I’m sure many others will as his blog totals in over 2,000 comments.


Even though many will say that this is the best blog in the NBA, there are other players that have their own blogs too. These blogs also cover a wide range of topics and give the reader and inside look at their favorite players and their favorite teams. It just goes to show you that NBA players aren’t just good at playing basketball and making tons of money. They have other skills as well.

Monday, September 22, 2008

The Media Vs. The Leagues: Who Has The Best Coverage?


Over the weekend, in my graduate class, we had a guest speaker from Media General (Company that owns a lot of newspapers from the Richmond Times-Dispatch to newspapers in Tampa, FL.) who said that it is getting hard for sports journalists to gain access to many sports events because of the restrictions that the professional leagues are putting on them. He said that the leagues want to have their own coverage (NFL.com and NBA.com are two examples of leagues who do this) and don't want other sports media outlets to get more coverage than they do. This leaves the other sports media outlets digging deeper and starting to cover more high school and college sports. ESPN is a perfect example of this as they even have a website dedicated to high school athletes.

With all this being said, it made me wonder, who really has the best coverage and who deserves it?

Well lets begin with the sports media. Before leagues like the NBA and the NFL had their own media, companies like ESPN and Fox Sports have been doing a good job covering them, in my opinion. ESPN seems to be the more popular because of the fact that even athletes talk about getting on Sportscenter's highlights reel. In my opinion, their shows are more entertaining and that may be because they have been around longer. I feel that without media like this the NBA and the NFL may of not received the publicity and the popularity that it enjoys today.

However, with the leagues I understand why they would want to branch out and have their own outlets to provide their news. It is a lot of money to be made and I assume that they feel that it is an opportunity to make more money. However, I don't feel that it is right, if they are in fact doing this, to push for more restrictions on newspaper writers and other media outlet writers so that their own writers and reporters can gain that inside edge. The NFL, NBA and I think the NHL all have their own networks but customers have to pay for it whereas ESPN and Fox networks come for free on most cable network lineups. This makes it more easier for fans to get their news from them than it is to get their news from the league networks.

Overall, I think the leagues should just make access equal. The leagues have no need to get into the media field, in my opinion, because ESPN is so much more popular and more available to customers than the leagues media outlets are. As for the local newspaper writers and reporters, I feel that they shouldn't be shut out either because when you think about it, they are even more available and provide that local feel to readers more than the league's media does. But will the league do this? I doubt it because like it is most of the time in the business world, if their is money to be made then that company will push hard to make it. Even if they have to shut others out to do so.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

The Early Bird Gets The Worm...

I'm sure many sports fans know that in order to bring in new talent to college sports teams, the college must have their scouts search for talent at high schools across the nation. What may be overlooked is how much effort is put into recruiting and scouting talent and that this process involves a lot of multimedia tools that they are able to use to make better decisions. There are many sports recruiting websites that provide videos, slideshows and articles on every top high school prospect in the nation. Two of the best websites, in terms of high school football recruiting, are Rivals.com and Scouts.com. They have high school footage on some of the best high school football talent in the nation. Most of which will play pro football some day. Here is a video of one of them who did just that:



I find this amazing that reporters for these website produce this much content on high school athletes. I think that this proves that online sports journalism can prove to be more than just informative to sports fans. It can also be helpful to colleges and professional sports teams. I also think that it is cool that they cover high school teams and rank them according to how well they think they play in their leagues. Another thing that I think is interesting is that they just don't limit themselves to just covering the top prospects in the nation. They also cover high school athletes that are in every state.

Overall, like I said earlier, I think that this proves that there are more people that are interested in coverage like this outside of just sports fans. Colleges put scholarship dollars and invest a lot of time to make correct decisions that will help their athletic programs. Websites like these that provide these multimedia resources help them make the right decisions.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Speaking of Podcasts...

Until this past weekend, I was among the people who didn't even know what a podcast was. I mean I saw the links on ESPN.com's homepage but I didn't know what they were.

Not only do I know what podcasts are know but I also realize that these can be entertaining and useful tools to the sports media. Once you go to ESPN.com and then go to its ESPN radio section you will find links to live radio shows and podcasts where you can subscribe to your favorite radio and television shows and put them on your IPod's or your phones. Here is a video on how easy it is to access it from your phone:


In my opinion, I think this should and will replace sports radio broadcasts on clock radios and other home stereos systems in the future. I feel that the days of you and your family sitting around the radio and listening to a sports game are over. With media now trying to be accessible to everything that is portable and bigger (in terms of HD TVs) the sports media world will soon have no use for home radio equipment. If they you can listen to radio on in your car and in your mp3 players, who needs a home radio or stereo? And if you miss a show you can podcasts such as the Mike and Mike Show in the ESPN Podcast section has links to every show that they did three months prior to the most recent one.

Now that I know what podcasts are I plan on using these to catch up on the sports shows that I miss and listen to the radio shows I can listen too due to frequency issues. I wish I would've found out about this sooner...

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

EA Sports...Its In The Game (Even The Sports Media)


In August, the biggest sports game of the summer hit the market, EA Sports' Madden 09. For those who are not familiar with this game it is one of the most anticipated football sports games every year and the only professional (NFL) football game available since EA Sport's has exclusive rights to make the game. However, One thing that people may not know is how involved this game is with the sports media, particularly ESPN.

In 2005, EA Sports announced that it bought the rights to ESPN which means that they are able to use ESPN's online media (such as videos and articles) in their games. This gives the customer the ability to see and hear breaking news, highlights and read sports articles that ESPN provides online through the game.

But the game doesn't limit itself to just ESPN. One of the new additions to this game is that they have brought back commentators who speak on the games that users play. One of these commentators used to be on HBO's NFL Show. This has brought an element to the game that a lot of fans are enjoying.

Madden 09 not only involves the sports media but is also a topic that sports shows talk about. There is something that has got the sports reporters talking every time this game is releases news on the who the athlete on the cover will be called the "Madden Curse". The "Madden Curse" is said to be a curse that is placed on the athlete who graces the cover of this game every year. In some eerie way, whoever is on the cover of this game has something bad happen to them. They may get seriously injured in the following season or they may play horribly. This myth is something that is tied to this game and is talked about by many popular shows such as Around the Horn on ESPN.

Madden may be the most popular sports game but isn't EA Sport's only game that involves the sports media. Many other games on its line-up such as NBA Live 09 and NHL 09 do a good job of this also. This proves that customers may have a new outlet in gaining sports news other than online, television, and print.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

More Fan Participation = More Popularity...

In my opinion, no one incorporates and involves fans opinions and views more than ESPN. They do so much to involve the fans in everything that they do, online and on television, that it is no wonder why they are the largest and most popular sports media outlet in the nation.

Everyone of their articles online has a comments page or a forum in which fans can respond to and some of the posts is more entertaining than what the article talks about. For example, it was funny to me to read the many things football fans has to say in regards to the Brett Favre issue. There were some who hated the idea of Bret Favre wanted to come back, some wanted Favre to come back to their team, and others wanted Farve to return to the Green Bay Packers.

Aside from providing the opportunity for fans to respond to ESPN articles, the network also gives fans a chance to have their voices heard on television, or at least their questions read. For example, on one of the network's shows called College Football Live, they give a college football fan the opportunity to send in a video of themselves talking about how much they love their team. They select the best and most enthusiastic one and airs it on their upcoming show.

To take it a step further, online they have a place where fans can customize their own ESPN.com home page which will be tailored to the things that the person likes or wants to see and read. You can also create your own profile which will allow you to join conversations, send writers comments, plus a number of other things that you can get involved it.

Even though all of this is probably more than any other sports network will allow fans to do this is still not all ESPN provides. Recently they created a tournament in which allowed fans to submit videos of their town and reasons as to why it should given the title of "Titletown USA." In order to be "Titletown USA" your town will have to symbolize what it means to be called this by showing how many championships your town has won, how enthusiastic your sports fans are, and how strong of a winning tradition you have. The contest was then narrowed down to 20 finalists and they were to be voted upon by other sports fans. The town with the most votes won the title and surprizingly it wasn't a big city that won. It was a small city in Georgia who didn't even have a professional team but won over 100 high school championships.



Being that ESPN is the number 1 sports network in the nation it is safe to assume that one of the major reason why this is so is because of the opportunity that this network gives to fans to participate in anything ESPN does. Whether its television or online ESPN makes sure that they make fans feel important. And thats the way it should be.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

NBA Season Ends but The Real Fun Begins...


When the NBA season ended I'm sure a lot of NBA fans may of thought that, with the number of superstar free agents down, that there wouldn't be as much drama going on into the off-season. Especially none that would rival what basketball fans went through last summer (The Kobe Bryant Trade Situation). Surprisingly this has not been the case and some of the credit for this should go the the media.

The summer began with a number of online and television coverage. Everything from what it was like to be a number one or two overall pick to what the draft prospects did in their spare time and at workouts. Fans knew almost everything there was to know about the top prospects in the draft and the top websites and sports media outlets provided that.

After that we had the Seattle Sonics fans getting their hearts ripped out due to their owner winning the case against the city and gaining the right to move the team to Oklahoma City. That caused many columnists and former NBA players and fans to be in an uproar. Not to mention a lot of people felt sorry for Seattle.

Then the real interesting things began. This off-season is filled with storylines that could rival the professional wrestling and many soap operas. We had a betrayal story with Elton Brand leaving his former team, (LA Clippers) to go to the Philadelphia 76ers. We had the LA Clippers taking Baron Davis from the Warriors and the Warriors retaliating by signing the Clippers guard Corey Maggette. These headlines plus the fact that websites such as ESPN.com and RealGM.com added to their websites a sort of free agent tracker that tracks the movements of the players meant that this off-season was going to be full of news and stories that will get fans talking.

And the off-season events seem to be far from over. We have the US Olympic team playing in August and the storyline surrounding that which depicts the team as the ultimate come-back story since they disgraced themselves four years ago at the Olympics. We also have a new trend to where NBA players, if they feel disrespected by their teams in terms of contract negotiations, are bolting for overseas teams like Greece and Italy.

Who said that this off-season would be boring.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

No Love For The Women's League...

Did you know that professional basketball history was made in the WNBA on
July 19th? Well don't be upset if you didn't. You are probably in the majority. On July 19th WNBA teams, the New York Liberty and the Indiana Fever played the first professional basketball game outdoors at the Author Ashe Stadium. The usual home of the U.S. Tennis Open. The sad thing was that this game was televised on NBATV which isn't a channel that everyone has.

When it comes to the WNBA most of the time the best coverage you can get on their events is on their website. Even the historic events such as this aren't covered. ESPN.com doesn't even mention it on its home pages and its only been a day later. If the NBA did something like this then I am sure it would be on the home page for at least two or three days accompanied by columns that support it.

The only thing that this event received in terms of coverage highlights provided by NBA.com and ESPN and a recap of what happened.


What this says to me is that if the WNBA can't draw in fans and coverage by being the first, even before the men, to have a professional basketball game outdoors, then I don't see the WNBA lasting very long. When you look at WNBA games it is clear that they don't have as many fans and when you look at shows like ESPN you don't see them get as much coverage than the NBA does. This is evident when you look at ESPN's WNBA page and see that they only list one woman as a blogger and contributer.

In my opinion even though the WNBA has tried to make strides to make their game more appealing though commercials and bringing in new and exciting talent there is something still missing that prevents the WNBA from recieving the media coverage and popularity it needs to survive. Even if they make history.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

The Power Athletes Have in the Media...


When you think of the power of an athlete you may think of the physical or mental strength that is shown when he is participating in his or her sport. What some may not realize (I only realized this today) that athletes also have the power to changed what an audience will think about first when it comes to news and what the media will set first on their agenda.

There is theory that I learned in class called the Agenda-setting theory. This is a theory in which people believe that the media have an influence on an audience by determining what news stories would be covered first, how much they are covered, and if they are in fact worthy of the coverage. An example of this is when a media outlet might hide real issues and force us to focus on smaller things (happens in politics and the war situation a lot) due to the coverage the media outlet gives to the "smaller things".

In sports journalism, however, what if it could be proven that athletes, not the media outlets, had this power all along or at least had the ability to use this power to their advantage? What lead to me thinking about this subject happened yesterday on ESPN. I was watching ESPN News when breaking news flashed below the main screen saying that Brett Favre is thinking about comming back to the NFL out of retirement. Now besides the ill-feelings I had at the time after hearing this news (I personally think Farve is selfish for starting this again), I sat and witnessed all of the coverage now shift to Farve and the rumors going around about his return to football.

On Sportscenter and the shows following that they all talked about Brett Favre and what he should do, what the NFL should do, and what his team should do all because of the information that they found out which was that Farve said he has an "itch" to play again and that his family is pushing him to do so.

It didn't click until this morning that Favre just changed the whole ESPN agenda that night just by starting rumors. In a couple of minuets Favre exhibited the power make ESPN put all the focus on him and brought his name back into the forefront and influence the audience to talk about him again.

Without these rumors Favre wouldn't even have been mentioned that afternoon (Wednesday, July 2nd) being that he retired four months ago and football fans were getting over him.

This isn't the only example, however. Look at the Kobe Bryant situation last summer. All he did was say "I want to be traded" and immediately he had the attention of all basketball fans and all of the sports media. His story and news about on updates on whether Bryant would get traded or not was immediately set above any story that occurred that summer.

Now-a-days athletes have the power to changed even the media's opinion on certain things. Look at Jose Canseco and his book that told on baseball players who used steroids. A few days after the book became public it was talked about and even referenced in the media when it came to the names that were stated in the book. That book influenced the opinions of the media and of baseball fans on the players named in the book.

All I am saying is maybe when it comes to sports journalism, who determines what news appears first and what the audience focuses is on first, maybe more in the hands of athletes than it is the sports media outlets themselves. Not to say that the sports media has no control over it but I am saying that maybe their control over the situation is lesser than the control that blogs or other national media outlets have.

I believe that sports media just reports on what happens and if an athlete that is prominent enough says something outrageous, he thrusts himself into the spotlight and to the top of the media world's agenda.

Think about it...

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Draft Holiday...

One of the biggest days in the sports covering year in my opinion is draft day and the week or two leading up to the draft. Al four of the major sports (NHL, NBA, NFL, and MLB) have drafts throughout the year to bring in new talent but the ones that get the best coverage is the NBA and the NFL. I don't think the reason is solely due to the popularity of the sports because MLB is still, in many people's eyes, America's game or at least second behind football.

I think that it has to do with the popularity of the draft itself. The NFL's and the NBA's drafts are both highly covered by major sports media outlets such as ESPN.com all the way down to smaller websites such as RealGM.com or a NBA draft site called NBADraft.net that gives year round coverage of the NBA draft every year.

Even the leagues sites (NBA.com has their own section up right now) itself provide in-depth coverage from real-time analysis of each pick that takes place exactly when the pick happens, to live blogs, to having their own columns and news stories when the stories break out.

I feel that when the draft comes around it is really equal to the coverage that is provided on television. The questions comes into play whether or not you want up to the minuet news that is provided online or the entertaining element that is provided when watching the event on television. Sports sites such as ESPN.com can provide both and it leaves you wondering sometimes whats the point of watching the draft on television.

Its amazing to me how popular the NFL and NBA drafts are because if someone asked me or many other people I know who was draft first in the MLB or NHL draft I wouldn't be able to tell you. But I can tell you that Jake Long was selected first in the NFL draft by the Miami Dolphins and that tonight, Derrick Rose has a great chance of being picked by the Chicago Bulls in the NBA draft.

The popularity of the NFL and NBA drafts have grown so much over the years that now we have shows and television specials on the lottery (the NBA performs a lotter for the 14 teams with losing records to determine the order in which they pick) or the NFL draft order. The popularity of these drafts also leads to more press time for the players that will participate in the draft and helps the teams sell more jerseys and hats.

They even have interactive games fans can play that allows them to predict the order in which players get selected in hopes to win prizes. With all of the news and events going on it makes the draft seem like a national sports holiday. And to think, when in the days of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird in the NBA or Johnny Unitas in the NFL the draft was longer with less coverage and not many people knew about it.

Now its as popular as the NBA Championship or the NFL Superbowl.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

PBS documentary opens VCU’s students’ eyes on Health Disparities

This is a story I did for my Online Journalism class at VCU. It is a story on how VCU is planning to educate students on health disparities through PBS's Unnatural Causes documentary series. A trailer of this series can be viewed below.



Racial and ethnic health disparities are a popular topic on Virginia Commonwealth University’s medical campus. As a result of this VCU faculty members Yolanda Jackson and Shannon Jones have planned to further educate students through PBS’s “Unnatural Causes” documentary series.

The film series will be shown throughout the summer at Hunton Student Center on the MCV Campus and deals with the topic of racial and health disparities which are currently a problem in the Richmond area. The film also introduces new ways of thinking about how patients can get ill and become vulnerable to illnesses simply by experiencing stress, and negative racial and ethnic experiences (racism, sexism, etc.)

Jackson, an Interim Assistant Director for VCU’s Medical Campus Programs, brought the documentary series to students in order to “make them aware of different circumstances and illnesses.”

Jones, who works at Tompkins-McCaw Library, added that through the film “students will be aware of the issues around health disparities when engaging with patients and” will be able “to keep in mind that there are resources available to learn about health disparities” outside of the film that is being shown to them.

Larry Adelman and Llewellyn M. Smith are the producers and creators of the documentary series that is being shown on campus. Adelman states that one of the main reasons why they created this film was that they were amazed at the research they found which stated that “our lived experiences (racism, social, job related, etc.) could get under the skin and disrupt our biology in terms of germs and viruses.” He discovered that “the big killers in American is not guns, it is a lifetime of wear and tear on the body that leaves the body more venerable to diseases.” He concluded that his partner and he “were mind blown that none of this work got to the heads of the policy makers. Health doesn't solely rely on personal choice” like many health officials lead us to believe.

Jackson believes that it will depend on what students bring to the films in terms of their own experiences as far as determining whether or not they will gain something from it. Jones believes that medical students and other VCU students should be able to gain something from viewing the films because of the mere fact that “All of us are health care consumers. Richmond has significant number of health disparity patients.”

In addition to what Jackson said, Wally Smith M.D., chair of VCU’s Division of Quality Health Care, once stated that “More than 800,000 people lost their lives due to racial and ethnic health disparities in the past 10 years.” This is a problem because “America is becoming increasingly diverse and” minorities will quickly become the majority in the years to come.

In order to further educate students about health disparities VCU has made available other resources which can be found at VCU’s Health Disparity Center or online through Irene Lubker’s, a librarian, health disparity resource guide online. A copy of the documentary series will also be available at the library.

Through this film and other resources students will have the opportunity to learn something that Adelman learned while creating the film. “What becomes clear is social policy and equality policy is health policy. There is more to it than just gene research,” Adelman said. To help with the health problems in America one must also “invest in schools, rewarding jobs, clean and happier neighborhoods, and equality.”

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Covering The Celtics Championship

As I watched the Boston Celtics win the NBA Championship, other than the pure joy of knowing that the team I wanted to win actually won, I also amazed at the media in terms of the coverage of the event online and on television.

On ESPN and ABC you had the typical coverage as far as the press conference and the post-game analysis of how the Celtics played and how the Lakers got blown out. What made me laugh was how emotional the Celtic players were when they were getting interviewed by the ESPN reporters, especially when it came to Kevin Garnett. It was funny when ESPN reporter Michele Tafoya asked him a question and instead of answering it he just expressed how happy he was about winning the championship. Then he commented her on how good she looked.



Another thing that amazed me was the fact that even though ESPN had a lot of coverage on television, they really didn't have that much online. In fact, the day after the page was updated with a big picture of Tiger Woods and immediately switched to the story of Woods having to miss the rest of the golf season due to needing surgery on his leg.

Columnists were also late posting stories about the NBA Finals. One of my favorite ESPN columnists, Bill Simmons, got his story up the day after the Celtics won. When I looked for other columns or blogs on ESPN to have comments on the Celtics win sooner I couldn't find any. Scoop Jackson and J.A. Adande, two other ESPN columnists both had their stories up the day after also (Jackson's story and Adande's story).

The best coverage online went to NBA.com. They had a flash video, a blog, a photo gallery, and a link to where you could go and buy Celtic gear that the players wore that night. The other thing that I liked about their coverage was that it was fast and they even showed the front page of the Boston Globe's front page which had a good picture of the Celtics celebrating their championship.

Overall I think that the NBA and maybe even other sports leagues provide the best coverage when it comes to their own special events and championships. However, when it comes to columns being entertaining and interesting to read ESPN and other news media sites still have them beat.

Even though NBA.com had the news I was looking for it was mainly appealing just because of the pictures, videos, and other interactive things that they had on the site. I still went to ESPN.com to read the columns because NBA.com's columns were just factual, not interesting like the columns on ESPN.com were.

I think the reason that the coverage was less on ESPN.com and more on NBA.com was because of the fact that the NBA.com only has one league to cover while ESPN.com had to cover the Finals and the breaking news that Tiger Woods would be out for the rest of the golf season.

I didn't realize this reason until watching the coverage of the Celtics winning the championship.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

The WWE Syndrome...

The more I watch ESPN the more I start to realize that it isn't about just reporting the facts anymore but its more about how the person says those facts and what style they use to express them in front of the camera.

If you don't do this then you either don't get as much air time or are just called upon to bring in the exclusive and breaking news.

I feel that sports journalism in terms of on television and also in online and print articles have strayed away from being just facts and news and more towards including the presentation of it and making the news entertaining to those watching and reading.

I would like to compare sports journalism to professional wrestling. Older fans of wrestling remember when you had wrestlers who focused more on skills and between the hero vs. villain aspect. Now its more geared towards entertainment and skills. The same can be said about sports journalism, especially on television.

If sports fans aren't entertained or interested when they watch sports reporters on television presenting the news then they are likely going to turn it off or not even read it and go for just quick updates on the internet. This has led to the popular reporters having to come up with something that sets them a part from the rest just so that they will get more airtime and more popularity.

Steven A. Smith just doesn't analyze teams but presents an attitude that suggests that he will tell you the truth even if it hurts. Most of the time I find myself watching him not because of the information he will tell me but just to hear who he will say "sucks" or is "soft". Even his headlines are entertaining. Here is one he did for ESPN magazine for example: So the NBA is getting whiter? I've got no problem with that.

Another example of this can be seen when he ripped Kwame Brown after Brown was traded to the Grizzlies for Pau Gasol.



Bill Simmons, ESPN columnist, is another writer that I feel adds entertainment value into his articles in addition to the facts that he presents. This has led him to getting a segment in ESPN's show 360. One he did recently was about Game 4 where he reported everything he felt at the hour during the game in a humorous manner (From exasperation to exclamation in 170 minutes).

Making it in sports journalism no longer about the abundance of facts you know but is now more focused on how you present those facts and whether or not it will interest the reader or viewer. Thats the only way you'll be able to separate yourself from others.

For more entertaining, yet factual sports columns check below:
Sport's Guy World
RealGM.com
ESPN.com