Enough Never Is

Charlie Hatch

gh181212@ohio.edu

Is content more important than the audience?

That's a question many journalists and media outlets struggle with as the industry continues to develop every day. 

Sure, the primary goal for a journalist is to produce timely content, full of facts and free from errors. But what if that means reporting on the same subject over and over and over? 

Perhaps one of the easiest places to find media outlets constantly repeating the same information is in sports media.

ESPN and SportsCenter

SportsCenter isn't the same anymore.

It was the show providing the best sports coverage in terms of highlights, analysis and some debate. 

If there were 12 NFL games on the day before, the Monday morning show would showcase all the match ups, provide a minute of highlights and a few cliches thrown in by news anchors, followed by a break down of why each game mattered.

Yet somewhere in the last few years, ESPN has slowly begun to change their premier show, manipulating the content to present news the most amount of people want to hear. 

In the past, SportsCenter would've produced highlights for just about any professional football game, even if it featured two lowly-franchises such as the Jacksonville Jaguars vs. the Oakland Raiders. And that was the status quo.

Fast forward to 2014 and the outlet may produce a segment about the topics such as back up quarterbacks, like Cleveland's Johnny Manziel, who has absolutely no impact on the game's outcome, but his face will result in discussion and debate.

Wherever Lebron James goes, whether it be Cleveland or Miami, ESPN has followed his every move with cameras and and twitter accounts eager to produce the latest event in the basketball player's life.

In essence, ESPN is providing content that isn't news, but it's something that will get eyes on the screen or clicks on social media. 

Bleacher Report

Bleacher Report started out a blog for fans (bleacher journalist/bloggers). Now, the website has become a juggernaut in sports media and recently became the second-most visited sports site in the U.S., only trailing ESPN. 

The sports site, along with fan blog SB Nation, have become the premier examples of producing content lacking any true news value in an effort for hits.

Click on any team the site has a writer for and it immediately becomes apparent that the journalist who wrote the story doesn't have direct access to the team and gets their news from other sources. 

There has been improvement from writers on the site as it's popularity continues to soar, but it still lacks the power a traditional news organization has. 

And then there's the British

Source: Daily Mail (UK)

The British press is often overlooked by Americans, probably because of the obvious ocean separating the two nations. 

In the United Kingdom, the style of writing is completely different from than in the U.S., with different sorts of ethical dilemmas (reporters are openly fans of a team). 

But the thing that makes its press stand out the most is its ability to flip-flop and become hypocritical with any football (soccer) story.

One day, the press is honest and admits there are flaws in the English game. On another day, those exact reporters might say England has what it takes to win the FIFA World Cup, without any proper argument to justify such claims. 

While it can never be proven, the press practically drove soccer player and Italian-international Mario Balotelli out of England. After a few years in Italy, it demanded "Super Mario" return to England. And then he did, only for the bashings to continue. 

It's not ethical, but it gets the hits and ultimately helps the organization producing the content. It keeps journalists on beats and an income. 

And that's the dilemma every journalist faces before they hit publish.