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Jay Mariotti: "I'm old. I quit because I'm old."

The Green Eyed MonsterThe Green Eyed Monster i blame hip hopRegistered User regular
edited August 2008 in Debate and/or Discourse
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-080826mariotti-resigns,0,4225437.story?track=rss
Jim Kirk wrote:
Jay Mariotti, the opinionated and polarizing sports columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, told the Chicago Tribune he resigned on Tuesday after 17 years with the paper.

Just back from Beijing where he wrote about the Summer Olympics, Mariotti said in a phone interview Tuesday night that he decided to quit after it became clear while in China that sports journalism had become "entirely a Web site business. There were not many newspapers there.'' He added that most of the journalists covering the Games were "there writing for Web sites.''

Mariotti, whose public battles with fellow staffers, team owners, and rival columnists are legendary, didn't disclose any specific plans except to say he will continue doing his regular stint on ESPN's "Around the Horn.''

He said that he "is talking with a lot of Web sites'' and added that the future of his business "sadly is not in newspapers.'' Mariotti said that he sent a resignation letter to Cyrus Freidheim, Sun-Times Media Group Chief Executive and Sun-Times Publisher. When asked via email by the Tribune whether Mariotti had resigned, Sun-Times Editor Michael Cooke responded, "You're kidding?''

Cooke didn't reply to further requests for comment.

"They accepted it,'' Mariotti said of his resignation. "It was my call entirely.''

In a city with a strong sports journalism tradition, Mariotti is thought of as one of its premier columnists. With a style that relied on being contrarian no matter the topic, readers turned to him as much to disagree with what he had to say than agree. He added to his reputation with the scrapes he got in with the subjects he covered.

The highly-paid Mariotti quits after just signing a three-year contract extension in June. At that time, Cooke said that Mariotti was a "focal point'' of the Sun-Times sports section, praising his "pull no punches'' approach.

Commenting on his 17 years at the paper, Mariotti said he loved every minute of it. But he said that with the troubled times newspapers face, it was time to consider a new future.

"I'm a competitor and I get the sense this marketplace doesn't compete,'' he said. "Everyone is hanging on for dear life at both papers. I think probably the days of high stakes competition in Chicago are over.

"To see what's happened in this business...I don't want to go down with it.''

Wah wah, pussy. Get over it. The world has moved on.

My question is this -- the world is, Jay Mariotti has just noticed, moving away from traditional print forms of publishing for recent news to the internet? Does anyone seriously care?

Are we seriously losing something from moving from newspaper to digital content, to the point that someone should quit their newspaper post over it?

Cmon Jay. Seriously, cmon.

The Green Eyed Monster on

Posts

  • QuazarQuazar Registered User regular
    edited August 2008
    Positive: Going Digital helps the environment and allows for much more information.

    Negative: Spending too much time on the internet makes people stupid and lowers attention spans.

    The death of newspapers is really the natural progression of things, though. And the biggest news websites are still the ones associated with TV news or newspapers.

    Quazar on
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  • DerrickDerrick Registered User regular
    edited August 2008


    Are we seriously losing something from moving from newspaper to digital content, to the point that someone should quit their newspaper post over it?

    Cmon Jay. Seriously, cmon.


    Actually yes. The time interval of newspapers adds a level of professional time cushion. It isn't everything everywhere every minute.

    I think it's mostly the shift from news being serious to being a 24 hour entertainment industry.

    It'd be pretty hard to take for a serious journalist to see what's being turned out these days when the glory days are still in memory, I would think.

    Derrick on
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  • The Green Eyed MonsterThe Green Eyed Monster i blame hip hop Registered User regular
    edited August 2008
    Derrick wrote: »
    Actually yes. The time interval of newspapers adds a level of professional time cushion. It isn't everything everywhere every minute.

    I think it's mostly the shift from news being serious to being a 24 hour entertainment industry.

    It'd be pretty hard to take for a serious journalist to see what's being turned out these days when the glory days are still in memory, I would think.
    So let's say you are, for example, a sports journalist:

    Normally you have a deadline, you give a story to an editor, that editor revises your story, and then your story gets published. This saves you from the embarrassment of inevitable, but understandable blunders like calling a Jim a John or saying that Tom used to coach for the Exciting Water Animals in 2004 as opposed to 2005. How does this seriously elevate the quality of your content?

    Also, if you're a serious journalist, who intends to publish only serious content:

    (1) Why would you appear on ESPN's Around the Horn? (tangent, but still...)
    (2) Why can't you still do that in a digital environment, except for the fact that you're a talentless old man?

    I mean, if you want to write good shit, how does being in a broadsheet make your good shit gooder as opposed to digital content?

    Yes -- it's left to the readers more and more to sort the wheat from the chaff. The readers have shown both that they have a willingness to do this, and an ability to do so as well. Jay Mariotti is old.

    The Green Eyed Monster on
  • stiliststilist Registered User regular
    edited August 2008
    The web can have professional journalists. It’s lacking right now because it’s still fairly hard to make good money off the web.

    Print journalism is dying, and I don’t care.

    stilist on
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  • Eat it You Nasty Pig.Eat it You Nasty Pig. tell homeland security 'we are the bomb'Registered User regular
    edited August 2008
    Jim Kirk wrote:
    he will continue doing his regular stint on ESPN's "Around the Horn.'

    God dammit. When I saw the thread title I was hoping maybe I wouldn't see that pigfucker's face anymore.

    And honestly, the tone of that article makes it sound like he might be leaving for greener (or at least, more egotistical) pastures. There's only so much bullshit even Mariotti can get away with spewing at a major newspaper.

    Eat it You Nasty Pig. on
    hold your head high soldier, it ain't over yet
    that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
  • ThanatosThanatos Registered User regular
    edited August 2008
    Derrick wrote: »
    Are we seriously losing something from moving from newspaper to digital content, to the point that someone should quit their newspaper post over it?

    Cmon Jay. Seriously, cmon.
    Actually yes. The time interval of newspapers adds a level of professional time cushion. It isn't everything everywhere every minute.

    I think it's mostly the shift from news being serious to being a 24 hour entertainment industry.

    It'd be pretty hard to take for a serious journalist to see what's being turned out these days when the glory days are still in memory, I would think.
    The expense also creates a huge barrier to entry into the news business, which is why newspapers are generally owned by huge megacorporations. Web-based news has the advantage of very low barriers to entry, which is both good and bad; good in that it gives more access to stories that otherwise wouldn't get coverage due to corporate interests, bad in that it lets pretty much anyone become a publisher.

    Thanatos on
  • Eat it You Nasty Pig.Eat it You Nasty Pig. tell homeland security 'we are the bomb'Registered User regular
    edited August 2008
    celery77 wrote: »
    I mean, if you want to write good shit, how does being in a broadsheet make your good shit gooder as opposed to digital content?

    Just credibility. There's a fair amount of "can't trust anything you read on the internet" that still kicks around, and probably will for a while. There will always be a demand for professional journalists, cause without them, amateurs like us won't have anything to talk about.

    Eat it You Nasty Pig. on
    hold your head high soldier, it ain't over yet
    that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
  • The Green Eyed MonsterThe Green Eyed Monster i blame hip hop Registered User regular
    edited August 2008
    Dyscord wrote: »
    celery77 wrote: »
    I mean, if you want to write good shit, how does being in a broadsheet make your good shit gooder as opposed to digital content?

    Just credibility. There's a fair amount of "can't trust anything you read on the internet" that still kicks around, and probably will for a while. There will always be a demand for professional journalists, cause without them, amateurs like us won't have anything to talk about.
    Except for, as those in the know know, broadsheets are being gutted these days, and the average local broadsheet that shows up in your office break room probably is of lower professional quality than a wide range of internet sources.

    Times are a changing. Simply because someone killed a tree and paid for some ink to get your words out there doesn't really, to a discerning eye, make it any more or less credible than anything else.

    The Green Eyed Monster on
  • matisyahumatisyahu Registered User regular
    edited August 2008
    Sports journalism is a joke and in its current state must be considered exempt from all rules of integrity and professionalism.

    matisyahu on
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  • ThanatosThanatos Registered User regular
    edited August 2008
    Dyscord wrote: »
    celery77 wrote: »
    I mean, if you want to write good shit, how does being in a broadsheet make your good shit gooder as opposed to digital content?
    Just credibility. There's a fair amount of "can't trust anything you read on the internet" that still kicks around, and probably will for a while. There will always be a demand for professional journalists, cause without them, amateurs like us won't have anything to talk about.
    I can't remember the last time I read something by a professional journalist.

    I mean, I've read things by journalists who do it for a living, just not anyone very professional.

    Thanatos on
  • ElkiElki get busy Moderator, ClubPA Mod Emeritus
    edited August 2008
    Ahahaha. I'm glad he quit to concentrate on his serious work on Around the Hohahahaha. I can't do it.

    What a clown.

    Elki on
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  • BubbaTBubbaT Registered User regular
    edited August 2008
    celery77 wrote: »
    Are we seriously losing something from moving from newspaper to digital content, to the point that someone should quit their newspaper post over it?

    Cmon Jay. Seriously, cmon.

    I'd like to see you try and wrap a fish in a website.


    Any word on when Skip Bayless will be quitting? I'll be a very happy camper on that day.

    BubbaT on
  • japanjapan Registered User regular
    edited August 2008
    I think the future of print may be the same business model as the web. I walk past a major station every day, and there are at least two newspapers distributed for free, and ad-supported. The biggest is The Metro, which is comparable in quality to the mainstream tabloids at least. They just dump a big stack of them in a stand at rush hour and people help themselves. I definitely see more people reading those than any newspaper for which you have to pay.

    japan on
  • deadonthestreetdeadonthestreet Registered User regular
    edited August 2008
    Wait, he's quitting the newspaper and trying to find work writing for an online publication. What's bad about that again?

    deadonthestreet on
  • JustinSane07JustinSane07 Really, stupid? Brockton__BANNED USERS regular
    edited August 2008
    Elki wrote: »
    Ahahaha. I'm glad he quit to concentrate on his serious work on Around the Hohahahaha. I can't do it.

    What a clown.

    My sentiments exactly.

    Jay Marriotti is fucking clown shoes.

    JustinSane07 on
  • TofystedethTofystedeth Registered User regular
    edited August 2008
    celery77 wrote: »

    Wah wah, pussy. Get over it. The world has moved on.

    My question is this -- the world is, Jay Mariotti has just noticed, moving away from traditional print forms of publishing for recent news to the internet? Does anyone seriously care?

    Are we seriously losing something from moving from newspaper to digital content, to the point that someone should quit their newspaper post over it?

    Cmon Jay. Seriously, cmon.

    I think he is moving on. He's noticed that papers are dying and he doesn't wanna die with them. That's why he is in talks with websites. Not that I even know who this guy is.

    Tofystedeth on
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  • DynagripDynagrip Break me a million hearts HoustonRegistered User, ClubPA regular
    edited August 2008
    most decent newspapers have a respectable online presence. Doesn't seem like he thought things through. Though I guess maybe he figures he can do way better with an independent blog or something.

    Dynagrip on
  • Eat it You Nasty Pig.Eat it You Nasty Pig. tell homeland security 'we are the bomb'Registered User regular
    edited August 2008
    I think it's more likely he finally pissed off somebody important at the Trib, and didn't feel like owning up to it.

    Eat it You Nasty Pig. on
    hold your head high soldier, it ain't over yet
    that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
  • MedopineMedopine __BANNED USERS regular
    edited August 2008
    I get more sports news from "amateur" blogs than from mainstream media anyway

    It's much easier to find niche news and analysis for the stuff I'm really interested that way


    I do love holding a newspaper in my hands and taking in the layout and all that, but I'm not sure that format is going to endure

    Medopine on
  • ÆthelredÆthelred Registered User regular
    edited August 2008
    Wait, he's quitting the newspaper and trying to find work writing for an online publication. What's bad about that again?

    People seem to be reacting as though he's launched into a tirade about how websites are vile pits of inferior journalism. For some reason.

    Æthelred on
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  • The Raging PlatypusThe Raging Platypus Registered User regular
    edited August 2008
    Hahhahaahahh, Mariotti is quitting? GOD did I hate that guy. Talentless, contrarian hack.

    I want to weigh in on the more substantive topics brought up in the OP, but I have to run to Deadspin first. =D

    The Raging Platypus on
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  • GungHoGungHo Registered User regular
    edited August 2008
    Dyscord wrote: »
    Jim Kirk wrote:
    he will continue doing his regular stint on ESPN's "Around the Horn.'
    God dammit. When I saw the thread title I was hoping maybe I wouldn't see that pigfucker's face anymore.

    And honestly, the tone of that article makes it sound like he might be leaving for greener (or at least, more egotistical) pastures. There's only so much bullshit even Mariotti can get away with spewing at a major newspaper.
    I was hoping that we wouldn't have to view the fatneck any more.

    GungHo on
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