It has been a hectic last few months for the Minnesota Vikings — mostly due to that guy who used to play in the state to the right of us. At the time of this writing, Brett Favre was still contemplating whether to join the Vikings as their new starting quarterback or not.
There was speculation he would make an announcement sometime on Friday. Realistically, he probably has until Thursday, July 29, before he has to commit one way or the other. As much as the Vikings seem to want him, it’s not likely Vikings’ head coach Brad Childress will welcome Favre aboard after training camp has begun.
If the ‘Favre Saga’ has shown anything over the last few months, it has revealed how the news-reporting business has changed since we entered the new millennium nine years ago. Rumors, innuendoes, gossip, and even the occasional fact have taken on a life of their own when they’ve sprouted up on Facebook pages or Twitter accounts or somebody’s personal blog or talk show.
Not long ago, sports network ESPN was reporting as fact that Childress had flown to Mississippi to watch Favre work out and talk to him about playing for the Vikings. The story turned out to be false. Childress never left Minnesota during that time.
The item apparently originated on a blog from a Twin Cities reporter and, shortly after ESPN was reporting it, many of the other major media outlets followed suit. Twenty-five years ago that wouldn’t have happened. Back then, sports editors and station managers were more concerned with the validity of stories rather than trying to get the news in print or on websites before their rivals.
To a certain extent, the media has become lazy. Rather than doing some digging and waiting to verify if Childress had actually flown to Mississippi, media outlets instead rushed to publish the news and just said “according to a story on ESPN ...............”
The attribution covered us — because it was an undeniable fact that ESPN was reporting it. Unfortunately, the substance of the story was false. The downside of the race to be first is that readers and viewers sometimes get misled. We all agree that technology is a wonderful thing, but isn’t there some responsibility that goes along with using that technology?
It may be time to take a hard look at the way we report the news in 2009. That may mean the mindset of reporters and editors needs to be tweaked. Oh, by the way, I just saw a blog posting saying Favre is on a plane to Minnesota at this very moment. I gotta run to Minneapolis, catch you later.