Mark Cuban is the flamboyant owner of the Dallas Mavericks.
Having made his fortune in the online world, Mr. Cuban is able to share his opinions “as a blogger and a sometime commentator on the newspaper business.”
Last year Mr. Cuban upset the mainstream media with a decision to ban a blogger affiliated with The Dallas Morning News from the Mavericks’ locker room. He supplied a photograph to fully define the available square footage for players, coaches, trainers and the media.
In his blog, the Mavericks owner stated that he “had no idea this person’s primary job at the Morning News is to blog. He was just one of 4 or 5 people from the Morning News in the locker room post game.”
Why all the hoopla? Mr. Cuban explained.
He did not care for the daily Dallas newspaper to have an advantage based solely on size, reputation or distribution. “My experience in reading blogs,” he said, “has favored bloggers not affiliated with major media companies, but that could be my unique bias.” Mr. Cuban defined himself.
The then-president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors (your columnist is a member) entered the fray.
Blogging is now “part of the base job of being a beat reporter” at a newspaper, according to statements attributed to Gilbert Bailon and cited in Mr. Cuban’s posted blog.
Mr. Cuban responded: “If he is correct and blogging is part of the base job of being a beat reporter, that’s a sad commentary on beat reporters. They get 500 words in a story on a game. If there is excess time, I would imagine that time could be spent offering in-depth analysis and access rather than throwing up hundred word commentary on a blog.”
The more insightful comments on blogging and bloggers came next from Mr. Cuban.
“The barriers to entry for bloggers are non-existent. There are no editorial standards. There are no accuracy standards. We bloggers can and do write whatever we well please. Historically newspapers have set some level of standards that they strived to adhere to.”
Standards, accuracy and reliability — three terms that have formed the foundation of credibility and believability for newspapers.
Jon Talton, a.k.a. The Rogue Columnist, wrote in 2008 on what’s wrong with newspapers.
With 27 years of journalistic experience, Mr. Talton toiled in the newspaper fields for several large, publicly traded media companies.
“A largely defensive strategy took hold, even though history shows that no company under siege ever merely cuts its way to recovery,” he wrote. “Investment in the unique intellectual capital of newspapers — journalism — was constantly reduced. A thousand cuts hurt readership. One example: Eliminating stock tables (not in the Times Free Press) antagonized the most loyal readers.
“A startling conformist agenda emerged all over: Design over content; short, uninteresting stories.”
Two perspectives on newspapers; neither is reflective of the approach that is provided every day to readers of the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
To reach Tom Griscom, call (423) 757-6472 or e-mail tgriscom@timesfreepress .com.
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