The Hockey Stop

Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal has a lengthy feature cover story on the decline of local print and online sports coverage and how many top-name scribes are jumping ship to write for the teams they cover.

With the draconian cutbacks in newsrooms across the country, many local rags don't have the manpower or money for a traveling sports reporter. So -- as the article points out using the L.A. Times coverage of the Kings as an example -- the Associated Press is replacing local writer bylines when the team hits the road.

Out of 50 newspapers surveyed in the story, 48 have cut back on travel for sports coverage.

So what is a sports reporter to do? In many cases get hired on by the team to write for their website. This is what former Chicago Tribune Bulls beat writer Sam Smith did when the club came knocking after he took a buyout from the Trib.

There is something just not right about a reporter getting a paycheck from the team he or she is covering. I find it hard to believe that complete journalistic objectivity will be maintained when, for example, a reporter on LAKings.com decides to criticize management for a trade or draft pick.

Imagine a Washington Post reporter taking a job writing about the Obama administration for WhiteHouse.gov or a Daily Variety film reporter blogging about Hollywood studios for UniversalPictures.com.

It just doesn't seem kosher. For the sake of journalistic integrity we should all hope to read about the Kings and other hockey franchises on the sports page and not the team website.

Click here for the story