Comments on: Saturday media splashing

By: Preach

Preach — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 16:44:49 +0000

I didn’t even listen to the show to begin with. I’m simply seeing the whole situation through the eyes of a real writer and journalist, and not just some fanboy. I’ve been writing reviews and articles for several german newspapers and fanzines for the last 12 years, and never in my dreams would i think of doing something so unprofessional. Hell, there are quite a few labels and production companys that don’t supply me with screeners or passes to press-screenings anymore for writing negative articles about their products, yet i’ve never gone out and spoiled any of their films or dvds, just “to stick it to the man” like Gross did. He (and the rest of the Sherdog staff) should have just accepted the fact that the UFC withdrew their press credentials and free tickets, like most of the other MMA-related media outlets did, instead of going on a UFC-bashing rampage and spoiling the end of TUF for many fans. You may not believe it, but there are actually people out there who listen to Beatdown or PPH or Fight Opinion why they’re doing something else, so that some things slip through. And to these people it probably sucked big time to listen to Gross spoiling the show. But yeah, i know, you’ll probably counter with “Well, they should’ve listened then” or something equally intelligent.

By: Stu

Stu — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 13:13:54 +0000

I don’t agree with any of your points, and I think the only reason you’re mad about it is because you missed the spoiler part.

By: Preach

Preach — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 13:06:59 +0000

You clearly do not see the point here. Like i said, there are certain things you just don’t report. Especially if you claim to have standards, and have a certain “spoiler policy” on the website you’re working for. It’s one thing to start a thread and put a “SPOILER” in the thread title, so people do not even click on the thread if they don’t want to know, and another to just say “Yo, we have a spoiler coming up” in a radioshow. It’s both bad journalism and hypocritical. But then, those are two things Sherdog has been known for quite some time now…

By: Stu

Stu — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 12:53:01 +0000

Please your grasping at straws, he clearly told everyone that a big spoiler was coming up. Blame the UFC for not being able to keep it a secret.

By: Preach

Preach — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 11:59:32 +0000

If a journalist has information of the direct locations of american, british or german military camps in Afghanistan, should he share that information with the public? Or if a journalist knows that Celebrity X was molested by his uncle repeatedly – should he tell the public about it, going into detail?

Sure, these two comparisons are a bit far stretched, but there are just certain things you do NOT report as a Journalist (though Gross is far from a journalist, he’s a Gossip reporter at best). You would’ve never found a film critic opening a review of “The sixth sense” with “First things first, Bruce Willis character is dead. What a twist, eh?” or previewing Season 6 of “24″, and starting with “Okay, the bodycount of this season includes: Jack biting the jugular of a terrorist, Jack shooting Curtis Manning in the throat to save Assad…”. Not even the most unprofessional writer (like Harry over at AICN) would do something like that.

Gross behaved like a spoiled kid, who was pissed because he didn’t get what he wanted at the candystore.

By: Stu

Stu — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 09:12:27 +0000

“And by the way, MMAC – Josh Gross a good example for journalism? *cough* *cough* TUF4 *cough* *cough*”

Uhm what does that has to do with journalism? He had information and he shared it, he never signed an NDA.

By: The MMA Critic

The MMA Critic — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 03:17:34 +0000

If I implied that Josh Gross was a good MMA journalist, then I apologize. In no way was that my intent.

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 02:49:59 +0000

Since when does “completely bashing” count as “good reporting?”

By: The MMA Critic

The MMA Critic — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 02:39:08 +0000

The Gaijin,

The shows presentation is very slick. They do a nice job on that. My complaint is mostly with the quality of the fights themselves. For how much attention the IFL is getting, the only fight they have put on worth a mention is Matt Lindland vs. Jeremy Horn. A lot of the fighters just aren’t of a high quality.

Mike,

I’m not asking for knee jerking reactions by the writers. I’m looking for them to do some research and present the real facts. Saying that the crowd size was 5,000 people is telling only half the story. That’s what a good reporter does. That is something that almost never happens from Sherdog or MMAWeekly.

Zach,

You make a valid point. Sadly, I don’t see this changing anytime soon. I guess it isn’t like baseball were writers can completely bash a particular player or owner, and still have press credentials the next day.

By: Zach Arnold

Zach Arnold — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 01:45:23 +0000

The MMA promoters and the commissions are the ones who give media writers and outlets clearance to attend shows.

So, if you’re a relatively-known MMA web site, guess who determines whether or not you get a media credential? Hint: The promoter.

Sure, I suppose people could pay to get in and then give an unbiased viewpoint…