More Deadspin anti-journalism
Once again Deadspin fucks something up and refuses to admit they fucked it up:
http://deadspin.com/5401818/a+hole-fan-digest-the-muhammad-ali-autograp…
November 12th, 2009 at 10:04 AM ^
This one was particularly troubling, because I think any objective reader of the original email could tell that the reader was the true a-hole.
November 12th, 2009 at 10:05 AM ^
I remember in the aftermath of the the Buzz Bissinger comments, Deadspin and one of the mindless blogs created by Deadspin commenters (KSK?) jumping all over the notion that they just ran stories without attempting to verify the facts.
Sites like these give blogs a bad name. They were bad with this stuff under Leitch, and it's infinitely worse now.
November 12th, 2009 at 10:55 AM ^
How were they bad under Leitch? Leitch had editorial integrity, the only time he ran unsubstantiated rumors was with the You're With Me, Leather shit and that was likely too funny not to publish.
November 12th, 2009 at 10:14 AM ^
http://deadspin.com/5402174/and-this-is-what-happens-when-the-truth-is-…
I didn't read Deadspin while Leitch was there (b/c I didn't know about it, mainly) and don't read now, so I've never really had an opinion about the work they do. But jesus christ is this scorched-earth, 12-year-old-with-his-first-computer, anti-MSM/establishment business really getting tiresome.
November 12th, 2009 at 11:14 AM ^
I saw that yesterday and the first thing I thought was, "ha, what a bunch of losers" for posting that
November 12th, 2009 at 12:24 PM ^
Anybody want to explain this to me in three sentences or less?
November 12th, 2009 at 12:30 PM ^
Deadspin prints email from asshole accusing Arizona State head baseball coach of being a dick. Second person sends email defending ASU coach and calling original emailer an asshole who wouldn't follow the rules of the event. Deadspin is stupid for not bothering to do any fact-checking before printing original email.
November 12th, 2009 at 12:44 PM ^
Issue's not with the fact checking but rather with the content itself. How do you "fact check" a story a reader sent in? Try to hunt down someone else from the event, or the coach (who'll obviously deny it, to the delight of snickering Deadspin commenters)? No, the answer is, just don't rely on uncheckable, reader-submitted garbage for the vast majority of the site's original content, or at least keep it to non-potentially-reputation-killing stuff, like dick security guards at baseball stadiums or Sports Poop.
November 12th, 2009 at 12:28 PM ^
Between the ESPN bitchfit, Deleted Scenes, Sports Poop, Why Your Stadium Sucks, and now this A-Hole Coach Digest, 90% of Deadspin's content that isn't a one-line blurb rehashing some other site's story is crap sent in by readers or anonymous tips that could be blatantly false. I know they don't really claim to be journalists -- or, that it's "obvious" when they try to be and when they don't -- but it's hardly better reading than National Enquirer at this point.