Ethical sports blogging... is it on the decline?

that face off study sounds intriguing.

An issue with creating those standards is becoming like NPR, or ESPN, where once you were the underdog, then you becomes something that simply defends your turf.

Ethics in sports blogging are important, but it also assumes that sports blogging is entirely about journalism. It isn’t. That doesn’t give bloggers the right to publish everything (there is still the law), but also doesn’t mean we get to completely control the message.

I look at blogs like mp3s. While the music industry freaked out about their coming destruction, they were rallying against a file format. It isn’t the format that is important, it’s how you use it. If mp3s were the issue, there would be no ipod, no podcasts, on and on. Blogs are the same way.

I like your enquirer analogy, but there are plenty of shades in between. The onus isn’t on us cleaning up the blogs that will do anything for a click (which newspaper sites, more professional and popular blogs, and everyone in between do), it’s differentiating ourselves from the liars. You won’t change them. Find a way to beat them.

I mean, that’s pretty much what already happens…but in the 21st century, it should go a step further.

Perhaps DiLo and crew (or individual team developers) could work up some kind of flash code that credentialed bloggers could embed on their sites, something akin to Twitter’s “Verified Account” badge on celebrity profiles – or maybe teams and the League could maintain a centralized database of credentialed bloggers.

Ultimately, the League and the teams should set the standards – not the bloggers. The bloggers and MSM should probably have some sort of collaborative access during the standards development process, but like I said – the NHL and teams have brands at stake, and if they’re going to bless bloggers with that brand integrity, they should be allowed to protect it with their own standards.

I don’t think bloggers should be under any obligation to “just stick to the facts,” because readers come to blogs specifically to get opinions. However, I’ve always appreciated the emphasis on facts and statistics around here, Dirk. You and the OTF crew don’t shy away from contraversial or opinionated stories, but you’ve always grounded them firmly in documented evidence. That’s one of the things that keeps me coming back. I can’t stand to read the rambling fluff that some other sports blogs churn out.

allowing NHL teams to “verify” bloggers’ authenticity will inevitably lead to de facto control of the bloggers’ content. I’m not sure I would want any team that routinely disguises serious and debilitating conditions as vague “lower body injuries” to have that much control. I’d rather trust the readership to exert its own form of indirect control. In many cases, that process is already evident. No serious hockey fan accepts Eklund’s scoops at face value, for instance, whereas Darren Dreger’s information and commentary is accepted without question. Inevitably, bloggers offering reasonable analysis and insight—such as, let me insert here, Dirk Hoag—will find an appreciative readership. The others will end up unread and short-lived.

To me, the onus need to be on the reader to determine the credibility of a site. I frequent Japer’s Rink here on SB Nation (but read a number of other blogs on the site regularly), and I’ve come to find the site to be a rather good source for Capitals’ news. The Rink generates lots of traffic, and is often linked to by other blogs where the authors have somewhat more to lose than smaller, lesser known blogs (ie: Yahoo’s Puck Daddy, or the Washington Post’s Capitals Insider). That lends credibility to the site.

There is an extent to which a blogger must make clear the distinction between rumor and news. When I read less mainstream blogs, the distinction breaks down. I believe part of that is a failure on the part of an amateur blogger to adhere to any journalistic standards. Though I’m sure sensationalism is also a factor.

I think we’re already seeing the oil separate from the water in the blogoshpere. Blogs with quality content seem to be growing, gaining more access to players, teams, and press boxes. Blogs run less professionally, breaking sensational (and wrong) stories, quickly fade away.

If you lie/deceive and get away with it, then good luck sleeping at night.

If you lie/deceive and get caught, then good luck with absorbing the slings and arrows that should come your way.

I’ll agree that submitting a blog – which is an independent vehicle to share information and – perhaps more importantly – opinions to a 3rd party for “validation” is an invitation to censorship.

No, we live in a country where free speech is allowed. If you put your opinions out there, you have to live with what you’ve done.