The Internet has proven to be a valuable tool for sports journalists and helped expand the industry, but it does have some drawbacks, a panel of well-known professionals in sports journalism said Tuesday.
"It's a tool that reporters, like fans, have had to learn how best to use," said Mike Lopresti, a 1975 graduate of Ball State and a sports columnist for Gannett News Service for more than 20 years. "As I think back, some of the dangers weren't there, but some of the advantages weren't either."
The evening panel in the Art and Journalism Building, which discussed the future of sports journalism, included Lopresti; Vince Doria, ESPN vice president; Beth Harris, 1987 Ball State graduate and Los Angeles-based Associated Press reporter; and Jeremy Schaap, ESPN anchor and correspondent.
An afternoon panel included Doria, Schaap, Indianapolis Star sports columnist Bob Kravitz and Sports Illustrated's Don Yeager, a 1984 graduate of Ball State.
"The danger here for journalists, with all the platforms, is that information is easy to come by, and a lot hasn't been scrutinized," Doria said. "The Internet requires a certain vigilance of journalists."
Harris added that sometimes journalists rely too much on the Internet, checking and chasing down rumors and possible stories, that they might get away from the original reporting.
"On one hand, it's a great thing, but on the other hand, it's dangerous," she said.
Besides the Internet, television has changed the face of sports journalism by opinion becoming the dominate form of reporting, and that isn't necessarily good, the panelists said.
The creation of several all-sports stations over the years has multiplied the amount of available programming, and since opinion is cheap to produce, it fills the television screens.
"Opinion has become the driving force," Doria said. "I think that's what most people pay attention to.
"There's so much time to fill, nobody can fill it with good, fresh, hard reporting. But opinion, bring on three new talking heads. Debate is what brings passion to sports, but the best opinion is buttressed by good reporting."
However, the impression that creates, Doria said somewhat regrettably, is that sports reporting means opinion.
"Unfortunately, that's the message we're sending to young journalists, and we're just as guilty of that at ESPN."
Schaap said his late father Dick became disturbed by that development, even though, as original moderator of ESPN's "The Sports Reporters," he helped bring it about.
"Sports reporting has become, 'Look at me; listen to me; this is what I think,'" he said.
Lopresti, unlike several of his counterparts across the nation, has stayed away from regular television appearances.
"I'm disturbed by the print columnists' thinking that the way to be noticed is to be shrieking on TV," he said.
The two panels, sponsored by the Department of Journalism, resonated with sports fans and non-fans alike.
"I'm not really into sports," said senior Lisa Midkiff, who attended both panels, "but after hearing commentary, I got interested in it."
Mike Perleberg, a junior telecommunications major, attended the second panel.
"What these guys had to say gave me an idea of what I need to focus on," he said.
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