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May 11, 2007
Mike Davis Lashes Out at "Lazy" Journalism
One of my pet peeves is when members of the media don't properly fact-check, source or follow-up to confirm the accuracy of the information in their articles. That's often a by-product of the rush by some journalists to be the first to get a story on-air, in print or online, because taking the time to make sure a story is 100% accurate might mean that another media outlet could break the news first. So when the media found out that Nascar's most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., would be holding a press conference the following day to announce that he was leaving DEI at the end of the season, many outlets rushed to print or air with what they were "hearing" as opposed to what was actually true. At first that really bothered me, but on reflection, I wonder if there was really any other way to handle this story?
On Wednesday evening it was reported by a number of media outlets, including Dave Moody on Sirius, Claire B. Lang on XM, Jerry Bonkowsi of Yahoo! Sports, and Nascar. com that Junior would announce at the press conference that he was leaving DEI along with teammate Martin Truex, Jr. and that they'd both be racing for the company that Junior owns, JR Motorsports, with support from Hendrick Motorsports. As it turned out the only part of that which was true was that Junior was going to announce that he was leaving DEI. And Mike Davis, Junior's PR person at JR Motorsports isn't happy about it. He wrote in his blog,
"It made for humorous conversations between myself, Dale Jr., and Martin Jr., but in the grand scheme of things, it's pitiful when these journalists refuse accountability by saying, "I was only going on what my sources told me. Time to check your sources, guys. It's bad journalism, bad reporting, and bad ethics."
I agree with Davis... to a point. It's extremely poor journalism, and sometimes unethical, when reporters just throw news on the air or in print when it's poorly sourced, no one's given a chance to respond, or there's a lack of fact-checking with no follow-up to correct mistakes. However, if reporters get information from sources who have been reliable in the past, it's understandable why they might run with a story. I also think most of the media who went with the original story framed it properly in the context of that was what they were hearing was going to happen as opposed to what they knew was going to happen, and there was truth to what was being reported - Junior was in fact going to announce that he was leaving DEI.
I don't have a problem with rumors being reported as such. It's when a rumor gets reported as fact, like what Bob Dillner did when he reported on Speed that Nascar had found violations on the cars of Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick after a race last season on the basis of what a source told him when there was little to no truth to what he was reporting. in Dillner's haste to scoop everyone else, he failed to check with anyone involved but the members of the media who covered this story did their due dilligence to follow-up and find out what was really going on. Several hours after the initial story broke, David Poole and Claire B. Lang, and likely others as well, were clarifying that Junior was only going to announce that he was leaving DEI, not what his plans were for 2008, based on having spoken with those closer to the situation than the intial sources were. So how exactly is it bad journalism for members of the media to report on what might be going on, then follow up to correct the inaccuracies in the previous stories (something Dillner never did)? I think it's expecting too much to think that every member of the media is going to sit on one of the biggest news stories in Nascar in years - wouldn't that be doing a disservice to their audience? And the fact of the matter is that there was some truth to what was being reported - maybe Davis is unhappy because the news leaked out before they wanted it to?
Davis also wrote,
"My problem isn't with the "little men" who start crazy rumors in a self-absorbed attempt to feel important."
Well, why not? If he's upset with those who reported rumors, then shouldn't he be upset with those who start them too? People like to gossip. People also like to start rumors, sometimes to start trouble or because they have an agenda. Shouldn't Davis be angry at those people since as I'm sure he's well aware rumors can damage Junior or JR Motorsports reputation, or possibly have an effect on Junior's search for a new ride depending on what people belive. After all, just because something's denied in this sport doesn't mean that it doesn't eventually happen anyway, so some may think that Junior just wasn't ready to announce that he'd be partnering with Hendrick and racing for himself.
Given the nature of this story, and how many effects there's going to be in the garage area from Junior's choice of a new ride, there's going to be constant rumors reported about what Junior's plans are - in fact several TV stations reported last night that Junior already had a deal with Richard Childress Racing, something that's been denied. As much as I strongly believe that the media has an obligation to make sure that the news they report is as accurate as possible, I also feel that they need to report what they hear, as long as they do their due diligence to follow-up, fact-check, allow the involved parties to comment, check sources, and correct inaccuracies. I think for the most part that was done here.
Posted by silverdsl at May 11, 2007 02:04 PM