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Item No. 8 in one of the recent "Media Circus" columns by Sports Illustrated's Richard Deitsch was kind enough to mention our "Farther off the Wall" blog in his October "Media Power Rankings" as one of the "recent and worthwhile discoveries" as more newspapers encourge their writers to blog away in their "off" hours.
We certainly appreciate the props. But it also gives us cause to wonder how relevant we are in a world of instant analysis and regurgitation of information.
Our purpose as observers of the sports media each week is to collect information and try to make it entertaining enough in a column-sized weekly space every Friday. Opinions vary on how much opinion should be included in these ventures. But it seems more and more is needed at the back end, as the every-day "news" of the media becomes blog fodder for instant access and immediate consumption.
Do we canabalize our Friday media columns by releasing a tidbit here and there along the weekly journey? Sometimes, but that's because it's becoming the nature of the constantly snacking beast.
I'm hashing this all out while reading the December issue of The Atlantic Monthly magazine. Its cover story on the 100 Most Influential Americans of All Time is the marketing eye-catcher (by the way, the list starts with Lincoln at No. 1, followed by GWashington, TJefferson, FDR and Alexander Hamilton in the top 5 ... and Jackie Robinson at No. 35). But there's also the piece in the back on a "modest proposal for reinventing newspapers for the digital age."
As newspapers continue to cut back, and blogs like these continue to stretch the boundaries of exposure, author Michael Hirschorn has determined that "Online news, microchunked, consumed on the fly, is fast food; the newspaper, fed by its newly invigorated journalist-brands, is the sit-down meal. ... Original news begins online, while print offers an intelligent digest/redaction that readers can pursue at their leisure."
Some of you may be lost by now because the ADD is kicking in, but that's what we as creators of these daily paragraphs struggle with each week, each Friday -- what to put in, what to keep out, what to pursue now, what to think about and analyze later.
What do you want to read now, and do you care by the end of the week what's there to sit down and munch on?
You make the call.