Saturday, December 12, 2009
Things that do not belong on a serious news Web site's front page
Posted by Alejandro de los Rios on Sat, Dec 12, 2009 at 11:24 PM
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Screengrab from NOLA.com at 5:00 p.m. Saturday
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So I head over to NOLA.com today to read up on Drew Brees being named King Bacchus (preemptive move to more easily turn Bacchus into a championship parade? I think so) and I come across another headline that catches my eye: "Madden 10: Turner burns the Saints again". Curious, I click on the video and am treated, nay, exposed (like a flasher exposes people) to a silent, 14-second video of Michael Turner's digital avatar burning the Saints defense in the video game "Madden 10". I then find out that NOLA.com has been running these videos regularly this season.
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There are no words - but I'll sure as hell try.
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What, exactly, is the NOLA.com/Times-Picayune thinking in this scenario? What service are they providing their readers by posting silent clips of video-game simulations that have no real context? The practice of having video games predicting the outcomes of real-life games is nothing new, but here NOLA.com went in another direction and decided that they would just show just one arbitrary highlight without showing the result.
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Now, I could go off the rails on how this can be interpreted as a pathetic ploy for NOLA.com to lure readers thinking they've found some sort of game highlight or even some sort of well-balanced analysis of upcoming Saints games. I could also rant about how this is yet another example of how traditional print media really still has no idea what it's doing when it comes to providing fresh, original multi-media content on their Web sites.
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But I'm not going to do any of that. I'm just going to question the validity of a paid, professional journalist playing video games and presenting highlights of said games online as news. I'll also question the editorial decision to post these videos on the FRONT PAGE of the Web site even though the 20 most recent videos posted have garnered a grand total of four comments and zero recommendations. Judging by how nearly every NOLA.com video has a different introduction (or none at all) it's clear they have no apparent production standard for their videos.
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C'mon, NOLA.com. Show us you're better than this.
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Comments (8)
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check out doug mccash's vids. really good stuff and one of the few reasons to visit that crappy site.
It's a silly thing but it irks me nonetheless. We're watching so many veteran Times-Pic reporters and editors taking the buy out right now, and we're being asked to care about that, and about the future of print media, while that media is willing to pay morons to play video games and put the results up as if it's some sort of reporting, and employ editors that think that's a good idea. Can they please keep the real reporters on the payroll and get rid of these lackwits?
I wanted to be angry at this as some video games aren't a valid resource for anything article but then I read the whole thing and I agree with you. damn you emotional hook writer :D
Gee, Alejandro, did you even check to see who posted that video? It's the TP's David Hammer. Read the paper once in a while and you'll see his name on the front page most days, covering in great detail some of the biggest stories in the city right now and breaking other stories. If Lee Zurik is the investigative reporting guru of TV, Hammer is his print counterpart. Give the guy a break. He -- on a Saturday afternoon -- puts up a video of a game simulation and that's a problem? I think he's earned a little down time. And so what if it's on nola.com? People here are wild about the Saints. The number of comments is not the same as the actual number of views. Oh, and you write about sports for the alt weekly. Alt weeklies don't usually cover sports. So, is your coverage something that doesn't belong on an alt weekly's blog?
@ricknda70112 Yes, indeed, McCash puts up excellent work on NOLA.com and there are other good videos on the site. I just wish those would be featured more prominently, or at least easier to find. @Chill - If Bob Woodward was posting Madden 10 clips for the Washington Post's Web site, I'd be similarly annoyed. As should anyone. Hammer is an exceptional journalist and his work should be commended. But that still doesn't justify posting a slew of random clips from a video game on the front page of a news Web site and presenting it as news. Especially seeing as how they provide no sort of commentary, context or insight into each week's game. As for me covering sports for an alt weekly, I'm not sure how that even qualifies as an argument. Shoot, even Rolling Stone and Playboy cover sports now and then. I've always tried to keep my coverage relevant and informative while presenting it to a largely non-sports audience (although I'm not sure you can say that any more with the Saints 13-0). This is about the city's largest paper and most-viewed Web site passing off inane video game clips as news. Like I said, both the Times-Pic and NOLA.com (which acts as the T-P Web site) should have higher standards.
In case you don't believe the comment about Rolling Stone covering sports: http://www.rollingstone.com/photos/gallery/27558247/sports_stars_on_the_cover_of_rolli/photo/1
