Ean Dunn Reading 1

While reading the first article I thought to myself, “Where is Journalism going?” I couldn’t definitively say, as I do not know the answer. The idea that someone can predict the next big thing, or even how many points to give a team for fair betting odds bewilders me. I find it easier to look in the past.

When thinking about how journalism has changed as an industry, I thought about the idea of having to read these two articles for this blog post. It hit me: Journalism has changed. Yes, there were days where people would read pages upon pages of good writing in the newspaper or in a magazine, as James Caray points out with his analogy of the Wall Street Journal and how they give the ‘how’ and the ‘why’ when other newspapers just give the other four W’s. People don’t want to read long stories anymore. My mother bought me a book of the best sportswriting from 2011 for Christmas, and I couldn’t even get to the third story.

Long stories have become inconsequential to the average reader. This is where, in my view, the lede becomes extremely important. Whether the lede is in the title or in the first sentence, it draws the reader in. With people not wanting to go through pages and pages of great sportswriting to get a story, the use of powerful ledes is at an all-time premium. The quicker you get pulled in, the quicker you get knowledge and can be on your way. Don’t get me wrong, some people love long stories with in-depth coverage with many details that take time, but a lot of casual sports fans, or news readers in general just want news to be a quick thing.

The second article didn’t really capture the beauty of online journalism. Ford tries to say that online journalism is far away from reaching the heyday that print journalism had, and she may be correct, but blogging online gives people a chance to find their voice.

Before coming to college I had only written a few articles for my school newspaper, and to be honest, they sucked. You’d be hard-pressed to find me willingly show people my horrendous work. When I came to college, I contacted a start-up sports website and began writing for the Atlanta Braves page. Later on, they added a tennis page, which is my passion, and I gladly took the head writer role. From that point on, I really got to focus on finding my voice, realizing how I wanted to portray my thoughts and feelings, and how to get the messy ideas in my head into legible, coherent words.

Even though I said before that I have no clue how to predict the future, I believe that in the nearest of near future, blogging that features great reporting/writing will be recognized and will reach the same heights as print did. That’s what I’m banking on, at least.