Earlier this month, I was hired by The Hockey Writers to be their Washington Capitals correspondent. The Hockey Writers is a hockey news blog that often reports trade rumors and in-depth analysis about the 30 NHL teams and other aspects of the league.
It is similar to a typical news blog site where there are multiple writers updating the site constantly. If you have seen the sports section of The Examiner, for instance, it is very similar to that style.
My duties would include writing at least 1 article about the Capitals per week during the regular season, at least 2 during the playoffs, and attend some games and practices. This sounded similar to what a regular news correspondent for a sports team would do.
Before I started my own blog, Crashing the Net, over the summer, I never paid attention to blogs for legitimate information. This is because I also fell into the trap of thinking that bloggers were nothing but people just spewing out information.
However, prior to starting Crashing the Net, I didn't realize that a lot of the hockey "news sites" I looked at were considered "blogs" until the person who convinced me to blog on my own explained to me what a blog can really be.
Especially since I hope to become a sports personality, my blog (along with Twitter) has really opened some doors for me to practice my role as a sports personality.
The experiences with Crashing the Net and now THW showed me that bloggers and blog sites can be credible, especially if an organization like the Washington Capitals is so open to allowing people who have proven their credibility to technically attend "free games.
Yes, I now accept the idea of "the blog".
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Very interesting. I laughed at the line, "bloggers were nothing but people just spewing out information." Doesn't that apply to any journalist?
ReplyDeleteNow, here's another question... if you write critically of the Caps, will they cut off your access to attend games? WIll that influence what you write? What recourse do you have, writing for a small site? Larger papers can withstand such bullying far more effectively. Can blogs do that, too?