The concept of sports journalism on the Internet
"continues to be regarded by the mainstream as one of the
great oxymorons of the day," but two recent stories broken
on the Web "could set the tone nationally and locally for
what original Internet sports reporting will be about,"
according to Tom Hoffarth of the L.A. DAILY NEWS. Hoffarth
notes ESPN.com breaking the alleged academic scandal
involving UT football players, while L.A. sports talk show
host Joe McDonnell first reported on his Web site that two
top instructors in the Dodgers' minor-league system "were
accused by more than one person of physically and verbally
abusing players." Hoffarth: "Although these examples are
seen almost as aberrations in this medium ... each has one
thing other start-up wanna-be sites can not attain so easily
this early in the game -- a track record of credibility."
ESPN.com Exec Editor John Marvel: "We play by the same rules
of journalism here. We're not Matt Drudge throwing up stuff
and hoping it sticks. We never want to embarrass
ourselves." Marvel believes "there is good journalism on
the Web" and "when people start understanding that, the
credibility factor goes up" (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 10/15).
