Is The Players’ Tribune bad for sports journalism?
In 2015, retired New York Yankees legend Derek Jeter created The Players’ Tribune, a media venture built on the premise of taking the journalists out of sports journalism, and replacing them with the athletes themselves.
The Players’ Tribune first came to my attention in 2016 when John Scott was snubbed from the NHL All-Star game. Scott had been voted in by fans, but because of Scott’s reputation as a goon, the league did not want him there. In the weeks prior to the game, Scott penned an emotional article called A Guy Like Me. After the article was published, Scott was eventually allowed back into the All-Star game.
Reading Scott’s story opened my eyes to The Players’ Tribune and the exciting idea that now we could finally read and hear about what athletes are truly thinking. As many of us in the sports media world know, athletes can be cliché machines who speak in generalities and don’t offer much colour in their words. However, the articles in The Players’ Tribune are beautifully written pieces of literature that truly encapsulate the trials and tribulations of an athlete.
Who better to tell the story of players than the players themselves, right?
Well, normally I would agree, however there is one major problem with The Players’ Tribune and that issue is that the articles aren’t even written by the players. Yes, that’s right. A publication called The Players’ Tribune that markets itself as journalism by the athletes, doesn’t even have the athletes write their own work.
The Players’ Tribune’s history of ghostwriters was brought up in Richard Sandomir’s 2015 New York Times story Athletes Finding Their Voice in Derek Jeter’s Digital Venture. In the article, Sandomir cites the example of a recent David Ortiz article, saying “like nearly every post on the site, the Ortiz essay was not written directly by its bylined athlete but instead crafted from a recorded interview with a Tribune staff producer.”
A few things about this are troubling.
Aside from the fact that The Players’ Tribune is misleading a large chunk of readers into thinking the articles are actually by the players, they are cheapening the work of the real journalists.
Being paid for your writing, let alone being recognized for your writing is a big struggle in today’s media landscape. Newsrooms are shrinking, budgets are tightening. We’ve heard it all before. However, a publication like The Players’ Tribune has unlimited potential when you think about what they’re advertising. I mean just imagine Sean Avery or Dennis Rodman writing their own articles. Those would be legendary, and that’s the problem. The Players’ Tribune was built on such an obtainable premise, that the ones who do have to write the articles, are the ones being slighted.
If you write something and it gets published, your name should be attached to it. The Players’ Tribune doesn’t even extend that courtesy to its real writers. While they do get paid, the lack of a byline on their work makes these journalists infinitely less marketable. Imagine writing the Scott piece and not being able to claim it as your own. A beautiful piece of writing you’ve put your heart and soul into and you can’t even use it as an example of your work.
This ultimately hurts journalists.
There is no feeling in the world more frustrating than having someone else take credit for what you’ve done. Just think of a small time comedian who’s had his joke stolen by someone like Jerry Seinfeld, who then popularizes the joke. Different field, same premise.
Another reason why The Players’ Tribune hurts journalism, is that it makes the public think that real journalists are useless.
We live in a time where anyone can be a reporter. Any event can be documented in real time thanks to smartphones and social media. This has created citizen journalism which in turn has contributed to the shrinking newsrooms we have been so accustomed to. So when a publication like this pops up that tells people the journalism isn’t done by journalists, it makes the public think we’re even more unnecessary.
It cheapens the profession, all while giving us less of a reason to exist in the eyes of the average reader.
My gripes with The Players’ Tribune may come across as dramatic but I’ve been feeling this way for quite some time now. Whenever I see an article from them shared, I think about the journalist who is slaving away at his desk, receiving no credit for his work.
Maybe we should be thinking about that journalist a bit more often.
Cole’s Corner is a sports column written by Alexander Cole published every Monday by The Pitchwriter. Follow us to receive our stories every day in your inbox.
