"Rip Jobs" and Journalism - Colorado Avalanche Updates, News and Game Reviews at Avs Talk

Friday, October 1, 2010

"Rip Jobs" and Journalism

Via Dater's blog:
"I’m in the process of writing a bit of a rip job for Sunday’s paper on the state of the Avalanche’s preseason."

I'm in the process of trying to care less.

I'm so tired of hearing about "rip jobs" from Dater. The glee with which he puts them out is frustrating and frankly it's disheartening.

Call me crazy but I expect more than "rip jobs" from a journalist. If I wanted a "rip job", I'd read a blog.*

I don't want to read "rip job" after "rip job" after "rip job" followed by a post pointing out a couple good things and saying "See, I don't always rip on people." If you have to say that, it's a clear sign that you "rip" on people too much.

Also, that we have hugely differing opinions of "rip job" likely doesn't help my frustration. Given that it's going to be in the paper, it's probably going to include a few quotes from players, some stats, a caveat about it only being presason and noting how the team will need to pick it up in the regular season.

That's not a "rip job", that's stating facts and doing standard journalism.

But maybe I should stop ripping on Dater and see the bright side. If he wasn't like this we wouldn't have Fake Dater providing comedy fodder for us.

*See what I did there?

4 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Read "coloradoavalanche.com" if you want sunny, one-sided stories about your team then.

Shane Giroux said...

I don't want sunny, one-sided stories any more than I want negative, one-sided barbs all day long.

I read Dater's "rip job" in the Post and it was exactly what I expected it to be - facts and a couple quotes. That's not a rip job. That's just reporting and I'd love it if he continued to contribute honest reporting and even opinion.

What I don't appreciate is pointing out every single flaw or mistake made by the team while never pointing out good nuanced opinions.

Maybe calling his factual reporting "rip jobs" and continually pointing out mistakes makes him feel big and good about himself. I don't know.

What I do know is that he tends towards negativity whenever he can and that doesn't help build a positive atmosphere.

It's a young team, a learning team. They're going to make mistakes. To use words like "pathetic" in describing those mistakes is insane.

To do it during the preseason is ridiculous.

Anonymous said...

So it was good then, that Duchene, Stewart, etc didn't score a goal all preseason? Dater should keep that fact hidden?

Shane Giroux said...

Either I'm misspeaking or you're misunderstanding what I'm saying.

No, I don't want him to hide facts. I also don't believe the story he put up today in the Post was a rip job. Hell, I basically wrote the plot before the story was out.

I don't think a lot of what he puts up as a "rip job" qualifies as one either. If that recent article was what he considered a "rip job", then I'd really have no problem other than his weird definition and overuse of that term.

But the constant barbs tossed out on his twitter account are what really kill it for me. And that's why I'm in the process of not caring about his "rip jobs". They're either not truly ripping anything, or they're simply not worth my time to get annoyed about.

I'll still read his reporting and I'll probably still follow his blog and twitter feed but I'll start caring less about his mini-rants.

It appears he is who is and that's a person prone to negative tendencies. You can be realistic without being an ass about it. The world needs more of those people.

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