Great idea for a thread at the end of a long summer, CJ. Let's break it into two categories: National and Local. I'll start the party with my picks for best and worst for each category. National: Best - Woj. Hands down winner in my opinion. Breaks nearly every trade and is almost always accurate. Worst - Lots of choices here, but I'll go with Stephen A. Smith. Bombastic, egocentric and usually wrong in his opinions, IMHO. Local: Best - Kerry Eggers. Consistently accurate and thoughtful in his reporting and commentary. The Oregonian really messed up in letting him go. Worst - Canzano (duh). Stephen A. light.
The worst; wow so many. Does Stephen A even count? Does he still write? Matt Moore is near the top of my most hated list.
Canzano says he's a columnist, not a journalist. Which means he can say things without facts to support them.
Are we going to draw a distinction between actual journalists and columnists? Because there's a pretty big gulf between the two job descriptions. edit: ninja-ed
So, are we going to separate "reporter" from "journalist"? I'll buy the distinction between columnist and journalist, but reporter and journalist is a pretty minor difference.
The interesting thing to me about Stephen A Smith is that while he is annoying as hell on TV (as are his co-hosts) his radio show is pretty damn good. Which makes me believe that TV wants him to be controversial for some idiotic reason. I listen to his radio show while I am in the car as he is one of the few people who discuss the NBA on a daily basis all year round. And I have to say I like him a hell of a lot more than I thought I would.
Journalist is a superset of all who write for publication. That includes reporters, columnists, reviewers, etc. So yes, Canzano is a journalist and I'm pretty sure @SlyPokerDog's paraphrasing of Canzano's quote is inaccurate. I haven't read or listened to him in many years, but he used to always blow his own horn about being an award winning journalist. I believe what he says when he hides behind his unnamed sauces or a sauce close to the team schtick is that he's a columnist, not a reporter, meaning that he's all about sharing his own opinions and pushing his own personal agenda, facts be damned. Personally, I think the title of professional shit-stirrer most accurately describes what Canzano does for a living. Unfortunately, that also seems to be a sub-category of the "New Journalism". BNM
I don't think that CJ was trying to distinguish between the media that a "weak ass journalist" may use to make his or her analysis known. These days, most of these people use more than one medium anyway. Whether they write for a newspaper or appear on TV or radio they likely also use Twitter, have a blog, or use some other form of social media to express themselves. I think CJ was talking more about the "weak ass" component than the particular variety of "journalist", "columnist", or "reporter".
I really like reading Lowe. Usually embeds videos or gifs to enhance his points, as well. Givony's good on draft/college stuff. I actually like Simmons when he's talking basketball, not entertainment. Woj is absolutely tied in and a must-follow for trade/draft news, but the next piece of hardcore hoops analysis he does will be his first. If you care about the CBA, Larry Coon's FAQ is must-read material, and he hosts chats regularly throughout the year. Not good: Ethan Sherwood Strauss is the Brian Windhorst of the 2010's. Windhorst was the Quick of Cleveland before LeBron came there, and by virtue of access to the New Hotness (TM) he became nationally known (and followed him to MIA) more than his talent should've allowed. Ethan was a W's homer on Bleacher Report (remember the "Dame shouldn't win RoY over Davis" garbage? That was him) who got picked up by ESPN when the Dubs were on the rise. He's also written classics panned in these threads (warning: Bias for the thread starter acknowledged). A toss-up between the Screaming ESPN Types (and I agree with the above, that Stephen A. actually seems to know and like hoops when he's not being ridiculous) and the "Old School Typewriter Hacks" like Peter Vecsey and Sam Smith who haven't understood the CBA since Ewing got drafted. Local category: Agree about Eggers. Quick is good if you know what you're getting from him, and open to taking some good-natured ribbing (he's DM'd me questions before). I don't know the new radio guys since I haven't had CSNNW in a while. I'm intrigued to see what Aaron Mesh at Willamette Week will do, as he's a newsy guy who likes the Blazers. Canzano and Dwight, just, no.
Much like NBA players have different positions, the various members of the media have various classifications: reporter, analyst, columnist, etc. And, much like many players can be classified in multiple positions, many members of the media can fit multiple categories. But if they're going to rank all the players regardless of position, we can do the same with media members regardless of classification.
The worst, IMHO is anyone who writes for the Fansided content farm of over 300 sites. If journalists were prostitutes, these poor schmucks would be strung out crack whores giving hand jobs behind a dumpster for pocket change. They are paid pennies, if at all, are not held to any standards and use some weird template for their articles that include circular links to articles on other Fansided sites and usually end with gems like "This may not actually happen, but it might", or "The Cavs probably won't trade LeBron, but they should at least think about it". BNM
Just because you don't like his loud demeanor doesn't make him ANYTHING like CantZano. Steven A doesn't lie nor does he have an agenda. He reports on what he reports on (with some opinion). Does he do it in a way that people don't like? Yeah, being black while being loud is a detriment to us.
