Sports Analyst Stephen A. Smith Bashes Bloggers

Posted on December 11, 2007

Here's a good one for the blog pessimism file. ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith thinks "internet writers" do not have the right to reach a large audience. Smith also thinks bloggers have sabotaged the print media.

SportsbyBrooks has excerpted Smith's blast at bloggers.

Smith first claims to Hoffarth that "internet writers" have no right to reach a large audience (we take it he's actually serious): "And when you look at the internet business, what's dangerous about it is that people who are clearly unqualified get to disseminate their piece to the masses. I respect the journalism industry, and the fact of the matter is ...someone with no training should not be allowed to have any kind of format whatsoever to disseminate to the masses to the level which they can. They are not trained. Not experts."
The fun continues as Smith tells Hoffarth that bloggers have "sabotaged" the dinosaur print media: "The people who suffer are the common viewers out there and, more importantly, those in the industry who haven't been fortunate to get a radio or television deal and only rely on the written word. And now they've been sabotaged. Not because of me. Or like me. But because of the industry or the world has allowed the average joe to resemble a professional without any credentials whatsoever."

Deadspin writes that Smith imagines a "utopian society without bloggers."

Love Without Nagel does a good job of taking apart Stephen Smith's comments: "Is Stephen A. Smith flying to Darfur to save the people? No, he is bitching about Isaiah Thomas and Rasheed Wallace. His true professional assets are speaking loudly and ranting about SPORTS. I can do that."

Some sports journalists apparently see sports bloggers as competition. There is some truth to this but sports bloggers are also sports fans and sports fans are entitled to their opinions.