Jay Mariotti, a firebrand sports columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, announced he is quitting the print biz loudly proclaiming that newspapers are "dying" and that he didn't want to go down with the ship of the struggling industry. Naturally, the management of the Sun-Times is not amused.
Mariotti told Chicago's CBS 2 news that newspapers are in serious trouble and he wanted out before he was forced out. "It's been a tremendous experience, but I'm going to be honest with you, the profession is dying,'' Mariotti told CBS 2, "I don't think either paper [Sun-Times or Chicago Tribune] is going to survive.
"To showcase your work ... you need a stellar Web site and if a newspaper doesn't have that, you can't be stuck in the 20th century with your old newspaper.''
Jay Mariotti is one of those columnists that one either loves or hates, it seems. I hear this all the time from Chicago sports fans (among whom I do not include myself), so it isn't surprising that his quitting should be as obnoxious and loud as his writing career has thus far been. He even blamed former top execs for "looting" the Sun-Times in his CBS 2 interview.
Mariotti effectively burned his bridges, though.
Sun-Times Editor Michael Cooke said in an e-mail to CBS 2: "That's Jay's opinion. He has plenty of them. But the facts, of course, say something different. I'm going with the facts. Well, it's turning nasty ... and that's typical of Jay to throw a bomb on the way out of a place that cared for him, nurtured him, paid him well for 17 years.
Editor Cooke also threw his own dig Marittoi's way saying that he hadn't heard from any "grief-stricken fans" upon Mariotti's leaving.
Mariotti intends to focus on new web outlets and also will continue his ESPN appearances.
This incident is just one more example of the on going evolution of the news industry. Many think the print business will be left in the past and will go the way of the buggy whip. Others think that they will adapt. What ever the case, we will continue to see these growing pains as the Internet takes on more and more responsibilities of the news vending business.
(Photo credit: ESPN.com)
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It's funny WTH
August 28, 2008 - 02:40 ET by Cool ArrowPrint media, above all others, should present a vested interest in literacy.
But print media, just like all others, continues to be a mouthpiece of liberalism, an ideology that promotes diminishing returns on intellectual investment.
Newspapers across the country should be at loggerheads with Teachers Unions across the country if only in a bid to survive.
Cold day in hell
I ♣ my seal
It is odd isn't it
August 28, 2008 - 07:21 ET by 10ksnookerIf any of the drive bys should get it, you would think it would be the local newspapers. Yet they seem to be the worst afflicted. Our local rag is now counted in single pages daily -- They give it away fro free now.
The AP is the worst of all ...
I've watched Mariotti talk
August 28, 2008 - 05:53 ET by FoolicanI've watched Mariotti talk on Around The Horn, and I have to say, he is about as much fun to listen to as a tuba being blown into your ears at point blank. I can't say I'm sorry to see him go. Still, I find it odd that he of all people would leave the newspaper establishment - his politics and personality seemed very well suited to it.
Maybe he's right this time.
Good for him!
August 28, 2008 - 08:14 ET by Roger the ShrubberAnother Western PA boy done good.
Doesn't Matter Where Mariotti Works
August 28, 2008 - 08:33 ET by CaringwhiteguyIt doesn't matter where Jay Mariotti works. If he worked for Mother Theresa he'd say she was irrelevant. If he worked for a biotech firm he'd say there was no future in medical science. If he worked at the corner shoe store he'd be bitching about something. If he worked for himself (which seems to be his fate because no one in their right mind would hire him) he'd probably offend himself.
That the future of print newspapers is precarious is no revelation. That Jay Mariotti thinks so too, is no rousing endorsement of the theory.
AROUND THE HORN...
August 28, 2008 - 09:06 ET by danybhoyJay Mariotti can be a bit over the top at times, but I enjoy watching him. He has a strong opinion & will try to back it up. Now, his bit is sports, & I come at this from an out of town viewpoint since I am not from Chicago & just went there this summer for the 1st time since 1979, but for all of his faults, Jay Mariotti is right.
The days of the newspaper are numbered. The NYTimes is going down the crapper, & it's not all down to it's bias. It remains "relivent" for 1 reason only, it is a starting point for much of the MSM. Like the 3 network news shows, which are also fading. But people don't need a newspaper to get news, & if people don't like the presentation, those papers will go the way of Braniff airlines...DEFUNCT.
"...it's still We The People, Right?" Megadeth
Mariotti is a chickenshit!
August 28, 2008 - 09:10 ET by kufir77Supposedly his first "resignation" was an EMAIL that just said "I quit!". This is the guy that would cover the White Sox, but would be the only reporter too scared to go in the locker room, because he said he feared for his life. He's also the guy who Ozzie Guillen called a "faggot" and Mariotti whined and whined about it till MLB sent Ozzie Guillen to get castrated at "sensitivity training". What a punk.
In regards to print dying, yeah it is. The internet killed it. Why pay for day old news when you can 5 minute old news for free. The excessive liberal slant isn't helping too much either. Still, nothing beats sitting down and reading a whole ACTUAL paper newspaper. Reading too much on a monitor kills your eyes and makes you feel dumb.
Nothing As Constant As Change
August 28, 2008 - 09:10 ET by Wildcatter1980There is nothing as constant as change. This is especially true in a free market economy. Print media for the most part have not properly recognized this and adjusted their approach accordingly.
Having been on TV and a contributor to ESPN, Marioti looks back at the Sun-Times and sees that the paper is not making the necessary adjustments he feels are necessary for the paper to continue as an economically-viable concern. While I may not agree that the way he is handling his departure is wise, I can certainly understand why he is leaving the Sun-Times.
Jay
August 28, 2008 - 09:53 ET by PurdueMattHere is the real reason Jay quit...
http://deadspin.com/5042479/thats-it-world-you-have-disrespected-jay-mariotti-for-the-final-time
Yup. Jay is a real pill,
August 28, 2008 - 12:29 ET by balboaYup. Jay is a real pill, and it's typical of him to claim that he's making this change because "newspapers are dying."
Mariotti is only half right
August 28, 2008 - 16:13 ET by Captain KirockI've seen Mariotti on ESPN a few times & I honestly do not have an opinion one way or another about him, but I have to say this:
Mariotti is only half right when he says newspapers are dying and obsolete. It's true, but what he fails to see is what is right in front of his nose: sports columnists are dying and obsolete. IMO they reached the status of complete irrelevance decades ago, and I am a huge sports fan.
Most sports columnists are hopelessly liberal and condescending and love to criticize the sports and players they cover. Their favorite modus operandi is to write the "holier than thou" column whenever some local sports hero does something stupid or criminal. They love to pontificate about how the player has lowered the sports' integrity. Yet if the spotlight is reversed, the sports columinists themselves would not standup to such scrutiny. Some are the biggest liberal hypocrites in journalism.
Ebert writes Mariotti: Dear
August 28, 2008 - 19:58 ET by balboaEbert writes Mariotti:
Dear Jay,
What an ugly way to leave the Sun-Times. It does not speak well for you. Your timing was exquisite. You signed a new contract, waited until days after the newspaper had paid for your trip to Beijing at great cost, and then resigned with a two-word e-mail: "I quit." You saved your explanation for a local television station.
As someone who was working here for 24 years before you arrived, I think you owed us more than that. You owed us decency. The fact that you saved your attack for TV only completes our portrait of you as a rat.
Newspapers are not dead, Jay, and this paper will not die because you have left. Times are hard in the newspaper business, and for the economy as a whole. Did you only sign on for the luxury cruise?
There's an old saying that you might have come across once or twice on the sports beat: "When the going gets tough, the tough get going."
Newspapers are not dead, Jay, because there are still readers who want the whole story, not a sound bite. If you go to work for television, viewers may get a little weary of you shouting at them. You were a great shouter in print, that's for sure, stomping your feet when owners, coaches and players didn't agree with you. It was an entertaining show. Good luck getting one of your 1,000-word rants on the air.
The rest of us are still at work, still putting out the best paper we can. We believe in our profession, and in the future. And we believe in our internet site, which you also whacked as you slithered out the door. I don't know how your column was doing, but we have the most popular sports section in Chicago. The reports and blog entries by our Washington editor Lynn Sweet have become a must-stop for millions of Americans in this election year. After a recent blog entry I wrote about the Beijing Olympics, I woke up at 5 a.m. one morning, when North America was asleep, and found that 40 percent of my 100 most recent visitors had been from China. I don't have any complaints about our web site. So far this month my web page has been visited from almost every country on earth, including one visit from the Vatican City. The Pope, no doubt. Hope you were doing as well.
You have left us, Jay, at a time when the newspaper is once again in the hands of people who love newspapers and love producing them. You managed to stay here through the dark days of the thieves Conrad Black and David Radler. The paper lost millions. Incredibly, we are still paying Black's legal fees.
I started here when Marshall Field and Jim Hoge were running the paper. I stayed through the Rupert Murdoch regime. I was asked, "How can you work for a Murdoch paper?"
My reply was: "It's not his paper. It's my paper. He only owns it."
That's the way I've always felt about the Sun-Times, and I still do. On your way out, don't let the door bang you on the ass.
Your former colleague,
Roger Ebert
Several years ago
August 28, 2008 - 20:03 ET by Warner Todd HustonI had an email go 'round with Ebert. He is a really, wild-eyed leftist, but is a classy guy for the most part.
I find I agree wholly with his letter to Mariotti. Then again, Mariotti is a bore. So, who could expect good manners from him?