“So are you going to donate?”
“Donate to what?”
“Not what. Who. To my favorite writer. He wants to cover the championship game between Alabama and Texas.”
“Him and nine million other sportswriters… but why is he asking for donations?”
“So he can afford to go.”
“I see. Well then, looks like he’ll have to settle for watching it on television like the rest of us.”
“But he can’t report on it that way.”
“Funny. I usually manage some pretty decent write-ups on NASCAR without going to each race.”
“But I want to read his take on things while at the game.”
“And I want a mint condition Gibson Les Paul Deluxe. Guess what? Can’t afford it. So I live without. Unfortunate that your favorite reporter will have to do the same. Ain’t life a bust? And asking for donations to go to a football game that just ‘happens’ to have his favorite team playing for the championship? Come on. This isn’t about ‘reporting.’ It’s about wanting to go to the game and using reporting on it as an excuse.”
“So you’re accusing him of lying.”
“About what?”
“About why he wants to go to the game.”
“I don’t see him with a honkering to go to the Poinsettia Bowl between Cal and Utah. Don’t tell me his reasons are entirely journalistic. Or primarily. He wants to go to the game. Period.”
“That’s beside the point.”
“Come again?”
“Whether his favorite team is involved is beside the point. He wants to go as a journalist.”
“Why?”
“To offer his unique perspective on the game.”
“Oh, thank the lucky stars for that. Poor game wouldn’t get a whisper of coverage otherwise.”
“You don’t think he’s a great reporter?”
“To quote you, that’s beside the point. The point is his primary reason for begging is so he can see his favorite team in the championship game for free. It has nothing to do with reporting.”
“So you’re accusing him of lying.”
“What are you, a walking tape loop? Fine, I’m calling BS on the whole thing.”
“You don’t believe he’ll do reporting while he’s there?”
“How many times do you want me to answer the same question? I’m sure he will. He has to, since that’s why he says he’s going. But do I believe that’s the primary reason he’s going? No.”
“Do you think every other reporter who’s going wants the assignment for journalistic purposes only?”
“Yeah, and if everyone else was jumping off a bridge… same logic. What difference does the motivation of others make? We’re not talking about them. We’re talking about one individual begging for money so he can go watch a football game.”
“Well, all those other reporters are begging for money too. It’s called ‘advertising.’”
“And you’re called thick as a brick. The people and businesses who buy ads in newspapers or magazines, or on television or radio aren’t doing it for the sole purpose of seeing Joe or Jane Sportswriter’s byline. They’re doing so to reach potential customers. The only concerns they have about the medium’s content is having no controversy brought on them via association with a particular channel and how many people will it reach.”
“By your logic, you should never buy books or music.”
“The connection, oh pray tell?”
“You don’t believe in paying people for their art.”
“Let’s try this again. The connection?”
“You think people should provide their services for free.”
“There is nothing in common between paying an artist for their work and a journalist begging for funds so they can go watch a football game under the excuse of reporting on it!”
“Don’t you agree there’s an art to reporting? That it’s a craft?”
“There is a huge difference between that and creating a work of art. Unless you somehow equate a new U2 album with some joker in Rolling Stone talking about it. Slight difference, don’t you think? Assuming you ever do.”
“Well, he wants to report on the game and that’s all that matters.”
“So let him get a job and pay his own way.”
“But I want to read his reporting from the game!”
“Did I mention the guitar I want? Don’t see me begging for funds to buy it so I can ‘report’ on how it sounds.”
“You’re not nice.”
“Possibly. I also paid my own way every step along the way for the book. Which is a tad more important in the grand scheme of things than a football game. Now, run along fanboy. I’m busy. Some of us have work to do. That has nothing to do with pretending to work so we can root root root for the home team in person while asking others to pay for it.”
I believe the reporter in question is one of my favorites, but I won’t be helping to send him to the Rose Bowl. However, I’d proudly “hit the tip jar” for his coverage of the census worker murder that turned out to not be murder, among other things.
That I would do as well. Rose Bowl, not so much.