Monday, February 25, 2008

Et Tu, Tony?

Tony Kornheiser is the latest sports media figure to rail against bloggers:

It's a real, it's a real mistake, and it happens. And I don't want to single anybody out in this area, but, you know, some people sit at home and they watch TV and they watch radio and they "blog" about certain "things," and they think they know what they're talking about, and they think they have sources. They have no sources. They make stuff up. They're toads. They're little toads. Actually, they're pimples on the behind of the greater body politic in this country and in this city. And because, because they have access to airwaves and three or four people read them, they think, 'Oh, I'm very important.'

In fact, in fact, if a huge dumpster landed on their mother's house, and got all the way into the basement and crushed them, nobody would care. Nobody would miss them. They provide nothing good, no service that's any good at all. They, they are, they are, they are sucking mole rats, and that's the nicest I can be to them. But because, because they have a name, or, you know, because they get feedback from others, you know, they think they're very important.

At least I think he's railing here. I hesitate only because Kornheiser normally strikes me as a little more thoughtful than your average MSM anti-blogger, and that rant is anything but thoughtful. Kornheiser is often funny as well, and given that this excerpt is taken from Dan Steinberg's D.C. Sports Bog -- which is a blog hosted by Kornheiser's own paper -- it's possible that this is all some stab at meta-humor.

For his sake, I hope so. It's one thing when blithering idiots say silly things about blogs, but it's quite another when a guy a lot of people think fairly highly of does it.

(link via Deadspin)

UPDATE: Kornheiser clarifies. He was talking about a specific blogger, not bloggers in general. Like everything else, we should probably take that at face value, even if there is a reason to remain somewhat dubious.

5 comments:

Jason @ IIATMS said...

he described me, except I don't live with my folks or in the basement.

Screw Tony nonetheless.

Anonymous said...

I'm a Kornheiser fan, but I've heard him do this enough that I think it's what he really thinks, and he doesn't really care to be any better informed about it.

He's got an old-fashioned journalist's prejudice on this issue, which is ironic since at this point (now that he doesn't really do any actual reporting) he's basically doing what he accuses bloggers of doing--reading the paper and spouting off about it.

I still find him entertaining (I don't get to watch PTI much these days, but the radio show is still good), but he's definitely got his annoying blind spots, and this is one of them.

Anonymous said...

I heard the rant live. It was clearly a rant that was aimed at one individual in particular and it expanded beyond the offending party to include those of his ilk. The person in question has repeatedly claimed inside information about Kornheiser that is always incorrect and, in fact, made up.

I have heard Kornheiser rant about blogging in general on several occasions. The focus of his ire is the lack of accountability. Blogs are not subject to the same checks as "old" media forms. Because there are no checks and because the outrageous draws attention, many (but not all) blogs are filled with made up stuff. This is his take. It is hard to disagree with it from an objective perspective.

Anonymous said...

DC Sports Blog has an update.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcsportsbog/2008/02/kornheiser_names_his_blogging.html

Craig Calcaterra said...

Thanks, anon. I've updated accordingly.