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The Power of Power

How you, the reader, perceive something is the result of what you know. That is why it is a journalist’s duty to present the most recent, relevant, and accurate information. Even if information is all of that, it does not mean that the journalist has done their job. Often times, they must go further and provide not only context for information they are presenting, they must do so without skewing the information, especially if it involves matters of personal opinion. That’s why good journalism is hard. That’s why not everyone can do it. That’s why it is a job that takes time and experience to learn and is a skill set that you acquire.

This bring us to wondering what is going on with Paul Hoynes and his informative post on power, specifically, hitters in the Indians lineup that hit home runs in a specific game. Hoynes mentions the amount of home runs the team has hit this spring and at the end makes sure to include that last year they finished 13th in the American League. They also finished 11th in total runs scored.

The rest of the section that is talking about power mentions all of the Indians who hit home runs in this specific Spring Training game and gives a quick hit on their track record in terms of hitting home runs. He alludes to the idea of home runs leading to run production by stating:

“Like Lindor, their track records for power have yet to be established, but it's encouraging to see because the Indians are going to need run production from all parts of the lineup.”

While home runs obviously produce runs, it isn’t the only way that run production happens. But as a reader, you would be led to believe that it is based off Hoynes’s statement alone. It’s an shining example of a journalist being recent and accurate, but inadequately informing his audience with a one-sided spin.

So, how would this be specific instance be remedied? By simply countering that spin with the opposite outlook before it is even printed. Do the Indians need run production? Yes. How can the Indians produce runs? By hitting home runs more than other teams? Is that an accurate statement to make?

Using the same measurements that Hoynes did, Kansas City, sixth in runs scored in the American League, hit two less home runs than the Indians did last year. That alone provides reasonable doubt to the initial idea that home runs are the only way to score runs or that it is the primary indicator of a team that scores a lot of runs.

To extrapolate the argument, one can also argue that run production is simply one side of the coin. As long as you produce more runs than you give up, you win the game, and is that not what matters most? Obviously, statistics can be skewed and a team can score a lot more runs than the other team in games that they win, only win a few, and lose by close margins in more games than they win. Relatively speaking though, the idea is to score more than you allow and that is another thing that the American League Central winners and eventual World Series Champions did very well. Just as well as Cleveland did in fact, with them giving up just one more run than the Indians did in 2015. 

This, stated or unstated, is all that is missing in the information Hoynes is delivering to the audience. It’s the type of journalism that produces false assumptions or misconceived notions. It isn’t incorrect or factually inaccurate, but if conclusions are going to be drawn, as Paul Hoynes has done here, he could stand to effectively reason to help the reader draw a more fair and unbiased conclusion, instead of one that is heavily skewed in what we can only assume is what he believes.

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What is news?

Here’s a question for you consumers of Indians media. What is news? If you take a journalism class or learn the art of informing the masses, you should understand this question. You get to the true meaning of what news is and why it is important. It is something you should learn early on. Non-journalists know what news is and can understand it’s importance, but a journalist’s job revolves around news, that’s why news and properly delivering it has to be important to them.

Sports is different. Is it important? In the grand scheme of our existence, no, it isn’t. But, in it’s own bubble, is getting the news that is about the topic important? For the people that want to consume it, it absolutely is and as a delivery person of that news, it should be important. You, as a journalist, have a duty to inform the masses and you have a duty to get it correct and make sure it is meaningful. Getting the news out there and making sure it is correct is incredibly important, even in this scope of what “Sports News” is and means to the general public. 

At least in our opinion. Sports news should meet these requirements:

1. Factual and can be sourced.

2. Be informative to the topic the news is about, does not misinform.

3. Tell the reader/consumer something “new” that they didn’t know.

That’s it. It doesn’t have to be hard.

With these parameters in mind, let’s take a look at the latest piece of news that that circulated regarding the Cleveland Indians.

Ken Rosenthal “reported” that the Indians are seeking to add depth to their outfield. If you are a regular consumer of Indians media, or just a Tribe fan, you know that the outfield has been a main point of discussion this offseason. Rosenthal is, from the very get-go, going to be providing a report on a very common subject to Indians fans. His headline is even telling us something you already already know. His first paragraph, stating the Indians are not comfortable with the state of their outfield is just stating the obvious, but this is his lead, he hasn’t given you the “news” yet.

The news? His second line, which states that the team is searching for an upgrade and is engaged in trade dialogue. He cites a major-league source that is unknown. The second bit is that the Indians do not view a deal as likely.

Rosenthal then goes on to establish that the position the Indians are in is not any different now than it was a few months ago. The main difference, even though he said there was “essentially no difference,” is they won’t be trading any top tier starter. They would rather trade another starter, but if you remember the news Rosenthal is reporting, this is unlikely.

So, what’s the news here? That the Indians situation has and will continue to remain exactly the same? Rosenthal, even though unnamed, has sourced factual information, or at least we take him at his word that it is is factual, and can assume so based off knowledge of the Indians offseason and situation. It, while redundant for a more-than-casual Indians fan, is informative to the topic. But, if a non-Indians fan were to read it, it would certainly constitute as meeting our second requirement of news. The third parameter, however, is where he fails to prove that this is news. This does not tell the reader anything new. There’s nothing new about this news and he is certainly not adding to the situation by telling us the Indians are not likely to make a deal, even though he is telling you they want to.

Again, what is news? Does this constitute as it? Why is Ken Rosenthal posting this or “reporting” on it? He’s a national reporter, so he doesn’t fall in line with the local beat and is not consistently covering or providing information on the Indians, but that does not matter in this instance. Even a reader unfamiliar with the Indians situation would glean nothing “additional” to this. A reader will ultimately see “the Indians want to make a trade, but won’t, so nothing will change” and nothing new was contributed to their bank of knowledge. They now know of the situation if they did before, but they didn’t learn anything new about this particular situation and how it has changed. It could inform a few, but not inform all, and certainly doesn’t further an established situation.

Because this is news, or at least reported from a national media member as news, it is treated as such and allows sites and blogs, such as Waiting For Next Year, to utilize it as a post of their own to generate traffic. WFNY also does nothing to further this bit of news, simply restating what Rosenthal is reporting. WFNY’s poster, Josh Poloha does not add much in terms of an opinion, which WFNY is certainly justified to do and what “opinion” is included isn’t really stated as such, it reads more like fact or a reasoned deduction. 

An argument can be made, and even understood by this ombudsman that the national cycle is different than the local, and even the local to some extent has the right to bring up a discussion on an “on-going” story line or issue regarding a team. However, Rosenthal structures his post as if it is new news and WFNY does little to generate a discussion or bring up a new point to further that “on-going” story. Is this a bad thing? Ultimately, no because it doesn’t misinform, which would be much more egregious. But, it feels like nothing more than traffic generation, which doesn’t hurt anyone, but makes us wonder what the point is in the first place. And, ultimately, gives us the question posed at the beginning to continue to think about: What is news?

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Terry Pluto, known for his notebook scribbles and well-regarded historical books on the Cleveland Indians, is also a slide-show producer. While they can be informative and done well, more times than not, slide shows provide little of anything in regards to being insightful. One of Pluto’s latest puts to work pictures from long-time Plain Dealer photographer Chuck Crow as Pluto serves as a caption creator you’d be more likely to find in the comment threads of a blog. Pluto’s captions, however, are not set to entertain but rather aim to be more informative. After all, Cleveland.com is not a site that covers the quirkiness and fun of baseball like that of some blogs out there; their main mission is to inform and educate the reader, so no one should expect a funny picture caption contest any time soon.

In his slideshow, Pluto is not telling the reader anything one couldn’t find out by conducting a Google search on each candidate for center field for the Indians. While visitors are likely visiting the Plain Dealer’s website to be educated on matters regarding the Indians, this doesn’t really offer anything groundbreaking. Not that everything should, but one has to wonder what, other than generating some traffic is the purpose of this slideshow? And why is someone like Pluto doing it? Up until this, Pluto has posted mostly video content and his usual Tribe snippets.

In regards to the actual slide show itself: He puts a large focus on height, as if a certain foot and inch measurement is a pre-requisite for the job. He starts every candidate off by listing their height and then follows up with some basic statistics and sometimes a note about them, be it where they came from or how they are in camp this spring. Again, nothing groundbreaking and overall, nothing in terms of hard analysis that would lead anyone to believe who should get the job in center field. There’s no conclusion to this other than to say, here are the candidates, most of them are under 6 feet and one of them is suspended, which is why there are so many candidates. But you, especially if you’ve followed Pluto, already know that. If we dig further into Pluto’s history this spring, we can glean some meaning, because the slideshow does not give it to us.

Pluto, a reverent writer on the Indians for many years, has produced a lot of content on the Indians outfield this spring. In fact, eight of his nine posts (including his latest on Marlon Byrd signing) since Spring Training has started more than a month ago have focused on the outfield, which would lead his readers to believe that it is an issue or an ongoing story line. That is not to say that it isn’t, that is for him to inform you about and you as a reader to decide. Headlines such as “Cleveland has a mystery in center field” and “Cleveland Indians have Terry Talkin' about outfield pains...” would you lead you to believe that it is a story. So, whether it is in the scope of what the Indians are really doing, Pluto has made it a story.

In a show of transparency, Pluto notes that as his stint in Arizona begins (March 17th) the outfield is something he will be focusing on. His coverage up to this point has focused on Tyler Naquin being the team’s center fielder. While the slideshow is objective in that it is simply listing the candidates, it provides no real substance. Most of Pluto’s pieces on the outfield have focused on Naquin and one even stated that the Indians “want” Naquin to win the job. He notes that privately they are “excited” about him, but does not include specific language that they privately or publicly “want him to win the job” so this is questionable wording at best. At most, he says that him playing the way he has is ideal for the Indians, but again, not a quote or definitive wording that this is what the Indians want. Pluto’s history and even more definitive wording in the same post would lead you to believe though that the Indians prefer Naquin, but is that the case?

Pluto’s coverage of the outfield in particular is leading. Leading that it is an issue for the Indians and leading that the Indians want Naquin to start in center and win that position battle. The first is a matter of opinion, that again is formulated by you the reader based off information you read; the second being a matter of fact based off what Pluto says. His slideshow is more of the objectivity without the lead, but also provides no real substance to the argument being posed, but perhaps playing off his previous inclination that the outfield is a story. You as the reader are following this story and you click to see if there’s any more answers to this question. A question was created and although only the Indians can definitively answer the question, Pluto may be leading you to believe he can before they do officially and the slideshow appears to take advantage of that.

Where Pluto goes from here now that he is in Arizona and covering the team can really change based off the information he is able to produce and the opinion he is able to provide. Most would assume Pluto is an opinion writer, but his production of a slideshow with factual information is anything but, other than inferring height is part of the equation by it being a focal point. That isn’t to say a writer can’t be both, but how are we to know the difference as Pluto mixes “what the Indians want” and “how the Indians feel” with what he believes one sentence after another? The question that needs to be answered is simply this: What is Pluto’s role? Is he an opinion columnist? Is he an insider that provides information no one else does? Is he a beat-writer who covers the team and provides information other outlets does? Is he writing pieces to educate the fans on the makeup of the team? One could assume he fills all those roles based off his coverage thus far, but that is particularly confusing. One could also assume that he can provide the answer to a question he has created for his readers, and will continue to tempt you with that until the answer is actually given.