Sports and Journalism - These are a few of my favorite things.

There was an article in this months Cycle Sport (I think the British version) about the demise of Jan Ulrich. It was one of the worst articles I've ever read. It was mean. I get it that Jan Ulrich has acted like a bit of an ass, he may have been a cheater, and that the German media and the media in general thought he was kind of lazy and childish but the article couched all its criticism by putting things all in third person terms. Perhaps it's all true that the German public put down Ulrich and that the German media were hard on him but the article doesn't take any responsibility for tearing him apart.

The mentions about Ulrich's dealings with the media make it pretty clear that the writer has an ax to grind. This writer is pissed that he couldn't get a better story because Ulrich won't really say anything to the media. Possibly he even tried to get some exclusive story and couldn't. Whatever the case the writer of this story has something personal against Ulrich and doesn't cover it well, or possibly doesn't even try to cover it. I don't have any reason to really support Ulrich. I've never been a fan of his and I'm perfectly willing to believe that he is childish, undisciplined and that his media statements are a joke, but if I did sign on to that theory I'd stand right up and say I believed it and stand by it.

I've never been a huge advocate of journalistic detachment either. I don't believe it's really possible for people to be completely objective and I think that the best journalism comes when people care about what they are writing about. So, it's not like I'm saying this guy should be totally and completely objective, not ever letting his bias show. I'm just saying that if he's got the bias he should at least acknowledge it and perhaps even explain it.