INTERNET WRITER

Today when we pick up the sports pages of our favorite newspapers we can read about baseball, football, hockey, basketball, horse racing, NASCAR, golf, sailing, soccer, cycling, tennis, running, lacrosse, figure skating, and even more depending on the season. But the odds are that you won’t find anything on boxing.

Major newspapers just don’t cover the sport. Oh, occasionally you might find a paragraph or two about a local kid’s success in the Golden Gloves, and if there is a huge mega-fight, you might find a paragraph with the results from news services two days after the event. But, on the whole, boxing is missing from today’s newspapers.

Boxing writers, once a staple in every newsroom, are missing too. On those rare occasions that a big fight is in a venue other than Las Vegas, New York, or Atlantic City, the major newspapers simply send their ace sportswriter, who may or may not know boxing, but in any case doesn’t specialize in it. The quality of the coverage is predictably appalling.

Some major newspapers still have some boxing writers, but tightening budgets are dictating that they become multi taskers, and they cover other sports as well as boxing, so boxing becomes less and less a priority. Many print publications are in danger of folding. As the old timers leave, they are rarely replaced by another boxing writer. Further, fewer and fewer publications want to pay the expenses of a writer to cover an out of town fight regardless of the magnitude, preferring to use the wire services.

One could make the argument that the value of newspapers in modern society is greatly diminished, and they could be destined to go the way of the do-do bird in coming decades. With the rise of 24 hour cable news and the internet, newspapers by comparison seem to present yesterday’s news today. Unless you purchase the late edition, most newspapers report that the games “ended too late to be reported in the early editions.” It’s the same for politics, world events, entertainment – you name it.

Boxing periodicals have dwindled down to Ring Magazine and Boxing Digest, both fine magazines but with the turnaround time required for periodicals, hardly breaking news.

So the boxing fan has turned to the internet for fight coverage, news and commentary. The internet can even provide video footage of interviews, workouts, press conferences, and fights. Many websites even have radio shows, and breaking news is just that, published as it happens.

Many of the remaining boxing writers of prominence have hooked up with various sites to pad their income, while in some cases providing themselves with a parachute in case of the worst case scenario.

The quality of boxing sites varies. Some are simply dreadful in every respect. Some do a good job reporting the news but little else. Some are written on a middle school level. Some offer opinions that seen to have unfolded during a bad dream. And the worst is simply balderdash.

But most sites actually do a good job, consistently reporting accurate, up to date, and entertaining information. They have a hard working, loyal staff that puts together a unique package that is superior to newspapers or magazines. The writing is often brilliant, the videos state of the art, and they are continually innovative. Best of all, fans can receive honest, hard hitting commentary. I can tell you from personal experience that the print media is obsessed with fear that negative opinion will alienate advertisers.

There’s just one problem – except for those high profile newspaper writers who moonlight on the net, no one is making any money. That’s right, we work for free. This arrangement would be fine – if we lived in China. More than one site advertises for writers, but adds that there is no pay, just an opportunity to have your work read. I can get the same thrill in a bathroom stall.

[One writer I know found an innovative way to get paid - he ghost writes a column for a celebrity writer at a high profile site.]

At least one site is rumored to be subsidized by organized crime, and survives on that basis. The rest of us have to compete for the limited advertising or memberships to help raise revenue. Some sites have gone belly up because the owners tired of pouring their own money in failed ventures. I won’t be surprised if in the future we see other websites collapsing, selling out, or merging to stop the bleeding. In the years to come I predict that the pressure that is so prevalent in the print media to generate income will spill over to the internet.

As one who is in a second career after decades in management for a multi-billion dollar company, I’ve seen all of that before, and it’s not pretty.

The younger writers all hope for that big break. I wish them well, but for most of them it probably won’t happen. The real losers will be the readers who will eventually miss the talented writers who work so hard to make their site a success but will be unable to live without compensation, toiling in what amounts to a big, time consuming, expensive hobby.

This only applies to a small percentage, but some of these big time writers can be a pain in the tush. In some cases they have attempted to influence site content fearing that their name will be associated with an opinion that might offend someone who is, shall we say, an advocate. Further, many see the rest of us as second class citizens.

Once when I was covering a fight, I was seated with a group of well known writers at a large round table in the media room, waiting for the next interview. The conversation turned to some recent boxing news stories and opinions. One writer, who actually writes on the internet but apparently doesn’t accept it as yet, weighed in with his take on the issue:

“Yeah, but how many of these stories come from real writers – not internet writers?”

Though I have written for other publications, I was made painfully aware of the status of the lowly internet writer. The truth of the matter, however, is that the traffic to my website is considerably greater than the circulation of magazines that print my articles.

This Friday, May 5, The Boxing Writers Association of America is holding our 81st annual awards dinner in Las Vegas, honoring the best achievements in boxing journalism in the past year, as well as the top performers of 2005. [Those winners include Ricky Hatton as Fighter of the Year, Fight of the Year, Diego Corrales - Jose Luis Castillo I, Trainer of the Year, Dan Birmingham, Manager of the Year Al Haymon, Jay Larkin and Rich Marotta for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism, Harold Lederman and Alex Ramos for the Good Guy Award, Teddy Blackburn for Long and Meritorious Service, Kassim Ouma, The Pat Putnam Award for Perseverance, and Howie Albert, Angelo Dundee and Drs. Margaret Goodman and Flip Homanski for Honesty and Integrity. There’s even an award for Sylvester Stallone for Lifetime Cinematic Achievement in Boxing.]

I won’t be attending this year, but not because I’m not a winner. [Although we are celebrating Pass-Over at my house Friday.] The main reason is that it doesn’t fit in the budget. You see, in addition to working for nothing, expenses aren’t covered either. I thought about trying to defray some costs by applying for a job as a server for the event, but I understand that they are already well staffed. I guess other internet writers had the idea before I did.

If you don’t attend any fights, no one knows who you are. If you do, you have to be prepared to pony up the expenses. Many websites have their local people cover the fights in their back yard, which makes sense financially. Professionally however, unless you live in New York, Las Vegas, or Atlantic City, you won’t be covering many high profile fights, unless you’re willing to travel, and that is bad if you’re trying to gain some name recognition. If you live in Maryland, as I do…well, best of luck. So I gladly attend as many fights as I can in the hopes that someday the income will come close to equaling the expenses.

So now that I’ve described life here on the boxing plantation, allow me to register another rant. Occasionally, in researching potential articles, some folks take objection to a question, even in cases in which the article actually supports their point of view. I never object if someone prefers not to be interviewed, or prefers to offer a “no comment” to an inquiry. I don’t even care if you rip my face off, as long as you do it man to man. However, I take it as a lack of respect when I receive a call from a third party to voice your displeasure on your behalf and tries to lean on me without knowledge of the facts. Trust me, that’s the wrong approach with me. [Did I mention that I wasn’t making any money? Exactly what is it that I’m going to lose?]

Sometimes as writers we walk a very fine line to obtain the news. It’s certainly not our intention to alienate a potential source, yet if we don’t ask the tough questions we’re just not doing our jobs. I hardly consider myself to be an “ambush” journalist. I withhold information to protect sources, when I’m told that it’s “off the record,” and also occasionally as a “professional courtesy,” if circumstances warrant it. Aside from that, if a story is newsworthy, I will submit it for print.

Even a lowly internet writer is deserving of some respect.

I received a flyer in my mail soliciting news carriers in my area for the Washington Post. It was distressing to learn that I could triple my income by delivering the news instead of writing it. I might have applied too, but I was embarrassed because I had just cancelled my subscription.

I’ve decided that the only solution for all of us underpaid, under appreciated, and largely disrespected internet writers is to take a stand. I considered demonstrating at the White House, but I finally decided that we couldn’t afford the expenses to go to Washington D.C. So my latest plan is to boycott the internet. We’ll pick out a date and refuse to work that day. All of the websites will be forced to hire immigrant workers at those comparatively exorbitant wages that they earn to replace us. Then, the website owners will either have to pay us or outsource the work to a Third World country.