I enjoy Twitter. I have made many new friends on Twitter through the three or so years that I have been there. But one thing I cannot abide is seeing unconfirmed, sensationalized information thrown out there by supposed professionals in the interest of getting ReTweets and Follows. And that is precisely what happened late last night in regards to the injury of Carlos Correa.
Here are the FACTS as we know them right now. Correa was injured on a slide into third base in last night's Lancaster game. The injury APPEARED to be his ankle or lower leg. Correa appeared to be in a good deal of pain and was carried off the field, indicating that he was unable to put weight on the leg. I have not seen any official announcements that tell us anything more than that. I will wait until then to post anything further about the severity of the injury.
The other thing I hate about Twitter is watching grown men make total fools of themselves. People who say that women are overly emotional and irrational have never seen male sports fans carry on over something over which they have no control and which ultimately will not affect their day-to-day lives, relationships and health. Without even knowing the extent of the injury to Correa, some of these "men" seem prepared to commit ritual harakiri. Man up, guys.
I sincerely hope that Correa's injury isn't serious, but I will keep in mind that he is only 19 years old, he has the drive and desire and work ethic to overcome virtually any obstacle in his way, and he will likely be just fine even if his recovery may take time. And I think most Astros fans will overcome this horrible ordeal as well (yes, I'm being extremely sarcastic).
As for the "me first, BREAKING NEWS, yellow journalism" aspect of Twitter, I will just say be careful whose information you trust.
I will try to post an update on Correa when OFFICIAL information is released, but I am going to be tied up with real life things this morning as I will be spending some time with my brother.
I was busy with family last night and wound up learning about Correa from a vague post by Kevin Goldstein on Facebook lambasting "media" with "sources" for speculating on the Correa injury. Then, I went back through my Twitter timeline and read through a number of tweets. With this post, you hit the nail on the head.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, I don't understand the need for "bloggers" to really break news at all really. Just the other day, I saw MLB Trade Rumors credit breaking a news story to a 16-year old. It's crazy. In actuality, pieces written in the Internet age need to be informative for years after publishing -- even when the content is meant to be timely. That's a goal of ours at ROTOscouting. Because of this, we are able to avoid most of the jockeying involved in click baiting and irresponsible speculation.
You hit the nail on the head Jayne. And Mike, I absolutely adore your comment about breaking news stories by bloggers. A connection to the internet is not the only qualification for a journalist despite what many may think. Of course, there may be some 16 year old kids whose articles are more accurate than some "professional" journalists, but I'm not going to name any names here, LOL.
ReplyDeleteIt's actually pretty laughable!
ReplyDeleteI don't have a problem with people breaking news on Twitter if it's reliable. Considering the breaking news was coming from Jason Schwartz, Lancaster's broadcaster I would consider him a reliable source.
ReplyDeleteJason never jumped the gun and said that Correa's leg was broken. As a matter of fact, he avoided speculating on the nature of the injury which was the responsible thing to do.
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