Murray Chass Bought Out; Hates Bloggers

The Big Lead reported today that longtime New York Times baseball columnist Murray Chass is taking an involuntary buyout, which is almost entirely sad. It's a tough dawn in the newspaper industry; buyouts for older staffers are a regrettable, if suddenly inevitable, fact of life, but that doesn't make them any more appealing.

So here's where, normally, I'd rip on Murray Chass for being closeminded and silly, and for letting his column quality drift dramatically in recent years, but in the solemn spirit of the hour, there's no use dancing on the -- WHAT! Murray Chass said WHAT?:

"I hate bloggers." "Worst development in media business, anyone can be a blogger." "No credentials required, just spouting off their opinions." "Our wives could go on and do it if they wanted to." "I know they're not going away but I wish they did."

Oh, Murray. Murray Murray Murray. Perhaps you just needed to vent, but its that attitude -- that refusal to change, that insistence that all the news value in the world belonged in column inches and newsprint -- that's what got you canned, dude. (I won't go in to all the reasons Murray's wrong, not least of which because bloggers do exactly what he does but in a different f----- format. F---.) It's too late to change now, of course, but maybe give it a shot? Eh, Murray?

No? Whatever then. Enjoy the golf, you miserable old stodge.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

4-03-2008 @ 9:10PM

Jordan Ginsberg said...

Men's wives writing professionally? That'll be the day!

4-03-2008 @ 9:56PM

Ree Ree said...

Is there a reason why he had to insult his own wife? and being that I'm female and a blogger, which one should I be more insulted as?

4-03-2008 @ 9:49PM

sikantis said...

Please, treat each other with esteem, Chass' words about "wifes" isn't better!

4-09-2008 @ 2:00AM

tanning lotion said...

Murray needs to realize that buying out the "older" employees is just a way of life nowadays. Also as technology changes so does everything else. Those are just the facts.

4-03-2008 @ 10:48PM

Bob said...

Murray is old line. Murray is old school. He recently underwent some sort of serious brain surgery which couldn't have been pleasant but he battled back to re-assume his duties at The New York Times. What he meant to say is that conventional sports reportage used to have to pass through distinct channels at a newspaper -- through an editor; through a slot editor -- facts were checked, spellings were checked (time permitting) and some consistent standard of literary decorum was applied. Now -- in the blogging age -- anybody can just post just about anything.....rumor, innuendo, opinion, personal animus.....and it's heralded as "journalism." It's oftentimes the histrionics and hyperbole of sports-talk-radio applied to the print medium and it rarely approaches the reasoned and researched efforts of longtime scribes like Mr. Chass who have always been answerable to a system of editorial checks and balances. Unregulated bloggers answer to no one except other unregulated bloggers. His wisecrack about "his wife blogging sports" was just that, a wisecrack. Leave it to the politically-correct-police of the Internet world to turn his well-meant assessment of "Sports Blogs Gone Wild" into a sexist issue.

4-03-2008 @ 11:39PM

bizzo5000 said...

The day they let women on the internets is the day I give up the onion on my belt.

4-07-2008 @ 10:16AM

william said...

*"Unregulated bloggers answer to no one except other unregulated bloggers."*

That's nonsense. Unfortunately, it's the same sentiment expressed by guys like Rick Reilly who resent that "people living in their mom's basement" can write as well if not better than they can.

The fact of the matter is "unregulated bloggers" are beholden to the most important and most discerning constituency...readers. Good blogs thrive and crappy blogs clog up cyberspace. It seems as if guys like Chass resent that people have the freedom to seek out quality instead of having to accept what newspapers force feed to them.

Well, Mr. Chass. Good riddance. You no longer have worry about being informed.

4-10-2008 @ 1:00PM

Ron Kaplan said...

A nice piece on Chass. Maybe it's my age, but I take umbrage at all these snipes at him because he's "old school." There's a tradition to baseball that seems lost on many younger fans. I think the majority of bloggers are not "serious," that is, having the credentials to have their work read and taken seriously and I think it is to THAT segment that Chass aims his antipathy.

4-19-2008 @ 12:28AM

Rick Assad said...

Murray Chass is correct because anyone, literate or otherwise, can express their opinion. Look around, much of what's out there on the internet is garbage.
Most of these people would never be hired by The New York Times, let alone a weekly.
Chass was, and still is, one of the best baseball writers/columnists ever, and I'll personally miss his insight and love of the game.
Take care. Your long and glorious record speaks for itself.

Rick Assad