Anyone who works in journalism long enough quickly learns that the sports guys have the best temperament for political reporting. Unlike the reporters on the official political beat, the sports guys are wonky (all those stats and rules), know all the players (not just the major ones), work hard to chase down stories instead of hoping a source will come to them (no access-journalism careerism in sports), and aren’t afraid to bite the hand that feeds them (be it team owners or their own management). They also tend to be more engaging and colourful and passionate writers.
When a sports reporter switches to politics, hang on for the ride. You’ll get a true pitbull like Charlie Pierce or Keith Olbermann.
It remained the usual mix of good and mediocre writers as before, but once Denton was out and the new corporate management was in the clock was ticking on how long the overall irreverent attitude of the political brands would last. It was either going to be beigeified or shut down entirely or both.
I wouldn’t characterize him as a “reporter”. Guys a pundit who made his nut trying to be the left wing O’Reilly. And his career is about where it deserves to be.
But yeah sports folks are often very good at harder news when they get the chance. That’s how Nate Silver got started, guy was a sports statistician. Business and financial reporters are also pretty goof when they switch to politics. Usually cause they’re very good at unpacking shit like shell companies and have the numbers background to properly understand where money is coming from. Plus hardcore financial reporting tends to operate antagonisticly without a lot of access journalism. Though general “business news” is mostly celebrity gossip for the investment class.
But when its not a sports reporter but the entire sports publication that’s covering things better that’s a whole nother thing. I pretty much only know what Deadspin is because of their political coverage.
Feel free to edit his Wikipedia page, then. He was a sports reporter for 20 years before he switched to political writing, and is a textbook example of what I was discussing. Nate Silver is another good example, so thanks for adding that.
If you don’t want to characterise someone like that as having been a reporter before switching to commentary (per my orginal comment), this is the sentence you’ll want to edit.
Olbermann spent the first 20 years of his career in sports journalism.
And he personally interviewed folks like Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan on the court after basketball games back in the day, not just sitting at a desk flanked by big monitors. Thus, “reporter.”
