In Reply to: Bill Plaschke wins the 2024 Red Smith Award posted by Dr.Bruin on April 21, 2024 at 00:40:34
writer. He is particularly good at the emotional, pull on your heartstrings writing, that isn't often found on the sports page, but is the staple of human interest sections.
His research, however, is often shallow, incomplete, and sometimes downright wrong, an unforgivable sin for old-school journalists.
But his greatest failing as a writer, IMHO, is he doesn't seem to know his audience, or appreciate that his audience is less narrow than the one he typically appears to be writing to.
Certainly, some artists don't care about their audience, that's part of their art, but for a mass-media writer, that is another unforgivable sin.
The fact that Plaschke dominates the awards in this day and age only serves to show how far sports journalism has fallen from the days of Red Smith, Jim Murray, and even Allan Malamud.