The Worst of the Blogs: The Effects of Poor Journalism

On June 8, a blogger at MidwestSportsFans.com, wrote an article. In that article, JRod, the handle under which the article was written, stated that the performance of Raul Ibanez this year should raise eyebrows and call into question whether or not he has been taking performance enhancing drugs. The article provided no facts, simply speculation and conjecture written by someone clearly in need of attention.

The following is an excerpt from the article: "Maybe the 37-year old Ibanez trained differently this offseason with the pressure of joining the Phillies’ great lineup and is in the best shape he’s ever been in. And maybe that training included… Well, you know where that one was going, but I’d prefer to leave it as unstated speculation."

That is irresponsible journalism at its finest. In response to these allegations, Raul Ibanez said that he wouldn't let just anyone harm his reputation--that he would fight back. I, for one, hope he does. I hope that Raul Ibanez sues "JRod" for libel and takes him to court. Will he win? Unlikely. It will be hard to him to prove malice on the part of MidwestSportsFans. However, he should make a statement to the world that there should be a higher level of journalistic ethics not just for the mainstream media, but for new media like MidwestSportsFans--as Ken Rosenthal called it today on ESPN's Outside The Lines, "a simple code of decency."

"JRod" should be ashamed of the slanderous article he wrote and should hope that he doesn't end up losing money in the process because I'm sure he's already lost a lot of respect.