Yesterday, I first read the news about David Robertson’s successful meeting with Dr. Andrews on River Ave. Blues. At the time, I noticed that their story had no link, and instead began with the words “The Yankees have just updated us…” I did a quick search among the local beat reporter blogs and found no mention of the story. Finally, it struck me to check Twitter. Sure enough, the Yankees PR feed had updated fans directly as to Robertson’s condition, entirely bypassing the news media apparatus.

As fans get more direct access from teams and players, it seems likely that newspapers would cut back on beat reporters. What would be their function if news can be gotten directly from the source? They would basically just function as collectors of banal quotes used to fill column space. However, illustrious RAB commenter TSJC added the following:

Perhaps Twitter will place less emphasis on the beat reporter aspect of the beat reporter, and more emphasis of the investigative journalist aspect of the beat reporter.

I don’t need Pete Abe to tell me that David Robertson will be out two weeks, I need Pete Abe to tell me how that figure was arrived at and if there was any controversy or disagreement about the figure, and if there are any potential ramificatiosn of those potential controversies or disagreements.

Essentially, social media outlets such as Twitter will kill the reporting that could be done by an idiot with a bit of access. It will actually help the careers of those who can use that access to do some investigative work, and get us data that we could never hope to get sitting at home. Of course, as commenter JMK notes, the question then becomes one of economics:

Investigative work is almost always a lengthy, costly process. How will it be funded? IJ is usually one of the first parts to be cut from a publication for the reasons already listed, and I’m not sure that the model (or lack thereof, more accurately) of blogging enables the capital for IJ to be a long-term solution. Perhaps something will come of it in the future; I could see a scenario in which reporters follow their own stories, do investigative work, and charge advertising on their blogs. Still, not many reporters could sustain that sort of risk.

I believe that there will a paradigm shift in regard to how media outlets deal with sports stories due to the proliferation of blogs and social media. With access becoming less important in terms of gathering and reporting the news, media outlets will seek to use their comparative advantage by shifting funds towards, rather than away from, investigative journalism. The ability to do that kind of work is quickly becoming the only thing that differentiates between a beat writer and an enterprising fan with a Twitter account. If newspapers do not begin using their access to produce unique work, the will die a slow and painful death.

What do you think? Does Twitter mean the end of the beat reporter? Do you think newspapers will adapt?

The closing of the Rocky Mountain News has brought a multitude of reactions from the blogging community, as another old standard in the sports world closes its doors. The real controversy has come from Fangraphs’ Dave Cameron comments on the story and Rob Neyer’s affirming those thoughts:

Sadly, newspaper demise a great time for fans

FanGraphs’ Dave Cameron ruminates:

With the Rocky Mountain News folding today, it got me thinking — where is the online baseball community headed? Between The Hardball Times and blogs like ours here at FanGraphs and Tango’s work at The Book Blog, there is a remarkable flow of tremendous content being put out simply for the sake of improving the quality of baseball knowledge available. For guys like Studes or Tango, this isn’t their career — it’s a hobby, and something they do because they love it.

The same goes true, I would suspect, for most of the new analysts we’ve seen rise up in various sites over the last year or two. From guys like Sean Smith to Sky Kalkman, Colin Wyers, Josh Kalk, Mike Fast, and all the rest, there is a deep well of talent that is advancing baseball knowledge for everyone. And they’re doing it without charging for their efforts.

Much like the open source movement in software, there’s been a revolution in the baseball community. The best content available isn’t being written in books or newspapers, or even behind subscription walls that require payments to access — the best knowledge available is free to everyone who wants it.

And, while it’s sad to watch newspapers fold and business models fail, it’s exciting to be living in an age where anyone who wants to educate themselves on the game can do so.

It’s easy to assume that every time the world changes, it’s changing for the worst. And the older one is, the easier that assumption becomes. I’m going to miss newspapers, and every time a colleague of mine loses his job, I know it could have been me and I worry for my future.

But man, this sure is a great time to be a baseball fan.

I am not so sure that I share Neyer’s enthusiasm. Yes, the proliferation of reasoned analysis and statistical exploration can be nothing but great for baseball fans. However, the reporting of stories that these writers depend on to form the basis of their articles is slowly decreasing. Blogs such as ours, RiverAveBlues, WasWatching, and the like depend just as much upon the writings of your everyday newspaper writer as they do on the blogging luminaries who do this for a hobby. I think that we may currently be living during the golden age of baseball information, where there is plenty of data coming from traditional sources as well as the statistical analysts. Let’s hope that it lasts.