The backlash to Ed Sherman’s article about Jason La Canfora tweeting out draft picks before they are announced on television tonight was quite perplexing to me. In fact, the entire issue surrounding “draft spoilers” and spoilers on social media in general is one of the most overblown things in today’s sporting culture. I would call it a controversy, but using that word lends the debate over tipping picks credence that it doesn’t deserve.
ESPN and NFL Network have made it clear that they will do everything they can to not tip picks during tonight’s television coverage. Why? So they can preserve the drama that is the NFL draft as a television event. Notwithstanding the actual function of selecting college players to fill NFL rosters that the draft provides, millions of people watch it because it has been turned into a made for television event. The draft, with its green room shots, human interest stories, and intrigue surrounding the wheeling and dealing of NFL franchises, is more entertainment than anything else. If those networks are committed to that idea and don’t want their reporters giving out information that could negatively affect that entertainment value, that is their prerogative.
Reporters like CBS’s Jason La Canfora, who do not work for ESPN or NFL Network, are under no obligation to protect the entertainment value of the draft. And the fact that there would be any kind of backlash towards him, or any other reporter that chooses to share draft picks ahead of time on their Twitter page, is quite frankly absurd.
What is Jason La Canfora supposed to do – ask permission from each and every one of his followers to tweet news? This is a wild misinterpretation of the real value of Twitter and his job as a reporter. The value of Twitter is in instantaneous breaking news as things happen in real time and not delayed for television. Would the people complaining on Twitter be happier if the Olympics went back to solely a tape delayed primetime format as well?
The job of a reporter, at least as I understand it in my own amateur sense, is to share information that the wider public does not have access to. It is, as Webster’s defines, “to watch for and write about the newsworthy aspects or developments of” or “to give an account of.” Seeing as how the NFL Draft is a major event, being the first person to report a pick is certainly a newsworthy development.
Not only that, but having and sharing that proprietary information helps to build La Canfora’s credibility as an NFL insider. As someone whose job it is to report the inner workings of the league, he would be doing himself and his network a disservice were he to neglect doing his job for your entertainment purposes. Furthermore, doing so to protect the television event put on by his competitors would be a brainless self-inflicted wound.
It’s all well and good to want to watch the draft tonight as that entertainment show it is and avoid spoilers if you can. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to have that moment of suspense before names are announced. Nor is there anything wrong with wanting news instantly, that’s what Twitter is so good at after all, isn’t it?
But if you choose to step on Twitter tonight during the NFL Draft hoping to avoid any spoilers, then you have nobody to blame but yourself. Even if you block, mute, or unfollow every NFL insider who has ever lived, there’s nothing stopping your pal Steve from college retweeting someone random like Paul Allen into your timeline. Face reality – it’s going to happen.
And for that matter, stop complaining about any spoilers on Twitter. I know you’re SUPER ANGRY HULK SMASH about having the ending to the latest episode of Game of Thrones revealed before you could watch it, but get over it. Last I checked, Twitter was a free social media platform where people can tweet about what they want and when they want. Do you want a world where a Twitter Czar gets to make the rules on what’s tweetable and when? If so, be careful what you wish for.
If you don’t want Twitter spoilers, don’t get on Twitter tonight. It’s really that simple.
I hate to break this news to you, oh great spoiler complainer, but Jason La Canfora does not work for you and the whimsies of your entertainment preferences. He has a job to do tonight, let him do it without all the unnecessary outrage.
Comments are closed.