Is This Responsible Journalism?

[keith crime 8]

If you all think this is too mean i'll take it down from the site, but I'm just trying to be amusingDon't Call Me OpieDon’t Call Me Opie Things certainly have changed. Poker is no longer the province of gunfighters and rogues. What fun is it thinking about Doc Holliday and Wild Bill Hickock, when their favorite pastime has been taken over by the MIT Blackjack Team? Sigh. Today’s $5000 No Limit Hold’em winner, 21 year old James Mackey is about to walk into a bank with a check for $730,740. The bank teller will then call the bank manager. The manager will call the bank President. The President will call the FBI. Fingerprints will be checked. Why? Because through no fault of his own Mackey will be getting carded at bars for at least the next ten years. There’s just no getting around this. The diminutive Mackey looks just like Ron Howard, but not the Richie Cunningham, Ron Howard. The Opie Taylor, Ron Howard, and the young one at that, the episodes before his voice broke. http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/20...o-limit-holdem/ He obviously has game. He took down the likes of Main Event table finalTable-ists Michael Binger and Tex Barch like he had someplace else to be. The whole final table lasted 48 hands. After the win, Aunt Bee and Barney Fife took Mackey to Circus Circus, where they ordered up some prostitutes and blow and celebrated taking down the biggest first prize of the Series so far. I’m sorry. It’s clearly envy on my part. I just can’t see Mackey performing well in the Old West. What would James Mackey do when Johnny Ringo stood up and accused him of cheating? What would James Mackey do when he was playing with Doyle and Sailor Roberts and they had guns pulled to their heads? (Well, probably the same thing as Doyle and Sailor actually, fork over his dough. He’d probably actually be in better shape, since the thieves would probably mistake him for the drink boy. “Dance, Spider, Dance … Big Deal, so he got shot in the foot … Take him to Ben Casey. Let him crawl like he crawls for the drinks.” Hey, James, great win baby, wanna back me? 1 $ 730,740 James Mackey 2 $ 448,892 Stuart Fox 3 $ 295,245 Michael Binger 4 $ 194,319 William McMahon 5 $ 140,091 Karga Holt 6 $ 108,457 Nick Schulman 7 $ 81,343 Jan Sorensen 8 $ 60,254 Tex Barch 9 $ 43,684 Michael Gracz

[bull62 0]

Yeah, he's pretty Opie-like. Responsible journalism be damned.

[Flushgarden 0]

the text is cut off on the right...

[keith crime 8]

the text is cut off on the right...

sorry we're having problems with firefox trying to fix - it's ok in explorer tho

[H_Factor73 2]

If you all think this is too mean i'll take it down from the site, but I'm just trying to be amusingDon't Call Me Opie

None of the poker sites that have popped up in the last four years value responsible journalism. Plain and simple. All sites, including Card Player and Bluff, are all out to make a buck, not to forward the fourth estate.

[bengy3 0]

That is absolutely horrendous journalism. If you have any desire for ethical/responsible journalism take it down.

[finztotheleft 0]

I think anyone in the public eye, for any reason, nowadays has to have a thick skin. Just the same, I don't think I'd be too happy if I was Mackey. I'm sure the kid knows that he looks twelve, no need to rub it in. It might be the last interview he'll give pokernews

[Czech Razor 0]

The writing isn't very good for starters. "Things certainly have changed. Poker is no longer the province of gunfighters and rogues. What fun is it thinking about Doc Holliday and Wild Bill Hickock, when their favorite pastime has been taken over by the MIT Blackjack Team? Sigh."That has no place in there. You talk about the Old West and then insert that? No. "The diminutive Mackey looks just like Ron Howard, but not the Richie Cunningham, Ron Howard. The Opie Taylor, Ron Howard, and the young one at that, the episodes before his voice broke."That's way too clumsy. Tighten up the wording and give your joke more punch to it. "He took down the likes of Main Event table final Table-ists Michael Binger and Tex Barch like he had someplace else to be."That's awkward, too. "He’d probably actually be in better shape, since the thieves would probably mistake him for the drink boy."Again, awkward. Not trying to nitpick but I'm operating under the assumption that this site wants to grow and acquire a steady group of visitors so the article really needs to be tightened up. Anyways, I'm sure Mackey himself won't care - he just won $700,000+ and it's not like this article is coming from one of the big poker publications. I'd just decide which side of the fence you want to be on - writing an article about another young kid coming out of nowhere and winning a big event, or making fun of him for having a babyface and high voice. I'd probably pick one time period to reference, too. In the last paragraph you bring up the Old West again, then jump to Doyle's early days, and then make a Goodfellas reference. Given that poker from the Old West is rarely talked about, you might want to think about writing this as if Mackey strolled into an Amvets or Knights of Columbus in West Texas and pulled up a chair next to young versions of Brunson, Amarillo Slim, Puggy Pearson, and some fictional grizzled characters. Or something like that.

[Fluffdog87 2]

That is absolutely horrendous journalism. If you have any desire for ethical/responsible journalism take it down.

I hope you did not write this. If so take it down I'd say.

[Czech Razor 0]

That is absolutely horrendous journalism. If you have any desire for ethical/responsible journalism take it down.

Because there's never been an Op-Ed piece written in the history of journalism where ethics were put aside for the purpose of being satirical, cutting, or otherwise. Lighten up. Seriously. 1. There's no ethical dilemma here. 2. You're a knob. I can say this will full confidence because if something like that article made you write an overinflated criticism then you clearly are wound too tight for this forum. If the website promotes the fact that it brings you poker news on a serious front, the article obviously needs to be taken down. Otherwise, see my first post in this thread for further comment regarding that. Horrendous journalism from an ethical/responsible standpoint is when the Boston Herald put a giant picture of a dead girl on the front page after the Boston Police shot her in the eye with a rubber bullet following a playoff game. Maybe that'll put things in perspective for ya.

[bengy3 0]

Because there's never been an Op-Ed piece written in the history of journalism where ethics were put aside for the purpose of being satirical, cutting, or otherwise. Lighten up. Seriously. 1. There's no ethical dilemma here. 2. You're a knob. I can say this will full confidence because if something like that article made you write an overinflated criticism then you clearly are wound too tight for this forum. If the website promotes the fact that it brings you poker news on a serious front, the article obviously needs to be taken down. Otherwise, see my first post in this thread for further comment regarding that. Horrendous journalism from an ethical/responsible standpoint is when the Boston Herald put a giant picture of a dead girl on the front page after the Boston Police shot her in the eye with a rubber bullet following a playoff game. Maybe that'll put things in perspective for ya.

Do you know anything about journalism? It's something I take pretty seriously as a large portion of journalism in the United States is bad to horrible. Do you even know the difference between an op-ed piece and reporting on event? What the OP posted clearly wasn't an op-ed piece. It was reporting on the World Series event. That's the ethical dilemma you said is non-existent. It'd be like if a reporter for the Boston Herald would have spend his entire article covering the game lambasting Bonds for using steroids and arguing he doesn't belong in the HOF, with just minimal reporting on the 10-2 Red Sox win. I've seen many links to the Web site through FCP. It comes across as a site that wants to be a legit source for news/tournament updates in the poker community. I remember everyone in here being completely up in arms when Bluff wrote what they did about DN in Tunica. That was fine. But when it's about a different player it's time to, "lighten up" apparently. Yes, that Boston case you referenced is on a much more serious subject than this, but both are examples of bad journalism. I get the feeling that the writers for this Web site are learning a lot of what they know on the fly, and teaching them that it's okay to publish stuff like that because it's not about murder isn't the way to go.I may have been a bit harsh in what I wrote, but my point was right on. The writers for the Web site seem to really want to learn about journalism, and constructive criticism would have been a better option. That didn't come to my mind after a night of drinking though.

[Pot Odds RAC 23]

Do you know anything about journalism? It's something I take pretty seriously as a large portion of journalism in the United States is bad to horrible. Do you even know the difference between an op-ed piece and reporting on event? What the OP posted clearly wasn't an op-ed piece. It was reporting on the World Series event. That's the ethical dilemma you said is non-existent. It'd be like if a reporter for the Boston Herald would have spend his entire article covering the game lambasting Bonds for using steroids and arguing he doesn't belong in the HOF, with just minimal reporting on the 10-2 Red Sox win. I've seen many links to the Web site through FCP. It comes across as a site that wants to be a legit source for news/tournament updates in the poker community. I remember everyone in here being completely up in arms when Bluff wrote what they did about DN in Tunica. That was fine. But when it's about a different player it's time to, "lighten up" apparently. Yes, that Boston case you referenced is on a much more serious subject than this, but both are examples of bad journalism. I get the feeling that the writers for this Web site are learning a lot of what they know on the fly, and teaching them that it's okay to publish stuff like that because it's not about murder isn't the way to go.I may have been a bit harsh in what I wrote, but my point was right on. The writers for the Web site seem to really want to learn about journalism, and constructive criticism would have been a better option. That didn't come to my mind after a night of drinking though.

Ummm......huh?

[Balloon guy 158]

Then again with a target audience of .005% of the population, they probably wanted to see if they could attract a couple dozen new readers?For the record, I win a bracelet event and $700K+, you can write whatever you want about me.

[a__thekevlar__2 0]

tl;drbut id say its fine

[Miguel McHarris 0]

A light hearted jab, not a big deal.

[profxavier9 0]

Then again with a target audience of .005% of the population, they probably wanted to see if they could attract a couple dozen new readers?For the record, I win a bracelet event and $700K+, you can write whatever you want about me.

what if its 600K+? i guess we better watch what we say.

[Balloon guy 158]

what if its 600K+? i guess we better watch what we say.

Yea $600K is normal, so it needs to be at least 7 for me to get excited

[FileError404 0]

[EStormOk 0]

Then again with a target audience of .005% of the population, they probably wanted to see if they could attract a couple dozen new readers?For the record, I win a bracelet event and $700K+, you can write whatever you want about me.

I agree. If I am in this situation please feel free to refer to me as an overweight Louie Anderson!