on their smartphone. In journalism, on its sixth birthday, the Huffington Post had more unique visitors than the New York Times, which was 164 years old. Bleacher Report, an online blog written by 2,000 people, now has 22 million unique users each month, enough to rival CNN Sports.Associated Press last year started to use algorithms to computerize the production of their earnings reports.
King Kaufman: OK. Bleacher Report has been an education for me after more than 20 years in this business. And I wanna tell you a little bit about why that's been. The epiphany that Bleacher Report has taught me, and working there has been like learning a foreign language.And what really dawned on me is that journalism is practiced as an art form. I don't think the people, I don't think those of us who do it would use those words. We wouldn't say
of the things the market demands is quality. And Bleacher Report has in the last six months, I'm not exactly sure how long 'cause I've only been there for two months, but it's why I was hired, is in this effort to raise the quality of the writing at Bleacher Report. Why are we doing that? 'Cause the market's demanding it.
quality of the writing at Bleacher Report. Why are we doing that? 'Cause the market's demanding it. The Bleacher Report reached a point where it couldn't make that next level of deal, whatever company was saying, "We're not gonna put our logo next to your logo 'cause you guys are publishing crap." And so, OK, that's the market speaking. And the readers complaining on Twitter, complaining everywhere, complaining in our comments.
that way, you'll do nothing but lowest common denominator crap and it'll be horrible. And a lot of what Bleacher Report has done has been lowest common denominator crap and it's been horrible. But what Bleacher Report has learned, and what I've learned, is one of the things the market demands is quality.
And Bleacher Report has in the last six months, I'm not exactly sure how long 'cause I've only been there for two months, but it's why I was hired, is in this effort to raise the quality of the writing at Bleacher Report. Why are we doing that? 'Cause the market's demanding it. The Bleacher Report reached a point where it couldn't make that next level of deal, whatever company was saying, "We're not gonna put our logo next to your logo 'cause you
guys are publishing crap." And so, OK, that's the market speaking. And the readers complaining on Twitter, complaining everywhere, complaining in our comments. "This is a crap article." "Bleacher Report is terrible." It was not a decision made by the CEO who got tired of his friend's saying at parties, "Boy, Bleacher Report's content is terrible." It was strictly a market-based decision to increase the quality. And I was hired as part of that effort to educate our writers.
You see the mountain that looks like Mount Fuji there? And sometimes there would be bleachers with fake people. And as I was playing the Atari, I would wonder, what happens to those characters when I'm not logged in?
And sure enough, at 6 o'clock, the gun went off. And there was a train with bleachers in it that was loaded with spectators. And the train would follow the race all the way up.
Mr. Malinowski is a sports and features writer based out of the Bay Area and has written pieces for such publications as "Wired," "Rolling Stone," "Slate," and "The New Republic." He was a reporter for Bleacher Report, where he covered the Golden State Warriors, and he is also a frequent guest on NPR'S "Only a Game." He has been recognized three times by Best American Sports Writing, which is an annually published anthology of the finest sports journalism in the US.
Male Presenter: So, welcome everyone. Today we are very fortunate to have three big-name Bay Area sports journalists with us. Closest to me, we have King Kaufman, who spent several years at Salon.com and is currently working on Bleacher Report. Just to his side is Ethan Sherwood Strauss, or
what he's referring to. King Kaufman: OK. Bleacher Report has been an education for me after more than 20 years in this business. And I wanna tell you a little bit about why that's been. The epiphany that Bleacher Report has taught me, and working there has been like learning a foreign language.
Good idea. So I'm sure you guys have done a lot of other stuff that was really clever, but just didn't see the light of day. One of my favorite things about it is under the bleachers -- these aluminum bleachers , noisy, creaky, aluminum, high school-style bleachers they still have that run along
It was written as the Yankees. The guy who hits the shark into the bleachers for the home run was supposed to be Derek Jeter. You couldn't get Derek?
lady and I realized her tongue was pierced I knew that time had passed me by I was of these long row of booths at the top of the bleachers and we'd go out there
movie coming out, but we're gonna run three feature stories this week about Megan Fox. That's a marketplace decision. Bleacher Report is the opposite of that. To Bleacher Report, what is a good story is the one that gets the most hits. And at least in the early part of the company, the early history of the company, which has only been live for about three years I think, the quality of it has been secondary.
It's very hard to say what it is, other than I think Ethan is an example I've used and I can use some other people, is you just go find a place to write if you're gonna write and someone discovers you. And Bleacher Report is gonna be one of those places. And whether that morphs into something bigger as a reporter or morphs into something at another website, probably not a newspaper.
I might have been handed a totally different life. This place might have been the setting for my teen memories-- not the bleachers at my underfunded public school, not the parking lot at the abandoned bowling alley in the wee hours of the morning, not the hospice bed in my parents' living room.
Mostly beer-loving, baseball fan-looking guys, so fat guys. The schtick was, you're in the bleachers , holding at a baseball game. And you hear the sound of a home run crack off the bat.
if anybody knows my name, because I wrote a sports column there for seven years. And I recently, two months ago, took a job at Bleacher Report, which Tim mentioned. So, sorry. And the person who runs the Bleacher Report Twitter feed, which is not me, likes to go back and forth with Tim. I think that's what he's referring to.
And two days after the ad ran, we had a debate in a gymnasium. The place was jammed full, and people on the floor and in the bleachers . When she entered the room, she got a standing ovation.
lady and I realized her tongue was pierced I knew that time had passed me by I was we want you to meet and I can see her throwing me over the rail of the bleachers up there I
that professor stenzel even had children 20 pairs of fathers and sons stood before what seemed to be an umpire who had just finished dividing the participants into teams dad motioned to us to sit on the bleachers with the girls one girl a little older than me sat down beside us she pointed to dad and asked if he was my father i
The next generation of sports writers is Ethan, or is, maybe not him, though. I'd be disappointed if it was. It's a lot different. Well, Bleacher Report, which is one of my arch enemies, by the way, and I don't think King is specifically representative of that, or maybe he is. But that's part of the fun for it for me, too. Bleacher Report has attacked me and I've attacked them and we've gone back and forth.
I'd be disappointed if it was. It's a lot different. Well, Bleacher Report, which is one of my arch enemies, by the way, and I don't think King is specifically representative of that, or maybe he is. But that's part of the fun for it for me, too. Bleacher Report has attacked me and I've attacked them and we've gone back and forth. And again, I don't know if it's been King or not, but it's OK. I don't mind it 'cause if I can't stand it, then I shouldn't do it. And if they can't stand it, they shouldn't
I went, eventually, after one or two other jobs, I went to Salon.com, where I worked for 14 years until this past January. And I did a lot of things there. Most of what, if anybody knows my name, because I wrote a sports column there for seven years. And I recently, two months ago, took a job at Bleacher Report, which Tim mentioned. So, sorry. And the person who runs the Bleacher Report Twitter feed, which is not me, likes to go back and forth with Tim. I think that's
for them to get some training and get some feedback and get their work in front of a pretty large audience. And it's just been fascinating to me. So, that's my spiel on Bleacher Report on the state of journalism today. I don't know where we wanna go from here. If anybody has any questions for us, I guess. Do we have any questions from the web?
And there are only so many of those spots available. And now, everybody's a newspaper. Everybody's a publisher and you start writing your own blog, or you start writing for some place like Bleacher Report or ESPY Nation or any one of a number of places that are hosting writers and you get your work out there.
like I have something to offer that eventually I'll be able to make money on it somehow become a star in the field. And even in sports, I think the demand is ever-growing. And even with, at Bleacher Report with this big tent , come write for us. We have a hard time. We're publishing five, six,
I've grown to know this team and this franchise, this organization, the Bay Area well enough to be able to do that, hopefully. And I, I skipped a lot of classes when I was an undergrad at Northwestern University. I took the El train and went to a lot of Cubs games, sat in the bleachers . I'm gonna sound old but the bleacher tickets were only 6 bucks back then. But it was optimism every year and every year you hoped maybe this is the year they'll do it. Maybe this is the group of guys even though
And you look for visual clues, where people are. For example, at the inaugural entrance, you had the scaffoldings that they built bleachers on. And over time, more and more people are climbing onto those scaffolding.
'But we're still a high school. That means gum, graffiti, cell phone, sex ed, stupid pranks, students smoking weed behind the bleachers .' She tipped me a wink. 'If it makes you feel any better here, I'll show you something magical.' She pulled an impressive folding knife from the pocket of her jeans.
Inflammation is intended for a good thing. What's the effect? It's the effect of having a bunch of Marines Brigade in the bleachers all drinking beer.
the floor and he started dancing. And then all of a sudden, all the teachers came dashing off the bleachers and they all had t-shirts-- the school is called Heritage Middle School--the