If Derek Jeter’s The Players’ Tribune is working for the sports industry, there’s a decent chance the format could soon translate to other areas including entertainment, politics, and even business.
The website is upending the media world by giving high profile personalities – in this case athletes – a largely unfiltered platform to say what is on their minds without a reporter playing the journalistic middleman.
Operated by a small staff of producers and editors, The Players’ Tribune is also scooping other major traditional and digital media including recently breaking news about David Ortiz’s drug testing situation.
The pieces are developed from a recorded interview with a staff producer, editing is minimal (although there is fact checking), and the interviewee gets final approval as well as the byline.
Could a website overseen by a credible and respected personality that lets other celebrity types freely tell their stories and share their views – as if they were professional writers – work in other industries?
You betcha.
And that’s because it ultimately allows the participants to bypass the insatiable news media and digital masses of social media to set their own agenda.
In other words, it’s about controlling the story and narrative.
-George Sopko
Image via Pixabay