End of an Era at the NYT

Saying farewell to the NYT Sports Desk and why it matters

Sree’s newsletter is produced with Zach Peterson (@zachprague), with the Digimentors Tech Tip from Robert S. Anthony (@newyorkbob). Many thanks to our sponsor, Armory Square Ventures.

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“I’M ALL FOR PROGRESS; it’s change I cannot stand.” That’s one of my favorite sayings and I use it to assess developments in my life, work and the world around me. Am I objecting to something new just because of its newness or is it really a bad idea?

A couple of weeks ago, I was initially upset to read that the print sports section of the Los Angeles Times was getting rid of box scores, standings, game stories and TV listings. “We are making this change to adapt to how readers follow news and sporting events each day while managing rising production costs,” the LAT’s memo said. It promised “more innovative reporting, in-depth profiles, unique examinations of the way teams operate, investigations, our distinct columnists’ voices, elite photography and more.”

While I disliked the idea of these changes, they seemed to make sense as the paper attempts to create “a daily sports magazine.”

Of course, the LAT update was nothing compared to the shocking news that came the next day: The New York Times was shutting down its standalone sports desk, outsourcing its coverage to The Athletic, a sports site it had bought for $550 million last year. The NYT’s memo promised to focus “more directly on distinctive, high-impact news and enterprise journalism” and that sports staff members would be moved to other desks and would continue to “produce the signature general interest journalism about sports — exploring the business, culture and power structures of sports, particularly through enterprising reporting and investigations — for which they are so well known.”

This news came as a shock to most staff members and readers, though it was assumed that the purchase of the Athletic would mean changes eventually. Even though the paper promised no layoffs among the sports staffers, the paper’s union is fighting back:

“The Times Guild has jurisdiction over journalism jobs at The Times, yet the company is claiming it has the right to subcontract to itself and have nonunion workers do union work without the same job protections, wages and other benefits we have fought so hard to secure. These claims are preposterous on their face and a brazen attempt at union-busting.”

To those who don’t care about sports or about newspapers, this may seem like the typical navel-gazing and self-obsession of journalists, but what happens at the NYT matters as it sets much of the agenda for US news publications.

You can find plenty of hot takes about whether this is a good move for the paper or not. For #NYTReadalong, the weekly Digimentors show I host and Neil Parekh executive produces, we decided to focus on saying goodbye to the NYT Sports Desk and celebrating its amazing history.

We assembled an all-star set of former NYT sports journalists:

• Lawrie Mifflin, former sportswriter and deputy sports editor

• Claire Smith, the paper’s first national baseball columnist

• George Vecsey, former Sports of the Times columnist

• Bill Rhoden, former Sports of the Times columnist

You can watch the entire 90-minute episode below. or you can watch each of their opening thoughts in individual clips below. You can also see, separately, Neil’s intros of the speakers in the video at the bottom.

Here are two other items to read. David Dunlap, curator of the Museum of the Times, discussed some of the history of the sports section and Tom Jolly, print editor of the NYT; former sports editor; and multiple-time #NYTReadalong guest, sent us this email:

Hope you enjoyed the show and will join us Sundays from 8:30-10 am ET on my Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn or on Digimentors.group. You’ll find three years’ worth of archives at this link (we’ve been reading the paper out loud on social for 7+ years now!). The Readalong is sponsored by Muck Rack. Interested in sponsorship opportunities? Being a guest? Email sree@digimentors.group and neil@digimentors.group.

— Sree / Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn | YouTube

⚒️ NEW: Digimentors Tools Kit: People are always asking me for recommendations for gadgets, gizmos, websites, etc. So my Digimentors team has created a tools kit we will keep updating. Take a look!

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DIGIMENTORS TECH TIP: Canon Loads the Bases with Deep Mirrorless Camera Lineup

By Robert S. Anthony
Each week, veteran tech journalist Bob Anthony shares a tech tip you don’t want to miss. Follow him @newyorkbob.

Are standalone cameras doomed? Not so fast. Yes, today’s flagship cell phones can take awesome photos and immersive videos, but even moderately priced mirrorless digital cameras can provide the extra image control you need to take your photography to a higher level.

Ever since camera companies like Canon and Nikon decided to abandon digital single-lens-reflex (DSLR) cameras—those with internal mirrors which flipped out of the way of the sensor as you took a photo—in favor of smaller, lighter mirrorless models, many new units have been added to the lower-priced tiers of their lineups.

A recent Canon press event at Yankee Stadium in New York provided a chance to test a Canon EOS R10 mirrorless, which has a 24.2-megapixel APS-C-size sensor, can shoot 4K video and can take up to 15 still frames per second. The unit, introduced in 2022 with the EOS R7, sits at the “prosumer” level in Canon’s mirrorless lineup above the consumer-grade EOS R50 and EOS R100, but well below professional, full-frame-sensor units like the far more expensive EOS R6 Mark II and EOS R3.

The compact, lightweight EOS R10 is well-suited as travel camera and can use the same Canon RF lenses as the full-frame Canon EOS R-series cameras, albeit with a 1.6 “crop factor” due to its smaller sensor. In other words, a 50mm RF lens made for full-frame cameras will act as an 80mm lens on the EOS R10. Canon’s line of lightweight RF-S- lenses made specifically for APS-C cameras is currently a short one with only three entries.

At the stadium event, the EOS R10 was tested with a Canon RF100-400mm F5.6-8 IS USM lens and a Canon RF24-240mm F4-6.3 IS USM lens. Overall, the R10 performed well, selecting and locking on the correct focus points—like the way it locked onto the catcher crouching between the batter and the umpire—and maintained good exposure and color control as the sun set and the stadium lights took over.

For users stepping down from a larger Canon model, the small EOS R10 might take some getting used to, but the controls were easy to access and the lenses used didn’t seem too front-heavy—a problem which would probably crop up with larger lenses.

No, the EOS R10 wouldn’t be the right choice for a professional sports photographer covering the game. A full-frame camera with an expensive, high-performance zoom lens would be the way to go. Also, the EOS R10 lacks in-body image stabilization, which means that unless you’re using a lens that has built-in image stabilization like the ones tested here, your telephoto shots may require a tripod or a monopod.

Still the EOS R10, with its ample capabilities and access to Canon’s RF and older EF (with an adapter) lenses, makes for an attractive entry point to high-end photography.

TheCanon EOS R10 is sold alone ($979),with a CanonRF-S18-45mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM lens ($1,099), aCanon R10 RF-S18-150mm F3.5-6.3 IS STM lens ($1,379) or aspart of a Canon Content Creator Kit with the 18-45mm lens, a microphone and a tripod ($1,199).

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And don’t forget…
🤖 I’m now offering workshops about AI, ChatGPT, etc. They’re 20 minutes to 3 hours long, remote or in-person. No audience is too big or too small. If you know of any opportunities to present these (customized for businesses, nonprofits, schools, etc), LMK: sree@digimentors.group. Here’s the brochure to my non-scary guide to AI: http://bit.ly/sreeai2023