Getting out at a good time to get out
Word on the street is Washington Post Redskins beat reporter Jason La Canfora is leaving the paper and moving to the NFL Network, which around here we lovingly refer to as the NFL (Network) since it is owned by the league and is as much a state controlled entity of the NFL as ESPravda 980 is of the Redskins.
Over his time at the Post Jason became a flash point for the Redskins community, as the paper and I use that term loosely moved to engage readers with comments and blogs, it permitted Jason to move away from straight reporting and to represent what he saw as well as what he thought. Some liked that about Jason and some did not.
Jason also ran afoul of the team itself, his confidence in his security at the Post permitted him to put the paper's imprimatur on what many Redskins fans were thinking and a few blogging about but that you would normally never see in straight media, like VINNY LIES AGAIN (I am paraphrasing here), at one point shadow general manager and Vinny Cerrato and Jason were in an ill advised flame war, Dan Snyder has spoken of scurrilous reporters clearly with Jason in mind and Ashburn court jester Larry Michael used to do a segment on the Redskins cable access show making fun of Jason specifically.
Despite the high quality of Jason's writing, the depth of his insight and the popularity of the Redskins Insider blog on the Post website, it must have made for some headaches for the editorial and managerial staff at the Post to have Jason around. I mean when the highest ranking official of the team he covers for a living will answer nothing but no comment to his questions and a third to a half of the comments on his very blog trash him for not being a fan boy or for not being objective enough or not swallowing the team's bullshit and printing it like all the other good little beat reporters, I can see how that might become a problem in a time when newspapers are starving and the Post is carrying two beat writers for the Redskins, Jason La Canfora and Jason Reid, whom I hope gets the lead beat writer position.
This move makes sense for Jason, he gets away from print, gets a chance to get on camera and talk rather than type and hopefully this move signals the NFL (Network) is serious about reporting, not afraid to bring in someone honest and no longer driven by talking heads that all seem somehow familiar.
Good luck Jason, thanks for keeping me up on the Redskins these last five years.
An archive of every Jason La Canfora piece appearing in the Washington Post print edition since July 2006 is here. Jason was the main driver of Redskins Insider located here, archives also go back to July 2006.
Jason La Canfora at Redskins Park in Ashburn: from here via here.
Over his time at the Post Jason became a flash point for the Redskins community, as the paper and I use that term loosely moved to engage readers with comments and blogs, it permitted Jason to move away from straight reporting and to represent what he saw as well as what he thought. Some liked that about Jason and some did not.
Jason also ran afoul of the team itself, his confidence in his security at the Post permitted him to put the paper's imprimatur on what many Redskins fans were thinking and a few blogging about but that you would normally never see in straight media, like VINNY LIES AGAIN (I am paraphrasing here), at one point shadow general manager and Vinny Cerrato and Jason were in an ill advised flame war, Dan Snyder has spoken of scurrilous reporters clearly with Jason in mind and Ashburn court jester Larry Michael used to do a segment on the Redskins cable access show making fun of Jason specifically.
Despite the high quality of Jason's writing, the depth of his insight and the popularity of the Redskins Insider blog on the Post website, it must have made for some headaches for the editorial and managerial staff at the Post to have Jason around. I mean when the highest ranking official of the team he covers for a living will answer nothing but no comment to his questions and a third to a half of the comments on his very blog trash him for not being a fan boy or for not being objective enough or not swallowing the team's bullshit and printing it like all the other good little beat reporters, I can see how that might become a problem in a time when newspapers are starving and the Post is carrying two beat writers for the Redskins, Jason La Canfora and Jason Reid, whom I hope gets the lead beat writer position.
This move makes sense for Jason, he gets away from print, gets a chance to get on camera and talk rather than type and hopefully this move signals the NFL (Network) is serious about reporting, not afraid to bring in someone honest and no longer driven by talking heads that all seem somehow familiar.
Good luck Jason, thanks for keeping me up on the Redskins these last five years.
An archive of every Jason La Canfora piece appearing in the Washington Post print edition since July 2006 is here. Jason was the main driver of Redskins Insider located here, archives also go back to July 2006.
Jason La Canfora at Redskins Park in Ashburn: from here via here.
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