Free press is not free. Democracy dies behind firewalls, as well.
Major conglomerate newspapers bought out local papers and stomped the rest out of existence to avoid competition. They realized recently, as other means came about, that the print media forum is not fiscally stable or solvent. Those small local papers across the country do more for anyone than the large USA Today's and WaPo's and NY Times, etc who pander a company line not addressing their community but only their constituents. This has created the vacuum we have politically today where people still believe Trump worked with Russia and that Hillary had no way to lose the election.
These actions by the media, specifically the newspapers are careless and have been since the Maine was sunk by the Germans at Pearl Harbor. The newspapers are finally facing what they've always deserved.
Specifically in this care, regarding sports journalism, the Stephen A Smith, and PTI and Around the Horn and all of those blowhards capitalize on drama and emotions like whining children but that is what the bases want. Newspapers are a day late and a dollar short when it comes to sports coverage. It is something special when a reporter gets a chance to cover something deeper than the headlines for a story in this field. Wawrows investigation in to Bon Jovi or Graham's story on former Bills are prime examples of good sports journalism. Simply telling the world the score from last night's game or reporting someone said something insensitive to LeBron James isn't journalism. It's salacious pandering to draw emotion and elicit a response which is unprofessional and weak.