Syracuse.com - Syracuse graduate at Sochi Olympics responds to criticism of her dating athletes

[HuntingNY-News]

Without explanation, honesty and openness in its content, what purpose do the news media serve?

A 2013 graduate of Syracuse University who is pursuing a master's in Information Management, Brittany Legasey is currently working as a volunteer press assistant for the International Olympics Committee at the XXII Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

By Brittany Legasey | Contributing writer

Less than 24 hours of being posted, my short piece on dating athletes had 49 comments and 208 Facebook likes.

More than a week after being posted, my introductory piece on the philosophies of my Olympic experience had one comment and 96 likes. The comment was from my boyfriend's grandmother.

The writing that I have been contributing to Syracuse.com was not intended to be journalism. It was intended to be first-person explanation and reflection. It was intended to share my experiences here on the ground in Sochi with those interested back in the States.

The news media have and will continue to post human interest stories like the one that I wrote about dating athletes because people will read it. People will comment on it.

In the age of online journalism, eyeballs on a page equals dollars because news agencies generate revenue from advertisers and advertisers pay based on the number of eyeballs.

My suggestion to those who disapproved of my writing and/or my behavior: stop buying into the system if you don't like what you're reading. You can't expect a news organization to produce content of a different nature if you are encouraging it with comments and helping the organization profit all the while.

This social content is obviously what the masses prefer reading about - the traction it received compared to my first piece is evidence enough.

The story was written with the intention of explaining how people my age are meeting each other. Tinder and other similar apps are not only how people are meeting each other here at the Olympics, but everywhere.

Tinder is an extremely popular smartphone application - so popular that a Forbes article reported that Tinder users swipe 350 million times a day (a swipe is how you demonstrate whether or not you are interested in someone or not). I'm not an isolated user, so to speak. I wouldn't be able to use the app if other people weren't using it as well, because then there would be no one to swipe!

Let's be realistic. Let's not judge one young woman for dating using a smart-phone app - because in this day and age dating begins with an online presence.

Let's not enforce gender stereotypes by passing judgement on what one young woman does while volunteering abroad - because shouldn't men and women be held to the same dating standards?

Let's not judge one woman for being open about her experiences upon the request of her local newspaper - because ultimately the news media exists to provide the public with information, information from which we can collectively discuss and make decisions.

Without explanation, honesty and openness in its content, what purpose do the news media serve?

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog