Howard Beck Left the New York Times for Bleacher Report and Turner/NBA TV
By Jason McIntyre
The state of the media in 2013: Howard Beck, one of the best NBA writers in newspapers, has left the New York Times for … Bleacher Report.
Bleacher Report, which was purchased by Turner earlier this year, has been adding NBA writers over the last few weeks, gearing up for NBA season. Among the prominent NBA writers it has plucked besides Beck: Ethan Skolnick from the Palm Beach Post (he’ll cover the Heat), and Kevin Ding from the OC Register (he’ll cover the Lakers). Bleacher Report made a run at some other very prominent names in the last few months, as well.
One thing you won’t read in the B/R press release: There will be an NBA TV and perhaps Turner television role for the trio. It is unclear how much TV they’ll do, but there definitely will be some. Here’s where newspapers will struggle to retain talent: Fox, ESPN, NBC and CBS all can promote their writers online and on TV. When you factor in TV, the pay instantly goes up. Bleacher Report, after being purchased by Turner, now can do the same.
Bleacher Report has been a punching bag for a few years for a variety of reasons – slideshows, content farm, lack of quality, etc – but a signing like Beck is sure to send shockwaves throughout the media.
The Times, meanwhile, continues to hemorrhage talent