SI reporter fired for clapping at the end of the Daytona 500

[Wade91]

http://www.frontstretch.com/tbowles/32940

i think this is pretty messed up! i mean listening to DW in the booth whenever Michael Waltrip wins a race, you really wouldn't think this kinda thing would be a big deal :s

[Alexamateo]

A couple of thoughts, I think his defending his actions on twitter contributed to his firing, and in regards to DW in the broadcast booth, remember he is a color commentator for a TV broadcast, not a journalist. It's not necessarily his role to be an impartial observer. Not to say he has carte blanche mind you, but he is given some latitude.

[Wade91]

A couple of thoughts, I think his defending his actions on twitter contributed to his firing, and in regards to DW in the broadcast booth, remember he is a color commentator for a TV broadcast, not a journalist. It's not necessarily his role to be an impartial observer. Not to say he has carte blanche mind you, but he is given some latitude.
yeah, i agree defending his actions on twitter was probably where he messed up, but i've read peoples tweets to him were in his defence, as are the comments on his frontstretch.com artical about it, so firring him seemed a bit unnecessary, i dont think SI would have gotten any negative publicity from letting him keep his job, but now their likely to get quite a bit

[Don Capps]

I am not exactly sure what to think about this incident. I find myself thinking that there has to be a bit more to it than the apaprently unforgiveable sin of "clapping in the press box." I find that it is amusing that sports journalists seem to confuse themselves with actual journalists, not that many journalists seem to have much on the ball these days when it comes to doing what journalists were once supposed to be doing. But, I digress....

The "no clapping in the press box" notion does amuse me. Certainly it would be difficult to work if you had a bunch of partisan fanboys in the press box during a race, but unless what actually happened was misrepresented, it would merely reinforce the primary reasons that I stopped reading, much less subscribing to, Sports Illustrated many, many years ago. While it has been almost eons that I sat in the press box during a NASCAR race, if there were such a rule I was blissfully ignorant of it. Not that it would have mattered, given that only a few NASCAR events really attracted the number of reporters -- which is what we called before being a "journalist" replaced that word -- that would be jammed in the press box of any ACC football or basketball games back in those days.

Only Daytona, Darlington, Charlotte, Atlanta, and maybe Riverside and a few other races attracted more the than The Usual Suspects -- which was just a handful at best back then -- and those from the local press. I was a stringer who often covered races for those who had no interest in racing, generally using their byline, or simply filing a report without a byline -- I did consider changing my name to "Wire Reports" to get some credit for my stories.

At any rate, this is a somewhat curious affair, especially given that it was not NASCAR that gave him the heave-ho, which NASCAR is prone and inclined to do, given its definite lack of interest in transperency or investigative reporting into its affairs. My rather dim, jaundiced view of NASCAR and its operations that was formed many years ago has not been given any substantial reasons for change over the ensuing years. Again, I wonder what really prompted this dismissal, although the young man may not have gone as quietly as they had hoped.