The Circuitous Life of a Rumor
Consider the following:
- Nov 27 (JST): Sponichi publishes a blurb with information from Takashi Saito’s agent, saying that about eight teams are in on Saito. Four teams are named as suitors, all of which seem plausbile.
- Nov 29 (PST): I make note of the interest in Saito in a set of bullet points about him and a couple other free agents.
- Nov 29 (CST): MLB Trade Rumors picks up my post.
- Nov 29: The story makes its way into the US media, including Phil Rogers’ Chicago Tribune mention of the Cubs and White Sox interest in Saito.
- Dec 1 (JST): Sanspo publishes a story, citing the Chicago Tribune, saying that the Chicago teams are interested in Saito.
So this rumor, which is entirely reasonable, has come full circle: it originated in Japan, made its way via the blogosphere into the US media, and wound up getting repeated in a different Japanese publication. This isn’t meant to be self-congratulatory, but I think it demonstrates the position of social media.
01/12/2009 at 6:47 pm Permalink
Congratulations!
02/12/2009 at 12:12 am Permalink
Yeah, I noticed that HardballTimes also picked it up. But I guess the Tribune picking it up gave the rumour extra validity for Sanspo, which is ironic as it originated as a Sponichi rumour. In this case it’s Saito and it’s a realistic scenario, but this could happen with a wacky scenario if a similar circle happens for someone like say, Hideki Matsui :p
02/12/2009 at 1:12 am Permalink
The same thing happened last year with Tazawa. I collected a bunch of info from the Japanese press, translated it into English, and then it wound up in the Washington Post. The some publication in Japan (can’t remember which one) published an article saying “the Washington Post said this about Tazawa!” but it was all rehashed from Japanese sources. The story there was that the Post was writing about Tazawa, rather than the information in the article.
Matsui is a surprisingly controversial figure. You should have seen the media backlash after I regurgitated the Nikkan Sports article about the Red Sox being interested in him.