WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.180 --> 00:00:03.180
The rumors apparently are true.

2
00:00:03.990 --> 00:00:08.400
Taylor Swift is friends
with Travis Kelsey.

3
00:00:08.730 --> 00:00:10.860
Taylor. She's the best.

4
00:00:11.310 --> 00:00:15.300
What else can be said about Taylor
Swift and Travis Kelsey's relationship?

5
00:00:16.770 --> 00:00:17.460
Well,

6
00:00:17.460 --> 00:00:22.260
we're about to find out because Gannet
Media hired a Taylor Swift reporter named

7
00:00:22.270 --> 00:00:24.210
Brian West. Now,

8
00:00:24.240 --> 00:00:28.500
west isn't just going to be covering
Taylor's presence at NFL Games.

9
00:00:28.620 --> 00:00:31.710
He's going to be on the Taylor
Swift beat Wherever Taylor goes,

10
00:00:31.710 --> 00:00:35.550
Brian West will be there, ready
to spread the goods. Swifty News,

11
00:00:35.850 --> 00:00:38.880
thank goodness, Deadspin Carne Phillips.

12
00:00:38.880 --> 00:00:41.220
Phillips wrote a very good
article about this hiring.

13
00:00:41.490 --> 00:00:45.120
The headline is Hiring a Taylor
Swift Reporter isn't crazy,

14
00:00:45.270 --> 00:00:48.960
but the writer's disrespectful
comments about sports journalists are

15
00:00:49.320 --> 00:00:52.170
specifically Karin takes issue,
not with the hiring of West,

16
00:00:52.170 --> 00:00:56.430
but with what West said about
sports journalism on his hiring.

17
00:00:56.430 --> 00:00:57.263
Wess said,

18
00:00:57.270 --> 00:01:01.890
I would say this position's no different
than being a sports journalist who's a

19
00:01:01.890 --> 00:01:04.560
fan of the home team. You sure about that?

20
00:01:04.920 --> 00:01:08.490
There's Taylor Swift and the
VIPs who are here watching.

21
00:01:08.520 --> 00:01:11.940
Wess goes on to elaborate on that
premise. And according to Karin,

22
00:01:11.940 --> 00:01:15.960
this is exactly the wrong way to
contextualize what sports reporters do.

23
00:01:16.290 --> 00:01:21.030
Karin writes, this is the kind of
stuff that infuriates sports writers,

24
00:01:21.060 --> 00:01:23.220
the age old view by
others in the newsroom,

25
00:01:23.230 --> 00:01:26.790
that the sports desk is the kids'
department of the publication.

26
00:01:27.210 --> 00:01:31.620
He goes on to say, also, when sports
and politics forever merged in 2016,

27
00:01:31.620 --> 00:01:33.300
due to Trump and Colin Kaepernick,

28
00:01:33.600 --> 00:01:37.920
it was sports that was leading the
nation's conversations and have been ever

29
00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:38.753
since.

30
00:01:38.790 --> 00:01:42.840
One thing I really like about Karin's
article is that he sees how important

31
00:01:42.840 --> 00:01:47.730
sports journalism can be and how
what happens in sports always

32
00:01:47.730 --> 00:01:50.310
can speak to what's happening
in the world at large.

33
00:01:50.730 --> 00:01:54.600
I can't wait to see Mr.
West's electrifying coverage
on the cutaways to Taylor

34
00:01:54.600 --> 00:01:59.280
Swift reacting to Kansas City Chiefs
touchdowns, all the jumping up and down,

35
00:01:59.280 --> 00:02:02.370
yelling and cheering for the
chiefs and her boyfriend,

36
00:02:02.550 --> 00:02:06.270
Mr. Handsome Travis Kelsey, thanks for
watching and sticking with Deadspin.