SO THAT’S WHY NEWSPAPERS HAVEN’T LOST ANY READERS! AWFUL ANNOUNCING has this gem of an exchange between Michael Wilbon and Scott Van Pelt yesterday on ESPN’s new midday radio debacle Mike Tirico radio show:

SVP: “I dont know how old Jenny Carlson is, but perhaps if she’s younger and I’m not assuming but if you are a younger writer and that’s why I asked how long you’ve been at it, perhaps you’re more inclined to be more blogger…”

MW: “YES!”

SVP: “….in other words more critical than you would be to to be more towards the side of the guy in the hat wearing….that says press on it…the more journalistic. Do you buy that?”

MW: “Yes. I do buy it. And I have gone after some of our younger staffers at the Washington Post to say I don’t want to read this again. That’s not what we do. Umm, you know everybody….the notion of blogging scares the hell out of me Scott, and…..this is why. There’s no accountability….stuff isn’t edited. It just goes out there as gospel. What it is is opinion, there’s way too much rumor….”

Wilbon is dead-on. It’s no wonder that newspapers and main media websites like ESPN.com have such a stranglehold on sports fans when you consider that all sites like SbB, DSpin, KSK, WL, TBL and AOL Fanhouse have to offer is inaccuracies, unfounded speculation and gas-inducing meatloaf recipes.

We’ll doze off easier this evening (during PTI) knowing Wilbon and Van Pelt are looking out for the undiscerning sports media consumer among you.