Mike Florio calls it “text-message journalism.”

I don’t know if he coined that phrase, but Florio, the founder of the website Profootballtalk.com, has used it when criticizing ESPN reporter Adam Schefter. Schefter’s body of work as a sports journalist mostly consists of tweets that allow him to be the first person to “report” something going on in the NFL.

Schefter does not often add much to the tweets, and he does not write many stories or file many reports. Mostly, he tweets and then goes on one of the ESPN channels to repeat what he had just tweeted, usually adding unnecessary additional words like, “at this particular point in time.”

Schefter is hardly the only “text-message journalist.” In a lot of ways, that practice has replaced traditional journalism. Even people still writing for newspapers tend to put more stock into their tweets than they do their stories.

Today, many local sportswriters seem to focus more on “live tweeting” during games than they do writing about the game.

We even see that with reporters who cover the Montana Legislature. Reporters “live tweet” as the votes are tallied instead of writing about how the bill will affect the people.

This process bugs the heck out of me.

When Butte native Colt Anderson first took a job as an assistant special teams coach with the Cincinnati Bengals in early 2020, I spent a several hours working on a story about the move, which was very hush-hush on Colt’s end. Then, out of respect for Colt, I waited until he officially signed the contract before I posted that story on ButteSports.com.

About the same time I posted the story, which was a scoop, as they say, Field Yates of ESPN used “text-message journalism” to post the news on Twitter.

I assume he got a text message from one of his sources in the league, and he tweeted that news. While I worked hours on the story, doing interviews and writing background information, Yates spent about 15 seconds to “break” the news.

Then, I sat back and watched other media outlets report the Anderson hiring, using Yates as their source for their stories. In today’s journalism, it seems that being first is way more important than adding context to the news. It seems to be more important than being right.

That, I suspect, is why Florio does not like Schefter, whose name is in just about every NFL story on ESPN for “first reporting” the news.

Florio, I assume, does not like it when Schefter spends 15 second to “beat” him to a story when Florio actually writes more than one sentence about the news. Florio knows what Schefter is doing is not really “reporting.”

The thing about Schefter, though, is he is usually right with his “text-message journalism.” If he says it, you can pretty much take it to the bank that it really happened. If Joseph Pulitzer is the “father of journalism,” then Schefter is the “father of text-message journalism.”

Thousands of wannabe Adam Schefters, on the other hand, are not always right. They just want to be first.

We saw that first hand last week when former Butte High Bulldog and Montana State Bobcat Tommy Mellott was waived by the Las Vegas Raiders. Sadly, I fell for the inaccurate reporting of wannabe “text-message journalists” two days in a row.

But I was hardly alone.

As much as I would like to blame the Raiders and Peter Carroll, their known cheater of a coach, for reporting their cuts hours after the rest of the league, I instead blame it on the wannabe “text-message journalists” who reported rumors and guesses as if they were facts.

On Tuesday, I saw what I thought was a credible report that Tommy made the Raiders 53-man roster. Since I had so many people asking me if he made it — as if I was a Raiders insider — I posted on Facebook that, “It looks like Tommy made it.”

Of course, that was incorrect, and I was told about it immediately from one of his family members. So, I removed the post and said that Tommy was waived, but I suspected that the Raiders were going to sign him to their practice squad once he cleared waivers.

The next day, I saw that the Skyline Sports Twitter feed quote tweeted a report that Tommy signed with the Raiders practice squad. I know that Skyline Sports is a credible source. Those reporters do a great job covering the Big Sky Conference.

So, I took a screen shot of their tweet and posted it on Facebook to tell people that Tommy signed to the practice squad. At least five people on my timeline beat me to the story, but I was not in a race. I just wanted to spread the happy news, and everyone was thrilled.

Within minutes, though, I got word from another family member of Tommy that the news was not true. The Raiders were not signing Tommy to their practice squad.

Like I did, Skyline Sports got fooled by a wannabe “text-message journalist.”

So, much to the disappointment of my Facebook friends, I took the post down and added another one with the bad news. Some people laughed at me, but we all felt the same way. We were sad.

Now, I worry about a lot of things. Tommy Mellott is not one of them.

We all knew he would eventually sign with an NFL team’s practice squad, and we were right. The New Orleans Saints picked up Tommy on Monday, three days after he watched the Butte High Bulldogs play at Naranche Stadium.

Even though the news first broke on Twitter, it was right this time.

Even if he did not get picked up, though, I would still have no worries for him. Tommy is one of the smartest people to ever walk the planet. He earned a degree in financial engineering with a 4.0 GPA at Montana State.

He is also a kind and caring person who has a boatload of karma on his side. Tommy will be fine, no matter what.

As much as those inaccurate reports had to sting Tommy’s family, I think there is one good thing about them. If nothing else, the fiasco about Tommy’s future with the Silver and Black illustrated how much the people of Butte and Montana care about him.

Everyone wanted to know about his roster status, and they wanted to know yesterday.

Tommy was, after all, the guy who turned most of the state into Bobcat fans the last several years. He might be the one player of the 21st Century who transcended the disgusting FTC and FTG culture.

Ever since he emerged as a star with the Bulldogs, Tommy has showcased everything that is right about sports. He inspired future generations of athletes and non-athletes alike. He inspired the older generations, too.

In Montana, you will not find a more popular figure in a kindergarten classroom or a nursing home.

Now, we are all waiting for the day that Tommy shows Pete Carroll just how wrong he is. We are waiting for the day when “Touchdown Tommy” is back in the end zone.

When that day comes, however, it will not change the way we all feel about Tommy. The anticipation to the roster news and the reaction to the social media meltdown certainly proves that his legacy has long been cemented in these parts.

Still, it would be great if these wannabe “text-message journalists” would knock it off.

 — Bill Foley, who is still a little peeved at Field Yates, can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74 or Bluesky at @foles74.bsky.social. Listen to him on the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.