Why Rotten Reporters Exists
Sports reporters and analysts have long played an important role. At their best, they provide context, insight, and a deeper understanding of the game for fans who care deeply about the athletes and teams they follow.
But in recent years, that role has increasingly shifted.
What was once analysis has too often become speculation. What was once context has turned into gossip. Personal lives, relationships, unnamed "sources," and unverified narratives now dominate coverage, often in the pursuit of attention, engagement, and airtime rather than fairness or accuracy.
The cost of this shift is rarely carried by the people making the takes.
It's carried by the athletes.
Across sports, we've seen careers disrupted, reputations damaged, and passion for the game eroded. In some tragic cases, the constant magnification of mistakes, rumors, or character attacks has contributed to athletes walking away from the sport they love, or worse.
When narratives are wrong, accountability is rare. Corrections are brief, if they come at all. The cycle simply moves on to the next story.
Fans deserve better.
Athletes deserve better.
Fans Are the Missing Check
Fans are the foundation of sports. They protect their players, celebrate them, criticize them when warranted, and most importantly, recognize their humanity.
Rotten Reporters was built on the belief that fans, when given structure, evidence, and transparency, can bring balance back to sports media.
Not through outrage.
Not through harassment.
But through context, memory, and accountability.
Why This Matters Now
Shedeur Sanders is a recent and visible example of a broader pattern.
Leading into the draft, many media voices praised his talent and potential. As draft weekend approached and his stock unexpectedly fell, the narrative shifted rapidly. Skill-based analysis gave way to character speculation. Stories emerged that contradicted prior evaluations, often relying on vague sourcing and repeated talking points.
Weeks later, once performance on the field made those narratives harder to sustain, the tone shifted again.
This pattern isn't about being right or wrong. It's about how confidently narratives are presented, what evidence they're based on, and how little accountability exists when those narratives change.
Rotten Reporters exists to capture that history, not to punish, but to remember.
How Rotten Reporters Works
Rotten Reporters is a community-driven platform where sports media narratives are evaluated over time.
- Selected Curators create structured, neutral claims about reporting and analysis.
- Verified Fans vote, add context, and submit evidence.
- Claims are evaluated across integrity, consistency, context, and influence.
- Reporters and analysts receive scores that reflect community judgment, not outrage, but reasoned consensus.
- Curators and Verified Fans also build a reputation score over time. This score reflects the quality, consistency, and evidence behind their contributions, and directly affects their ability to create claims and influence votes.
Everyone can explore the platform for free.
Participation helps shape the record.
Our Goal
We're not here to silence reporters.
We're here to restore balance.
Rotten Reporters gives fans a way to document what was said, understand how narratives evolve, and reward fair, responsible sports journalism, while calling attention to patterns that deserve scrutiny.
Because sports media has power.
And power works best when it's accountable.