Sports journalism that hasn’t quite been “honest…and unmerciful”

For a very long time I’ve had problems with reading local newspaper reports about the local teams. It’d usually be Marc Topkin that’s rubbed me the wrong way — assuming tthe Atlanta Braves were Tampa Bay’s team in the early 1990’s, reporting personal favoritisms as fact with Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays (which seldom goes on today ) and is often proved wrong. This has nothing to do with Topkin as a person, it had everything to do with how an “inside” story was being presented, or from the angle in which the facts were aligned up (that Atlanta Braves angle, which I mentioned).

This is an example of how the media sometimes gets things lumped on it for setting the narrative. Stories that are carried, stories that are ignored, angles that are looked at and the “factual” narrative. I’m not going to even try to take on the general perception of the media and news reporting, by doing it I open myself up to the same criticism after all.

The point of this story isn’t about that at all anyway. It’s another thing I am noticing that hinders traditional media reports as well as gives a narrative that fans start following, the message that they start following. Â It’s their personal relationship with who they are writing about.

Case in point, what just went down with the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday: Rick Tocchet was fired and some fans are sympathizing with Tocchet. Why? The media narrative weeks ago started sympathizing with Tocchet. He’s a nice guy and was thrown into a tough situation. Never mind that the general manager for the Bolts, Brian Lawton, was also thrust into a tough situation. Never mind that both Tocchet and Lawton willingly entered the fray in both cases… Willingly accepted the tough assignment. Tocchet was sympathized with by media persons and Lawton was vilified.

I won’t get into some of the drama that brought that on. That’s what I do at Raw Charge. Â What I will get into is the fact that everyone with a direct relationship with Tocchet seemed to be of the sort that thought Rick deserved to be kept around despite a long laundry list of issues the team had under his coaching. The nice guy remark kept beign repeated.

The point of this story is not Tocchet and Lawton either.

There’s a great movie by Cameron Crowe called Almost Famous.  Maybe you’ve seen it… It was semi-autobiographical about Crowe becoming a reporter for Rolling Stone while still in High School. While most of the film is written fictitiously, there is one person from history that Crowe uses as a key character in the film: Rock critic/journalist Lester Bangs, played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman in the movie. Bangs has a few pieces of advice for William Miller (the central character in the movie) speaking about the rock industry and what happens on the back end. For instance:

You CANNOT make friends with the rock stars. That’s what’s important. If you’re a rock journalist – first, you will never get paid much. But you will get free records from the record company. And they’ll buy you drinks, you’ll meet girls, they’ll try to fly you places for free, offer you drugs… I know. It sounds great. But they are not your friends. These are people who want you to write sanctimonious stories about the genius of the rock stars, and they will ruin rock and roll and strangle everything we love about it.

He also makes it a point in this conversation that Miller should pride himself by being honest and unmerciful toward any band he’s covering. This point is reinforced after Miller becomes friends with the band he is traveling with through the movie, Stillwater:

My advice to you. I know you think those guys are your friends. You wanna be a true friend to them? Be honest, and unmerciful

This is the point to the story.

There’s enough evidence to say that a coach wasn’t all that he was cracked up to be. It’s a long season and following a team in person and closely, you’re going to forge bonds with people involved and overlook failings. This is true with music as much as it is with sports: You tour with the band and you get to know the guys and the girls who are involved. You want them to do well personally because they are your friend, but at the same time – your job is to report the facts and mix in your opinions. You can angle a story to gain favor but your job isn’t to gain favor – it’s to report.

This afternoon there was another case of overlooking-facts-for-favor media narration, specifically tied to the Lightning, via Twitter. Hockey journalist Stan Fischler threw his hat into the ring talking up Jay Feaster as a GM candidate. Despite Feaster’s sketchy record as a GM and inability to secure the position with another club since his dismissal from the Bolts in 2008, Fischler crowed how Jay would be a good candidate to resume the job.

How much was that remark influenced by the fact Stan knows Feaster? Or that Feaster has been involved in the media since he left the team? It’s back scratching, but it’s a mixed memo that’s being repeated by people who know Feaster and have worked with him. Â You can see some fans take up the mantle of what media are suggesting in how they repeat Jay is a serious candidate.

Of course, everyone is entitled to their opinions. Seldom we overlook things – creatively, talent-wise, intellect-wise, artistically — because we generally like the people involved. Everyone has their right to do this… But when you are in an influential spot in the media, it’s different. You’re setting the message and the narrative among the masses. Â There are times where the messenger is indeed guilty of a crime, usually crony-ism, in reporting from personal opinion and trying to grab favor by doing it.