Hammy wrote:People are just figuring this out about the media in GF now? C'mon... crap has been going on up there for years and there are rarely any questions about institutional control, etc. by their media.
That paper has a business to think about (in an industry that has been struggling on the whole). If they start poking around and digging up the dirt on the only game in town, it's not going to help them sell papers. It is all about the $$$ and they aren't going to do anything other than cheer lead given that fact.
I have let this person continually post untrue things and throw me under the bus, but I feel like I should finally speak up.
First off, do you really think it's bad for business? You have to know that people read those stories, readers = papers sold and increased hits to the website. Why do you think that when this party story originally broke, we had it on the front page of the newspaper (not the sports section, 1A, with all the kids' pictures)? In fact, we had three or four stories on this incident on 1A, all above the fold, not to mention two others in the sports section. If we were trying to hide this or thought it was bad for business, why would we strip it across the top of 1A spread out over three or four separate days?
As for the follow up, we did keep checking back for charges, which is why we were the first to report when the minors were later handed out. After a month and a half, I assumed that was it, as it's rare for charges to be filed that far after an incident. I was wrong. When we did hear about it, it went in the paper the next day on the front of sports with all their pictures again.
As for the track record...
I'm guessing most people here have heard of Judy's Tavern and an incident there. How did you hear about that? Probably because it was not only reported in the Herald, there were 10 stories on it. Yes, 10 stories by the time it was done. Three were on 1A.
I'm guessing everyone has heard about the widely known "lawnmower" incident. How did you hear about that? Maybe because we "poked around and dug" that up and wrote about it (and not only wrote about it, dug up every single detail down to which dishes ended up in the street). Also 1A.
I'm guessing everyone has heard about Oshie's "elevator" incident. How did you hear about that? It's because not only did the Herald first report which charges were filed, we also dug up the details on the incident.
When the team party incident happened, we had quotes from the coach, the AD, the responding officer and from the RA who was on duty. The story was basically a play-by-play of what happened that night, all details dug up by the Herald.
Isn't it strange that everyone in college hockey knows these stories, yet fails to realize that the reason they know them is because they were all dug up and reported by the local media? You try to criticize the GF media any chance you get, but it's usually unfair. Compare how the Herald covers incidents to the rest of the college hockey media, including the media in your back yard. Similar incidents:
When Oshie had his "elevator" incident, we had four stories, two of them on 1A. We had comments from the coach, AD and the general manager of the St. Louis Blues. When Haula had his incident, which was similar, the "hard-hitting" Minneapolis media did not report on it until a small, community newspaper found it (if the Hillsboro Banner first reported charges against a UND player, you would be throwing me under the bus, yet there were no such criticisms of the MSP media). And even then, it was one brief with no quotes (none from the local NHL team that he's drafted by either).
When one UND player - Kristo - sustained a strange injury via frostbite, we scoured police logs, first-responder logs, wrote a total of six stories (three of them ended up 1A), had three separate interviews with the coach about it, comments from the AD, an interview with a guy who took him to the hospital and a 25-minute interview with the kid himself asking him to explain. When Connor Reilly sustained a strange, season-ending injury at a team party, Minnesota sent out a release that he injured himself "falling awkwardly over the weekend." That was the end of it. Never saw any quotes from the coach or from the player asking to explain, they just took what the SID fed them. That was it. (if the tables were flipped, I could only imagine what you'd be saying about my coverage of the incident, yet I don't recall any criticism of the MSP media). Why didn't they dig further? Bad business? Cheerleading?
Hear anything about Marshall getting in trouble this year? Doubtful. Never reported (if the tables were flipped, you would no doubt be calling me out for overlooking something, yet no such criticism of the MSP crew). While you're looking that up, check to see if J. Hansen ever got in trouble (again, I'd be getting called out for overlooking something). In fact, when is the last time the "hard hitting" MSP papers did look into something (don't see you calling them out for it)? I mean, if people are mentioning these two incidents in GF, someone there certainly has to know about it, right?
How about in Denver, where a kid (Jacobson) was suspended for most of the first half of the season. Apparently, nobody there decided to run his name through records, because they would have found out he's been arrested twice. Never reported by their local guys. I know Duluth's captain, Danberg, had a disorderly a couple years ago. Don't recall seeing anything on that. How about the Boston papers never looking into the incident with their Hobey finalist a two years ago?
I could go on and on, team by team. These types of incidents happen all over college hockey. Most of them are never reported because the reporters don't find out about them. If they do find out about them, they certainly aren't being placed on 1A of the newspaper as nearly every UND run-in is in the Herald and they certainly aren't as detailed as our stories have been. And if there is another college hockey paper that routinely digs up as much as we do, places stories as prominently as we do and has reports as detailed as ours, please say which paper.
As for The Mole - We did meet. I was covering an EGF hockey game and you were doing stats. We politely talked about EGF hockey and I double-checked my stats with you. Very interesting twist you have there on our conversation about EGF hockey.
BigSkyGoph - I frequently interact with fans from all teams on Twitter and enjoy it.
Fargo - Yes, I have actually been told that before.