Category: The Media

Aaron Rodgers vs. Dennis Dodd

Posted on by Brian Lee

I’ve worked in sports PR for several years, and I’ve seen firsthand how petty, incompetent and lazy sports writers can be, not to mention their sense of entitlement and their ability to raid the media buffet as if they’ve never eaten in their lives.

That’s why I found it extra amusing that CBS’ Dennis Dodd got put in his place by Aaron Rodgers this past weekend. Dodd went on a Twitter rant about how Rodgers wouldn’t do interviews following the Badgers’ win over Arizona, plus Dodd was mad about Rodgers being on the court after the game.

Turns out Rodgers had a pass to be on the court. He declined doing the interviews because he didn’t want to take away from the Badgers’ victory.

The comments on the Bleacher Report story are nearly 100 percent against Dodd. My favorites:

  • Rodgers was a guest of UW BB. He had locker room access as well. This self absorbed reporter was angry because he didn’t have access to the court during net cutting and at Rodgers because he didn’t want to draw attention away from the players and what had just done. Sometimes the press needs to realize that it’s not at about them and their story.
  • This is so typical of the media. He didn’t have a problem with Rodgers being there until he refused his interview. Now he wants to act like a grade school kid.
  • Nice job, Dennis Dodd – in just one evening, aided by your two thumbs and a smart phone, you systematically unraveled your entire career and let the world know what a colossal crybaby you are. You might want to occasionally remind yourself that the industry you are in will sometimes result in a celebrity not wanting to talk to you – particularly during a sporting event that has absolutely nothing to do with him (it isn’t even the same sport for cryin’ out loud!). But because you are the poster child for the “Participation Trophy” generation, you couldn’t resist the temptation to “call him out” which – as evidenced by the 9 million comments on this issue – has severely backfired. I honestly won’t be surprised when I learn of your employment termination later this week.
  • Hey Dennis Dodd. Least you can do is get some world class Wisconsin cheddar cheese to go with that whine. Good Lord man, grow some and accept no for an answer occasionally.

Other media also made fun of Dodd. Here’s a tweet from Rich Eisen:

Why fact checking is important

Posted on by Brian Lee

Imagine I tell a reporter I am the victim of a crime–let’s say a car-jacking. I explain how some clowns from a circus were the perpetrators. Lastly, I ask the reporter not to contact the clowns. Wouldn’t you be in disbelief if the reporter went ahead and wrote this one-sided story, without doing simple fact-checking like 1) seeing if the circus was even in town that day or 2) if I even owned a car?

That’s apparently what happened when Rolling Stone Magazine reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely wrote on an alleged gang rape at the University of Virginia. According to a USA TODAY article, the fraternity was never contacted, and it has since indicated that there was no social event that day, nor did anyone in the fraternity work at the aquatic center, as the alleged victim stated.

Reporters like Erdely and their editors should be ashamed of the damage they do for the sake of ratings and readership. As a journalism school graduate, I know that basic fact checking is a necessity to every article.

Here’s the too little, too late apology from Rolling Stone:

“Given all of these [conflicting] reports, however, we have come to the conclusion that we were mistaken in honoring Jackie’s request to not contact the alleged assaulters to get their account … We should have not made this agreement with Jackie and we should have worked harder to convince her that the truth would have been better served by getting the other side of the story. These mistakes are on Rolling Stone, not on Jackie. We apologize to anyone who was affected by the story and we will continue to investigate the events of that evening.”

Speed vs. Accuracy

Posted on by Brian Lee

I am always bothered by the media’s desire to be the first to report something, especially before facts are checked.

(Case in point: CNN reporting a Coast Guard training exercise on the Potomac River as a “suspicious vessel in DC.”)

That’s why I was happy to hear Good Morning America’s Amy Robach mention in a Q&A session after her keynote speech at the 2014 PRSA International Conference that ABC News is happy to be the last network to report a news story to ensure accuracy.

However, without any true consequences for their mistakes, most media will unfortunately be content with issuing apologies in exchange for getting it correct (and first) every now and then.