I agree that Rosenburg probably had a story in his mind and gathered facts, quotes, stories, etc. that supported that story.
I don't agree that there is some coordinated attack by the Free Press to attack Michigan. I don't get what incentive they have for that. I think it's more likely that "Rodriguez is on the Hotseat" stories are more interesting to the average reader than "Rodriguez is making progress"
Also, I mentioned to some folks that I thought your comment on Birkett was the most fair and intelligent in the thread so far.
I think it was entirely Rosenberg's idea to craft the Augst '09 story. I frankly doubt that the idea originated with Mark Snyder. Snyder was brought into it because he was the unlucky sap who was the Michigan beat writer when Rosenberg wanted to do his thing.
Stretchgate may have made Mark Snyder's life, and job as the Michigan beat reporter, a lot more difficult. I would expect so.
Yes, people now crave the "Rodriguez is on the hot seat" stories now. They have been trained to want those stories. From "shredded documents in Morgantown," to "family values," to "countable hours" and "Cleeg Lamar Green"; they all required patience and care to report. The Free Press either couldn't be bothered with the details (Boren and "family values", and the shredded-documents lies) actively pursued the negative (Dorsey) or fabricated the story (Stretchgate).
By the way; no one has mentioned it; does the hiring of Birkett mean anything with respect to Mark Snyder? I have no knowledge, and not even any information, but is Birkett being hired to replace a departing Mark Snyder? I ask only because it is the obvious sort of question. If the Freep actually needed a new Michigan beat reporter, one would think that Dave Birkett is an obvious replacement.
What color is the sky in your world? My God. Talk about not letting go - you remind me of my mother "re-litigating" her separation from her husband 12 years later. As if her, or your, hot air is going to change anything.
Birkett's tweet says he is taking Nick Cotsonikas' old job, as Nick moves to Yahoo.com. So maybe a new beat (Lions, etc.) for Birkett, and maybe that suits him. Could indeed be one less reason for any "paranoia" about Birkett, not that I ever had any.
Here's how I breakdown the hotseat.
95% = 3-9 (2-6), 5-7 (1-7)
5% = everything else
I just won a $100 bet off you.
First of all, while I was very upset about the Rosenberg "investigation", his actions were not that outside the norms for the industry. He crossed several ethical lines in that he misrepresented his intentions when interviewing some incoming freshman, failed to provide context on the story in that he never made any real effort to see what the norms were around college football or learn the nuances of the practice rules, provided anonymity to sources that probably didn't need it, and failed to provide a balanced perspective in writing his story. What this amounted to was engaging in sensationalism to market his story and himself to a national audience by writing about major violations committed by one of the most upstanding and elite college football programs in the country. Incidentally, he was successful, as it landed him a job with Sports Illustrated and got a lot of national attention.
These practices are sadly common in today's journalism. Virtually every major media outlet has engaged in this type of practice in recent times, often on large stories, often doing far more damage to innocent people (exp: Fox News and Shirley Sherrod). While I was very upset and somewhat disgusted by Rosenberg's hit job because it was an attack on an institution that I've supported since age 4, I'm not going to claim that his conduct was abnormally egregious. If Rosenberg had pulled a Mitch Albom and just started making things up, that would be one thing. But he didn't.
Now, I'm going to address a two points you made because I find them objectionable:
I don't think Mike Rosenberg knows exactly what the Free Press' financial condition is.
1. Rosenberg works at the Free Press and I'm willing to bet he knows more about the Free Press' financial condition than we do.
2. We know the Free Press is in major trouble financially because they stopped delivering papers on most days because it wasn't affordable and their subscriptions are way down.
As such, Rosenberg would have to be a complete idiot not to realize that ht Free Press had financial issues and needed to produce major stories to increase viewership in order for them to survive.
I think Mike Rosenberg has a poisonous vendetta against Rich Rodriguez. The Free Press has made no bones about backing up Rosenberg. So yeah, in that regard, it really is a "war," between the Free Press and Michigan. That is, if you are a Michigan Man willing to back up Rich Rodriguez as much as the Free Press backs up Rosenberg.
Huh?
Please detail and describe RR's failings in dealing with the press well, and contrast and compare those failings with Bo Schembechler—who had virtually no use or respect for sports journalists and physically shoved a Michigan Daily reporter in 1979—and Lloyd Carr, who on numerous times lambasted reporters during press conferences, and could behave like a complete dick at times when dealing with sideline reporters during games. Please list the times RR has gone off on a tirade against the local media like Mike Gundy. God knows I could hardly blame him if he did.
In point of fact, RR has offered virtually unprecedented access to a football program that was previously characterized by the term "Fort Schembechler." I know you're familiar with that term. In fact, Sam Webb, who covers the team as well as anybody I know, has stated numerous times that if it were up to him, he'd clamp down on media access to the program and take it back to how LC managed things, because he thinks that RR has been far too accommodating with the media. Webb should know about how RR deals with the media, since he's been covering UM for the Detroit News for a while now, and has also been a long time writer for Scout.
Go ahead and criticize RR for 8-16; I have no problem with that at all, and nobody else should either. However, when you start repeating spurious crap about "press failings," you put yourself squarely in MLive message board territory.
That about sums up my view. Especially when you have a local media outlet fishing for stories. While I don't believe that the Freep is a nefarious organization trying to take down the Michigan football program, I do believe that their sports section has shown that they have little regard for journalistic evidence and are more than willing to write negative and/or misleading stories about the program, meaning that being remotely open with them is a mistake. I suppose that this isn't really Rodriguez's fault, but I do wish that he would be less open.
You're so close to Rambo right now.
They snort kittens at the freep......
Greatest GIF ever.
The Freep is now more biased than Fox News
Now let's not go all crazy here. That's like saying Mussolini was just as bad as Hitler. Or that InSync was just as bad as Vanilla Ice.
I was going to say they are now more biased than MSNBC. Our national media is supposed to be unbiased right? Whether it be sports or news .
even have any money to hire anybody?
need one.
Birkett (in the voice of Ray Liotta): "As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a local college football team-hating member of a dying branch of the mainstream media."
wants to put M and OSU in separate divisions. Him and the Freep deserve each other.
The freep's hiring of Sparty Dave means that most of the Sparty Sycophants are in one place now. Most of all, it frees A2 dot com to hire someone who actually cares about Michigan football for the Michigan beat. It's also great for Sparty Dave because he doesn't have to spend forty hours a week covering a team he hates. Sounds like a win-win to me.
I hope Andrew Reid gets the job at A2 dot com; he deserves it.
Tater does it make you feel better to call Dave Birkett "Sparty Dave"? Dude where did you go to school, the last time I checked there wasn't a tinfoil hats university. Go back to MLive.
I can tell by every single one of your comments and blog posts you subscribe to the concept of being "THE LEADERS AND BEST". Time to grow up pal, Name calling will never be a sociably acceptable practice.
... I thought he was already working for them. /sarcasm.
What does this have to do with Michigan athletics again? Did we win?
...is tiresome. How many more times are we going to have these same arguments?
Section 1 hates the Freep and believes in THE CONSPIRACY.
The WLA/Uniscorn dudes think his choice of head wear starts and ends with tin foil.
We've got it gents. Agree to disagree and carry on. It's time.
I never said there was a "conspiracy." I agreed that there was no "conspiracy." I've tried hard to detail what Rosenberg has done, what Snyder has done, and what the others have done. With careful attribution. It's really easy to say, "Rosendouche sucks!" That's not what I've done.
At that same time (this thread being a good example), I'm not painting everyone at the Free Press as being innate evil. There are about 50 posts in this thread blasting Birkett for being Birkett and having now taken a job at the Free Press. But none of my posts were that thinly-sourced.
That's not "tin foil hat country." That's being careful and specific.
I'd be the first to agree that if MGoBlog is to host a Fisking of the Free Press, it ought to be done carefully and specifically. Not whiney and name-calling.
On the other hand, when we have Alumni meetings in Washington DC, and four-star recruits from Florida, and people throughout the blogosphere, all talking about Michigan, NCAA violations, our head coach on a hot seat, and unfavorable press, then hell yeah I think it is pretty important that the best information possible be put out on this website defending our coach and our program.
If this isn't On Topic and consistent with Brian wants to do with MGoBlog, I really wonder what the hell is.
...to argue with you. What I wrote is how others characterize you not how I see you.
The point of my post is that you and the WLA crowd have had this same argument in countless threads now and it's become increasingly tiresome. You've become the flame to their moths.
I think it's time to move on -- and I think that starting Sep 4, the team will allow us that luxury by achieving the results we all hope for. Then all the crap you cite will get flushed away.
I'm just stating my personal opinion here. Take it or leave it, it's ok by me.