As The Mel Tucker Turns: Lansing Reporter Audrey Dahlgren fired by WLNS for appearance of being Team Tucker
For those of us eating up the Mel Tucker soap opera, this is an interesting turn.
Audrey Dahlgren--who I only just learned of when she broke the story about the SD4L fiasco--was fired by WLNS because she tweeted out that Brenda Tracy lied, based on what Tucker's lawyers released last week.
I can't link the DetNews article because I don't pay for their website. But OutKick lays out the story in chronological order, including Dahlgren's twitter fight with USA Today's Kenny Jacoby:
October 10th, 2023 at 9:05 PM ^
I like lamp.
October 10th, 2023 at 9:10 PM ^
Looks like she's out of her BTN gig too.
It is what it is. It's a bad career move to Tweet "Brenda Tracy lied." The more correct wording is "Mel Tucker's lawyers say that Brenda Tracy lied."
Even though I 100% believe there IS some room to defend Audrey here, her corporate employers aren't going to have her back when the inevitable "Audrey is shaming the victim!!!" firestorm comes.
It's how corporate goes: she's been thrown off the boat. Protect the machine.
October 10th, 2023 at 9:18 PM ^
I feel like sometimes suspensions would be sufficient. You don't have to go right to firing. In this particular case I imagine they felt she was very expendable and tweeting things like "Do better" at Kenny Jacoby doesn't help.
October 10th, 2023 at 9:24 PM ^
Suspension implies a gray area between "all or nothing." Gray areas don't fly w/ many folks these days.
As regards Kenny Jacoby --- it's pretty obvious (his tweets this AM) that he hates Audrey and is gleeful about her firing. Now, maybe she hates him too, I don't know. But Jacoby's own behavior in the last couple weeks (post story breaking): I've found it all pretty nausiating.
Overall, this whole story SUCKS. It feels like watching a whole bunch of pigs wrestling in mud than trying to stab each other.
October 11th, 2023 at 7:49 AM ^
It's Nexstar owned. Small businesses have grey areas, conglomerates don't give a shit because the employees are so far disconnected from people making decisions.
October 10th, 2023 at 9:49 PM ^
Well said man! You have to be mindful of your words at all times.
October 11th, 2023 at 12:01 AM ^
Tweeter is a bad career move for 90% of people.
October 11th, 2023 at 1:16 PM ^
But not 1%. Imagine people being held accountable for the complete and utter bullshit they tweet/X.
October 11th, 2023 at 2:33 AM ^
Fair points, and I agree with you. But isn't it strange that her irresponsible tweet ends in a termination. Meanwhile everyone that has lambasted Mel based on similar statements from the Tracy side can do so with ultimate freedom. Too many people allow this to happen and it is not right. Too many people even on this site do the same thing. For some reason, I would have expected more. I can guarantee you that not many people disliked Tucker more than me before this situation was exposed. However, even with that, he deserves due process. How is that so hard for reasonable and intelligent people to understand. Once he is found guilty, if he is found guilty (or in this case, when all of the facts come out), then throw every book at him. Until then, objectivity and due process should mean something. Regardless of gender or skin color.
October 11th, 2023 at 3:19 AM ^
Guilty of what? Being a dumbass? There is no criminal case, but he is guilty of that.
October 11th, 2023 at 4:27 AM ^
Due process like the hearing he blew off last week?
It's looking like processes are not his thing. Which is common when the facts are a problem for someone.
October 11th, 2023 at 5:29 AM ^
Due process? He admitted he jerked off on a video call. There’s no dispute of that, it’s an evidentiary fact. Maybe in his and possibly your world, it’s not embarrassing to the university (which is what he was fired for) to have their head coach jerking off to a corporate vendor but in mine it is.
October 11th, 2023 at 6:53 AM ^
Due process in not being labeled a sexual creep. I don't understand why people think this whole thing is just about him getting fired. There's more on the line than just his contract
October 11th, 2023 at 10:12 AM ^
Exactly, Monkey House. People don't seem to realize the standard they are applying to Tucker is completely different than the one being applied to Tracy. They seem to ignore that it takes two people to be on a phone call for over 30 minutes, etc. They jump to conclusions and project on one side, but believe the other side fully and completely. It's the flaw in logic above anything else, that bothers me. It's so strange for me to observe otherwise rational and intelligent people fall over themselves picking one side (always seems to be the same side) for reasons I can not fully understand. What is so hard to understand that there are 2 sides to this and that both sides need to be equally scrutinized? Once we have full information, we can logically come to a comprehensive conclusion. Until that point, the people jumping the gun on one side (either side) are 2 sides of the same coin. Both likely biased and/or just ignorant of the salient factors. It appears this reporter jumped the gun in Tucker's defense, and therefore, faced the consequences. 90+% of the reporters who have jumped the gun the other way have had full freedom to do so, with the lack of any consequences. That is the issue at hand in this thread.
October 11th, 2023 at 11:23 AM ^
But what reporters are you talking about? Who else should have been fired what did they do? Are they employed by the same company as the reporter who was fired?
October 11th, 2023 at 1:06 PM ^
They seem to ignore that it takes two people to be on a phone call for over 30 minutes, etc.
Maybe because this is a stupid point to bring up? The three ways people respond to these things are fight, flight, or freeze. She bares no responsibility to reacting that way. It is simply victim blaming.
We also know that he admitted to jerking it on zoom, during a work trip, with a university vendor which is makes him guilty.
The only thing he can really salvage partially is his reputation and only if he can prove consent, which feels unlikely.
October 11th, 2023 at 8:29 AM ^
you aren't wrong, social media has brought back the mob mentality... when the rapidly growing mob gathers, pitchforks in hand, too many are quick to forgo due process and jump to sentencing.
October 11th, 2023 at 12:15 PM ^
He isn’t on trial so due process doesn’t apply. He acknowledged this by refusing to attend the hearing and instead releasing a lengthy response to the media with an illegally acquired set of documents.
Tucker admitted to masturbating while on the university’s defense so we already know that he committed a fireable offense. What we don’t know and may never know is whether this was consensual or not. All we have before us are two sets of heavily redacted documents from people who have reason to obfuscate.
October 12th, 2023 at 9:35 AM ^
He isn’t on trial so due process doesn’t apply. He acknowledged this by refusing to attend the hearing and instead releasing a lengthy response to the media with an illegally acquired set of documents.
My understanding is that he is not required to attend. He listed a medical condition which was a conflict for him, but he was still represented to by his attorney at the hearing.
October 12th, 2023 at 11:28 PM ^
He was not represented at the hearing. This is from his lawyer's letter that she released during the hearing:
"Under Office ofInstitutional Equity (“OIE”) rules, we are prohibited from participating in the hearing scheduled for October 5 and 6, 2023, because Mr. Tucker is not available due to a serious medical condition."
He is not required to attend the hearing in the sense that he cannot be compelled to attend it. However, I imagine his absence can impact the hearing officer's decision.
Either party will have a chance to appeal the decision.
October 11th, 2023 at 3:27 PM ^
This Jacoby-Dahlgren beef is a microcosm of this dynamic. Jacoby has been pretty one-sided in his take, called her out for being one-sided, and did a victory lap when she got fired.
He just happens to fall on the “right” side
October 11th, 2023 at 6:53 PM ^
Due process is being accorded Tucker. There is no similar restriction onthe rest of us.
October 11th, 2023 at 6:28 AM ^
her corporate employers aren't going to have her back when the inevitable "Audrey is shaming the victim!!!" firestorm comes.
That aside, it seems like a bad idea in general for a reporter to take a lawyer's statement in a lawsuit as "evidence."
October 11th, 2023 at 8:31 AM ^
Hold on...lawyers don't always tell the truth?
I need to sit down.
October 11th, 2023 at 12:50 PM ^
Jeebus, you think lying isn't something you find in all professions? I'm not an attorney, but I sure witnessed it in my field. The difference is if an attorney lies in court, they can lose their license. The liars I worked with seemed to get promoted.
October 11th, 2023 at 11:54 AM ^
She's either (to be charitable) gullible, completely oblivious about journalistic protocols, or--worse--seized on something that she thought helped vindicate Mel. All bad news. And she may not be someone I'd love or appreciate. An immediate firing kind of puzzles me, though. You'd want to have some code of ethics you could point to that she violated, something, no? I mean, people have to be able to screw up and make amends when they're not killing people, right?
October 11th, 2023 at 3:47 PM ^
That's been happening for years though. Ask any "Karen" out there. Most employers can do what they want.
October 11th, 2023 at 9:32 AM ^
I mean, that's a pretty important distinction for a professional journalist to make, no? I don't know that portraying this as getting cancelled is really necessary.
October 11th, 2023 at 10:16 AM ^
Looks like she's out of her BTN gig too.
Her Twitter bio still includes @BigTenNetwork, while no longer including anything related to WLNS, and correct me if I'm wrong, but her profile pic is now of her working in a B1G capacity (interviewing Cooper DeJean I assume after the MSU/Iowa game), when previously I believe it was her TV station headshot.
That is all to say it does not appear that she's been canned by BTN.
October 11th, 2023 at 10:36 AM ^
To be fair, she stood up on the side of the boat at high noon and shouted out "I dare you!" presenting them with a choice:
A. Push me off, there is no downside here, you'll appear caring and sensitive even though you really DGAF
B. Don't push me off and I will vomit and besmirch your deck, creating a giant mess for your PR people and potentially lawyers to clean up.
Corporate is going to go with option A literally 100 out of 100 times.
Right? Wrong? Doesn't matter...nuanced, gray area that is heavily dependent upon personal bias.
Smart? Dumb? Dumb.
October 10th, 2023 at 9:11 PM ^
Wasn’t the USA Today reporter Tracy’s friend of 15 years?
I’ve learned a few things through this case. There’s an acceptable double standard here. You’re a misogynist if you question Tracy’s inconsistencies, but not racist for calling Tucker a habitually lying sexual deviant
October 10th, 2023 at 9:20 PM ^
The way I remember it from one of Jacoby's stories is that she first contacted a USA Today reporter who she had worked with on a story in the past and that she trusted. Perhaps they had worked over the years as well. It was not Jacoby, though, who ultimately has been the main USA Today reporter on this.
In my opinion, his initial story struck me as very down the line and fair. I do feel like it's been a pretty clear anti-Tucker pro-Tracy lean since then.
October 10th, 2023 at 9:55 PM ^
Yep, that's right. Jacoby graduted from Oregon (BS degree) in 2017: so he's probably still south of 30 years old. Definitely not Tracy's friend for 15+ years.
This is a BIG story for Jacoby. And he's probably well-aware of Sara Ganim's career trajectory: she was 24 back in 2011 when she was at the Harrisburg Patriot-News and broke the Jerry Sandusky story. That assured her career and future, she had a Pultizer in her mid-20s.
He may have that in his own eyes. But he's still gotta be fair and balanced, he's veering from that.
October 10th, 2023 at 10:17 PM ^
I have no idea who Sara Ganim is, but then again I'm not from PA nor affiliated for the school.
Reporters do well when they report. They don't do so well when they tweet, or X.
October 11th, 2023 at 1:00 AM ^
“Fair and balanced” without irony…
October 10th, 2023 at 9:34 PM ^
Jacoby is significantly younger than Tracy.
Tuckerites did call Tucker accusers racist.
October 11th, 2023 at 12:27 PM ^
When and where?
October 11th, 2023 at 3:28 PM ^
Tucker himself more than hinted that race was a factor in his dismissalhttps://www.usnews.com/news/sports/articles/2023-09-19/michigan-state-football-coach-tucker-says-other-motives-behind-his-firing-for-alleged-misconduct
October 10th, 2023 at 10:04 PM ^
I don’t think you are a misogynist at all to question the facts of the case or the discrepancies. if you portray what Tuckers lawyers present as the whole truth, however, you should probably not be a journalist. The only people that would “shame you” for questioning discrepancies are internet trolls on twitter. Those are loud idiots (on both sides of these issues) not the silent majority.
October 11th, 2023 at 6:16 AM ^
As a journalist you stick to the facts. The fact was that Mel’s lawyers said Tracy lied. You can’t fuck up that bad with a statement she put out as a journalist. She got fired because she sucked at her job and no doubt her employer felt if she can screw up something so easy what happens when it gets tougher?? End of story here.
October 11th, 2023 at 2:08 PM ^
In a case like this where it is clear there is an incentive for your source to provide untruthful or incomplete information, you can't be definitive unless you have some evidence to corroborate.
To report those allegations as facts feels reckless.
October 10th, 2023 at 9:12 PM ^
looks like she out-kicked her employment contract....
October 10th, 2023 at 9:14 PM ^
Tuck lighting up careers faster than couches in East Lansing.
October 10th, 2023 at 9:17 PM ^
I know what you're wondering, and the answer is yes, Audrey Dahlgreen was once literally an MSU cheerleader. Old habits die hard, as they say.
October 10th, 2023 at 9:24 PM ^
I was not wondering this at all. But thanks.
October 10th, 2023 at 9:44 PM ^
LOL. How in the hell you know that. Never mind. Don't answer. :)
October 10th, 2023 at 9:53 PM ^
Most Spartans I know are glad to be done with Tucker and are some of the fiercest anti-tucker people out there. Maybe Audrey is just pro-Izzo
October 10th, 2023 at 10:59 PM ^
I remember that story now. Funny, I guess it did go away.
October 11th, 2023 at 8:27 AM ^
Does Izzo really want something associated with Spartan football named after him?