OT: Fox Sports/Nassar Reporting & Possible MSU Connection
Interesting reporting by Deadspin that Fox Sports has essentially ignored the Nassar case since its inception:
https://deadspin.com/fox-sports-has-completely-ignored-the-larry-nassar-sex-1822415652
The potentially most interesting part of the story is the following:
A reader points out that in April 2016, Fox Sports “finalized a 15-year agreement reportedly worth more than $150-million” with Michigan State for the school’s multimedia rights, according to the Lansing State Journal.
January 26th, 2018 at 10:58 AM ^
Hollis expected to resign today too now.
January 26th, 2018 at 11:04 AM ^
For real?
I hope so. If Simon has to go, he has to go.
January 26th, 2018 at 11:04 AM ^
Per Chris Solari twitter
January 26th, 2018 at 11:02 AM ^
Izzo on WJR make comments that MSU needs to heal a la Franklin after the OSU victory.
January 26th, 2018 at 12:01 PM ^
Right...because THAT is more important than the healing of the victims (those we know and those that are still out there, still afraid to speak up). When will anyone at that school learn to protect Izzo from himself? I normally don't mind him looking the fool, but not in this instance.
January 26th, 2018 at 12:31 PM ^
You know, as large and as wide as the human devastation is in this story, and because you have nearly 200 people so far whose lives are forever altered because of Larry Nassar, the statement "We need to heal" seems as empty as it did when Franklin said it regarding Penn State. There are people out there, many of whom were part of the university community in some manner at some point, who were victimized by individuals in your employ and who will never "heal" from that experience.
I get why people say things like this, but to me, remarks like "We need to heal" always seem to miss the larger point.
January 26th, 2018 at 3:44 PM ^
As pissed off as I was to hear Franklin, as well as the broadcasters, claiming that winning a conference championship in football was some sort of healing after what happened there, I can't even imagine how the victims in these cases have to feel hearing this shit. Unbelievable.
January 26th, 2018 at 11:06 AM ^
January 26th, 2018 at 11:53 AM ^
If Penn State showed us anything, it is how little something like this impacts a school's future. I have a sister in Pennsylvania and there are a large number of people there who think the real victims are the players who had to play on PSU teams with fewer scholarship athletes.
Seriously.
January 26th, 2018 at 12:55 PM ^
My wife's side of the family have extensive PSU connections and they thought the punishment to the football team was harsh. "It's not fair to punish current players for what happened decades ago"
January 26th, 2018 at 3:34 PM ^
The players weren't punished, they were allowed to transfer and play immediately. Those that stayed chose to do so. What these people were really saying is "Why should we have to suffer?" Both the PSU and MSU reactions have caused me to lose much faith in humanity.
January 26th, 2018 at 11:06 AM ^
I am shocked - SHOCKED - that a Rupert Murdoch entity is giving no attention to a sexual assault situation.
January 26th, 2018 at 11:17 AM ^
That "shock" really applies to all media outlets, based upon the resginations and firings we've seen at nearly all major networks, newspapers, radio, etc.
January 26th, 2018 at 11:33 AM ^
May be callous but it's the US media news cycle guys. Venezuela is worse than it was, not much coverage. Much of Puerto Rico still without power, not a lot of coverage. We're a hot take news cycle now it feels. You got a month maybe 2 of it being on the news at best. You'll see a lot more coverage on this as the resignations are coming in but we're 1 Trump tweet and another Hollywood scandal from this being relegated only to the sports section. Maybe I'm wrong, really hope I am.
January 26th, 2018 at 11:59 AM ^
You're not wrong. Oddly and refreshingly enough, here in NYC, WNBC has a segment every night on their 11pm broadcast about Puerto Rico and every single night, it's heartbreaking how that US Territory has for the most part been left to fend for themselves.
January 26th, 2018 at 12:12 PM ^
Now we're getting to the proverbial "heart of the shrubbery maze." A station in NYC focuses on Puerto Rico, while the Midwest and other areas largely ignore it. Why? Because there are, give or take, about one million Puerto Ricans living in and around NYC. WNBC will therefore focus on the situation in PR more, to get more eyeballs glued to the TV screen. Those eyeballs lead to more advertising dollars. Those ad dollars lead to greater revenues and profits. I have said this 1000 tmes in my life, but the problem with mass media today is NOT "bias" in terms of Left vs. Right, or even the consolidation of media down to a handful of super wealthy individuals and corporations, so much as it is the profit motive itself. So we get whatever sells, more so than whatever is most important to the community, the nation, and the world.
January 26th, 2018 at 12:16 PM ^
January 26th, 2018 at 1:17 PM ^
January 26th, 2018 at 3:19 PM ^
This is exactly why Faux got my neg. I usually upvote him for everything even when hes being typical Faux. But singling out anyone in the media is being deliberately obtuse.
January 26th, 2018 at 11:36 AM ^
I saw a tweet recently comparing the coverage of the Nassar case on different sports media: ESPN had it front page, and NBC Sports, FOX Sports and SI all had it buried or not covered at all.
I'm actually okay with this as an editorial decision. It's not like the news was unavailable, as I'm sure the actual news arms of NBC and FOX had significant coverage (both the broadcast and cable news channels). If they decide that there is no need to duplicate that on the sports pages, it's fine. The broadcast companies have separate channels and media for a reason, to segregate all the news of the world into specific grouping.
If they decide the sports network doesn't have the journalistic capability to report on the case fairly and accurately, I would rather they leave the reporting to the professionals then put some sports reporter who is not experienced enough in this type of story to cover it well.
January 26th, 2018 at 11:51 AM ^
But this IS a sports related story. I mean if you don't want sports jounalists writing on this you STILL run something on your site and then why not link to your parent news site's coverage?
January 26th, 2018 at 2:08 PM ^
I'll start by saying that I'm playing Devil's advocate here. I think it does make more sense for the networks to cover this as a sports story. However, I can understand and sympathize with the content director at, say, FOX Sports 1, who says, "this story is not worth pursuing on our network" for any number of reasons.
People Magazine covers celebrities, some of which happen to be professional athletes. That doesn't mean they have the scores of games in the weekly magazine. Sometimes it makes sense for these media outlets to stay in their lane instead of bringing additional scrutiny upon themselves.
January 26th, 2018 at 11:44 AM ^
She's a little annoying as a Spartan slappy but her heroic stand against the White Supremacist in Chief should be honored and respected.
January 26th, 2018 at 12:22 PM ^
Don't be weak.
January 26th, 2018 at 1:19 PM ^
January 26th, 2018 at 1:39 PM ^
January 26th, 2018 at 5:04 PM ^
It's just sad that there's people out there who think if someone disagrees with them they're a white supremacist.
January 26th, 2018 at 5:47 PM ^
January 26th, 2018 at 11:53 AM ^
Meyers has written some really insightful and cutting pieces on the case that can be found at the bottom of the story above.
Deadspin has its misses and detractors (know there are more than a few here) but they have never been afraid to call bullshit on powerful people and institutions. That ethos lends itself well to this story, especially with some outlets dancing around the roles of MSU/USAG.
January 26th, 2018 at 2:03 PM ^
Deadspin did the most comprehensive job covering the Penn State/Sandusky issue, and they've far surpassed anyone in covering the Nasser/gymnasts story.
January 26th, 2018 at 6:00 PM ^