I am curious how many of you think the photograph of the hockey players, from the unspecified address to the Sentinel Tribune should have been handled.
If it would have been me receiving the photo, I think I would have taken it to the hockey coaches and let them decide the proper action to be taken, and then written the article concerning the players involved, the punishment, etc, rather than going "public" without any explanation from those involved, and especially since it was received from some "gutless" person, that didn't have intesinal fortitude to let them know from where or whom it originated.
Curious on your thoughts about this.
Having no idea WHO actually received it at the S-T first, my guess is that it didn't come to the sports department, rather to someone who saw a way to get the paper's name out rather than keep their contacts strong.
Journalism is a messed up business like that. Look at what CBS did with those Bush documents. They get something that is "the big story" and run it to the presses. What really puzzles me is that BG athletics have to be responsible for a decent portion of S-T sales income (people picking up papers to read more about the sports teams at BG), you'd think they would run the picture by the University to AT LEAST check the facts.
I think the Sentinel did a service to the school by showing the picture to Coach and telling him that there was going to be a story. A lot of papers would just take the info and run with it and have the department and coaches read about it like everyone else.
Right you are, Tricky. Its news, and they have it and need to run it. Newspapers can't get in the business of turning over stories. They did meet with BGSU first, and presumably used that to authenticate it (to another point). It was, IMO, a decent and fair way to handle it. You can't protect BG athletics just because its a revenue source.
orangeandbrown wrote: You can't protect BG athletics just because its a revenue source.
You can't, but it happens. Maybe not so much with BG, but you should see the fine-toothed comb the TV stations use in Columbus, making sure that if they're going to rub OSU the wrong way, they're 100% positive. And even then there's caution all over the place.
TG1996 wrote:
You can't, but it happens. Maybe not so much with BG, but you should see the fine-toothed comb the TV stations use in Columbus, making sure that if they're going to rub OSU the wrong way, they're 100% positive. And even then there's caution all over the place.
What Columbus stations have with osu is called lips to butt disease.
You have no idea. Especially when Michigan week rolls around. Anything that might be remotely "bulletin board" material is listened to, thought about, discussed, listened to again, washed, rinsed, repeated....
well since osu owns cbus, they kinda cant afford to get them all POd. osu would jsut declare war on them or something, and send the students to "celebrate" in teh streets across the city. Which would result in thousands of flipped and burning cars... b/c thats a good way to selebrate a win, destroying your own stuff...
"Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. A rocket is always a dildo."
~Rightupinthere
From what I understand, they decided not to publish the photograph.
That's an interesting call. Since the photograph is such an integral part of the story, there is an argument for publishing and allowing readers to reach their own conclusions about what was going on.
While I'm sure publishing the photo would have offended some readers (even if they creatively Photoshopped an area below the belt), that's sometimes that's a risk a newspaper needs to take.
On the other hand, the elephant in the room here is the possibility of serious hazing.
Publication would almost certainly have compounded the embarassment of the person who was face down in the photograph.
That's a pretty strong argument against publication in my mind.
I doubt that the mail would have been opened direcly by someone in the sports department.
Also, if the Sentinel would have tried to bury it, they could not take the chance that the photo was also not mailed...or would be mailed...to another competitor media outlet.
I think they did the correct thing in verifying the players/photo with Pooch and getting his comments before running the story.
Actually, I bet if the S-T would have a website, there is a greater chance we would have seen the picture. Its easier to say "if you don't care to see it, don't click here" than "if you don't want to see it, ignore page A9".
But as mentioned earlier, the Photoshopping/blurring would have to be a ridiculously large effort, apparently.
FWIW - The Blade also received a copy of the photo (although a day or so later). I don't believe that they've published it or even plan to but I could be wrong.
