Per 980: Media not allowed to tweet / Shanny overwhelmed by media

[Oldskool]

I am sure he will enforce it by taking away credentials. It is nice to have a secretive coach who won't let the media give away anything and keeps his lips tight as well.

HTTR

Even that quack, Elfin commented on that last week on Twitter and lamented that Shanny was no Zorn when it came to being a blabbermouth.

[Jimbo]

I don't see a darn thing wrong with what Shanahan is proposing. You break the rules, you're suspended from Redskins Park for a period of time. Let's put reporting back to where it needs to be. Just the facts, ma'am!

[Destino]

Unfortunately, the rumormongering here has been out of hand here for years. For example, the whole thing with Haynesworth has probably been blown up a lot more than it should have been because of the endless rumormongering by the press, both local and national. While I don't think there is any way for Shanahan to enforce it, the message is pretty clear.

And guess what: I think most coaches would stand alongside Shanahan on this, tho others might handle it in different ways. (Gibbs handled it by saying nothing of substance to the press and being consistent.)

The AH mess isn't a media creation, it a poor PR performance by the skins. If the entire media decided to HELP the redskins they could just ignore it but that kind of control is never going to happen anywhere outside of north korea. The decided to play aggressively against a guy holding a pair of aces and it blew up in their faces. Did you expect the media to ignore it? Even the NFL network reporters came to town to talk about it. They signed a guy to a huge contract that had character issues and it blew up... that's a story in the football world. Trying to trade him late in the game breathed even more life into it.

This is nothing new for the skins, they've tried to fight the media before and last year it blew up in their faces and the fans damn near revolted. We'll see how this latest act of utter stupidity plays out.

[TSO]

I don't think that part of it is the "big deal". The rumors and anonymous sources is the story here. That's code for "you can only report the official line from the skins". After all they will fire anyone that works for them that doesn't follow orders and speaks to the media and the media isn't allowed to report anything without a name attached to it. This is all about control and Snyder and Shanahan have decided that the way the free press works in the United States of America, doesn't work for them.

Definitely not code for "you can only report the official line of the Skins". No one is saying not to quote another person who has something to say, they're saying stop with the anonymous sources, right?

In my mind the problem is people are equating sports with government and social issues. Sports are for fun and friendly competition, right? That purpose alone should make sports journalism different than other forms of journalism.

If that's the case, why does anyone need to quote an anonymous source? If there's a story somewhere, and someone is willing to give it you, why are they hiding behind the scenes? What are they afraid of, exactly? Why can't the guy who's bashing whoever he's bashing come out and be honest about it instead of doing it in the shadows? In the real world, it's totally understandable because there may be a legitimate threat against you for exposing any number of public figures, but in sports? Sports!? Come on!

I'm sorry, but if you need to be anonymous in sports because you're bad-mouthing someone or telling people something that person wouldn't like others to know, you're being hypocritical because everyone would hate that for themselves. You can't claim you need protection in this case, which is the only legitimate reason for anonymity in my mind. Otherwise, be a man and say who you are.

To me, being able to quote anonymous sources in sports is simply giving those who are against the team the license to commit sabotage without repercussions. It's not right.

I don't know, maybe I'm wrong. Could you give me a valid reason for anonymity in sports?

[Bibby]

I should have become a journalism major. It sounds like the easiest career ever, haha. Twitter has really ruined every aspect of that field. Honestly, the less I hear about the Redskins.. the better.

[jonnyboy383]

After going 4-12, why not cut off the media? I'm honestly sick of seeing all the Redskins stories about AH this, AH that. It's always bullsh*t. They don't give us any love when we win, so screw them. This is just Shanahan trying to change the culture and I'm all for it. I don't know how he'll enforce it, but I'm sure he can do it without looking like Greg Blatche, who just straight out ignores everyone.

[DCsportsfan53]

But this was Portis's first opportunity to explain himself after making comments that, at the very least, displayed some insensitivity on the subject of female reporters. It does raise questions about how sincere Portis's apology was. Perhaps the Portis-Haynesworth two-man act should go on the road. It didn't play well in Ashburn.

[url=]http://voices.washingtonpost.com/redskinsinsider/albert-haynesworth/portis-and-haynesworth-take-to.html#more[/url]

Prime example number 1 of why I'm not crying for the media today. It's just like Portis said, he talks, they bash him, he doesn't talk they bash him. It's a no win situation. Really Reid, are you that stupid? The media and the NFL are about the only two entities in the world who gave two ****s about Portis' comments, I wonder why that is? Maybe because what he said wasn't a big deal and was at least partially true? But no, the media hears it and jumps like hyenas to a carcas to manufacture controversy and then when Portis decides it's not worth commenting then it's oh, he's not taking it seriously (ie, he's not going to give us anything else to railroad him with) and he's wrong for that, too. The sooner some of these ****ing retards get their credentials revoked the better for all of us, imho, because I'm sick and tired of manufactured drama, overstated bullcrap, misreporting and pure conjecture passed off as fact. I want to know as much as possible about my skins as much as the next fan but I'll take less access if it means reporting is done for the sake of spreading information rather than generating hits and controversy and if it means they're no longer spilling the beans for our opponenets. It's the same reason why I'll listen to the Sports Reporters or Sheehan any day over Lavar and Dukes. For the former, real talk about the days stories is enough, for the latter (and the WaPo and many others) that's never enough, they have to try and create something out of nothing and overhype every word in order to rile people up and generate interest. Just report the facts and stfu.

[darrelgreenie]

^^If i'm doing a locker room interview with the UCLA women's volleyball team and they happen to come out of the showers in towels or less i'm not going look.

Honest.

I thought Portis comments are obvious and honest.

[Horatio]

So much for Snyder's "unfiltered access" promise from a couple of years ago. How can anything be "unfiltered" in this Orwellian environment??

[RansomthePasserby]

I don't think Shanny really cares what the media says about the Haynesworth saga. What he doesn't like is other teams getting an advantage over us with info about personel/packages, plays, etc.

I'm all for it. A football team is like the military, the less info your opponent knows, the better. You gain public approval by winning, not being "open." People might like it initially, but in the end being "open" will come back to bite you.

[RAAZ227]

Im cool with it. It should be tight lipped. Last year, Zorn would just go on and on with them. It seemed very loose. The media around here tends to blow things WAY out of proportion so I'm not surprised he is cinching it down over there.

[HBnotBlades]

Reid's more of a gossip reporter than a sports reporter. Just like JLC made a name for himself and then jumped to NFL network, Reid's going to make the jump to TMZ.

[Skin'emAlive]

[url=]http://voices.washingtonpost.com/redskinsinsider/albert-haynesworth/portis-and-haynesworth-take-to.html#more[/url]

Prime example number 1 of why I'm not crying for the media today. It's just like Portis said, he talks, they bash him, he doesn't talk they bash him. It's a no win situation. Really Reid, are you that stupid? The media and the NFL are about the only two entities in the world who gave two ****s about Portis' comments, I wonder why that is? Maybe because what he said wasn't a big deal and was at least partially true? But no, the media hears it and jumps like hyenas to a carcas to manufacture controversy and then when Portis decides it's not worth commenting then it's oh, he's not taking it seriously (ie, he's not going to give us anything else to railroad him with) and he's wrong for that, too. The sooner some of these ****ing retards get their credentials revoked the better for all of us, imho, because I'm sick and tired of manufactured drama, overstated bullcrap, misreporting and pure conjecture passed off as fact. I want to know as much as possible about my skins as much as the next fan but I'll take less access if it means reporting is done for the sake of spreading information rather than generating hits and controversy and if it means they're no longer spilling the beans for our opponenets. It's the same reason why I'll listen to the Sports Reporters or Sheehan any day over Lavar and Dukes. For the former, real talk about the days stories is enough, for the latter (and the WaPo and many others) that's never enough, they have to try and create something out of nothing and overhype every word in order to rile people up and generate interest. Just report the facts and stfu.

I completely agree with you. This is the exact reason why Shanahan should be able to filter the media. This storm has been brewing here for years, and with the start of twitter it has only escalated higher to a category 4 hurricane following the Zornado that tore through DC. What Portis said was only common sense. Why are people even talking about it? Are men allowed in women's locker rooms? No. So this should be a non-story. Everyone is fighting each other to get their report out first. I would much rather read a great article. Bill Simmons is a great example of excellent journalism. He puts out an article maybe once... sometimes twice a week. His articles are based on facts, research, evidence, and wit. I enjoy everyone of his articles even if it has no meaning to me. I hope this leads to more writers like Simmons around here.

[Redskins Diehard]

[url=]http://voices.washingtonpost.com/redskinsinsider/albert-haynesworth/portis-and-haynesworth-take-to.html#more[/url]

Man, this is exhibit A of how 92 is destroying the team in the locker room.

[Skin'emAlive]

Man, this is exhibit A of how 92 is destroying the team in the locker room.

Im sorry, would you enlighten me how Albert is destroying the team in the locker room here?

Actually, this leads me to believe that the players dont have any beef with Albert in the locker room.

[THEREALTOR1]

Im sorry' date=' would you enlighten me how Albert is destroying the team in the locker room here?[/quote']

I'm pretty sure RD was laying down some sarcasm there Skin'em :whoknows:

[Est.1974]

I wonder if he is coming down hard on the players as well' date=' in that they need to be very clear in what they can & can't say to the media. Portis & Cooley have made the headlines in recent weeks, plus you have several players using twitter & blogging all kinds of info'.

I'd be willing to bet that as well as putting restrictions on the media, some house rules will have been reinforced to the players. There's no point putting blocks on the media, then letting your players trip their mouths off to the media during interview, radio shows, or via blogging etc. Clearly this can't be stopped, but I'm not expecting any player to say much other than the bare minimum.[/quote']

Or nothing at all in Clinton's case...

[Rexx1240]

And personally, I think this is a horrible approach to the media. One thing Dan Snyder, much to my surprise, has been is a media dunce cap.

You work with the media. You butter them up. You feed them gourmet food everyday. You use them as a tool for your own advantages

Going to war with the media, which this is, just makes it worse

You contrast it with Ted Leonsis' approach. The Capitals get treated with kid gloves in this town despite the epic playoff meltdown last April and not doing much of anything from 2003-2007. But Ted has worked the media, schmoozed them, been open about the right things, and now coverage will always be on the side of the Caps

I completely undrstnd what you're saying but at this point, the media is too far gone when it comes to "supporting" the Skins. Anythng the Redskins do & say, whether true or not, will almost always have some type of negative spin on it from the Washington sports media. When the Skins do something good, they fnd any way possible to turn it into something bad. When we do something bad, they always blow it up & make it alot worse. When we do nuffn at all, they start rumors just so we make the news evry week. It's very sad but very true.

[BraveWarrior]

The entire premise of reporting is utilizing soures. And with sensitive stuff, un named sources. Thats how we got Watergate

I am fine with 1 and 2, in particular when it hurts us on the field (practice tweets, practice blogging, injuries, etc)

But saying "you can't report on rumors" is downright absurd and an attack on their profession. Its basically telling a defensive player "you cannot tackle"

Its a fundamental part of what they do for a living

Maybe he'd just like them to do a little research before making a big thing out of some half-assed rumor that really has no substance behind it. I thought fact checking was also a part of being a reporter/journalist?

[Rooblakas]

Fine by me as well. Go Mike Shanahan.

[tshile]

I don't mind this at all. Twitter has done nothing but allowed reporters to get it wrong quite often without there being any backlash.

I wish they'd just close it off and not even talk to media. Tell us whats going on by playing well on the field.

[TK]

Here's the thing. When mediot #1 tweets out that he thinks the F.O. is trying to trade Al, then mediots #2-infinity latch onto it & run with the rumor. Then it gathers steam until Al's agent gets wind of it & calls Al to inform him he may be on the trade block. Then Shanny & Bruce have to shoot it down to not only Al & his agent but to the mediots that started the whole mess to begin. The DC media can't seem to get out of their own way. It's a damn shame that a professional team can't be covered by professional media.

[TSO]

Here's the thing. When mediot #1 tweets out that he thinks the F.O. is trying to trade Al, then mediots #2-infinity latch onto it & run with the rumor. Then it gathers steam until Al's agent gets wind of it & calls Al to inform him he may be on the trade block. Then Shanny & Bruce have to shoot it down to not only Al & his agent but to the mediots that started the whole mess to begin. The DC media can't seem to get out of their own way. It's a damn shame that a professional team can't be covered by professional media.

Ahhh, I see... I completely forgot about that whole "Redskins want to trade Al to Titans" bs story they ran. Had they only ran it as it was; that it was the Titans who were feeling around to see what we wanted for Al, would things have been different?

[TK]

Ahhh, I see... I completely forgot about that whole "Redskins want to trade Al to Titans" bs story they ran. Had they only ran it as it was; that it was the Titans who were feeling around to see what we wanted for Al, would things have been different?

Actually, the Titans only offered a 4th at which we in their face.

See, TN still has a hard on for us because of those "tampering" charges they tried to bring us last year when we signed Al. So every so often, TN will leak something to get our local mediots stirred up because they know it'll cause distractions for us. It's their way of ****ing with Dan. And they do it because it's obviously working.

[dent19]

Just ban the media from all practices. Ban all media from the facility. Ban all team employees from talking to the media except when directed to by the team.