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AP Reporter misrepresents herself to get interview with Steinbrenner

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by YankeeFan, May 27, 2007.

  1. Alma

    Alma Well-Known Member

    2much,

    I think your answer is snide, and here's why: We're debating whether she crossed the line. If you think she didn't, well, argue that position then. Let's hear your take on the situational ethics. But don't sit here and pretend the ends always justify the means, because they don't. If she had blackmailed Steinbrenner...that wouldn't have been OK, would it have?
     
  2. 2muchcoffeeman

    2muchcoffeeman Well-Known Member

    How do you know he's an addled old man? He certainly didn't sound addled to me.

    If her editors at AP had been uncomfortable with the story or the way she got it, would the story have moved? Duh.

    And the flip side of your second question is this: How do you know she didn't identify herself to him as a reporter? The fact that nobody from the organization is claiming "She never told Mr. Steinbrenner she was a reporter" would seem to indicate that she certainly did identify herself as a reporter.

    Seems to me that a bunch of fanboys are upset for no reason.
     
  3. Mystery_Meat

    Mystery_Meat Guest

    Lying to get the truth. No thanks, I don't want to get over that.
     
  4. 2muchcoffeeman

    2muchcoffeeman Well-Known Member

    Apples & oranges. Stick to the topic at hand.

    It's not that much different than going behind the back of an uncooperative, hostile college SID. I have no problem with that, either. She crossed no line except one drawn in beach sand by a flack. She did her job. Good for her.

    (And for the record: Dumb questions deserve snide responses. This thread has been one dumb question after another.)
     
  5. expendable

    expendable Well-Known Member

    I can't stand the Yankees. I believe the organization's free-spending ways (on Steinbrenner's watch) have ruined baseball for good. That said, I still have a problem with how she got the interview.
     
  6. Mystery_Meat

    Mystery_Meat Guest

    See now THAT'S apples and oranges. There's a BIG difference between going to another source to get your information and deliberately misrepresenting yourself -- at the same time taking advantage of an old man in failing health -- to get what you want.
     
  7. jgmacg

    jgmacg Guest

    Why so obnoxious this morning, Mr. Jitters?

    It's an ethical question on a message board for journalists. If the Chass story is correct, she misrepresented herself to get past the secretary. It is therefore completely fair to wonder whether she also misrepresented herself to Steinbrenner once he picked up the phone.
     
  8. spnited

    spnited Active Member

    Here is the entire Chass column from this morning. You have to read pretty deep...about 2/3 of the way in ... to find his throwaway line about how the AP reporter got the interview.
    This is hardly the issue some of you are making it out to be.


    On Baseball
    Interpreting Steinbrennerisms as Losses Weigh on Job Security
    By MURRAY CHASS
    The Yankees have a funny way of coming back against the Boston Red Sox. Instead of mounting a long winning streak, they lose games. Maybe the Yankees think they can fool the Red Sox and lull them into a false sense of security.

    If that is their idea, I am here to suggest that they quickly go to Plan B. Brian Cashman, for one, would appreciate it.

    Cashman is the Yankees’ general manager, the Yankees’ embattled general manager. George Steinbrenner, his boss, talked the other day about Cashman being on “a big hook.” It wasn’t entirely clear what Steinbrenner meant, but as a 35-year veteran of listening to and interpreting Steinbrennerisms, I think he meant that Cashman’s neck is in a big noose and it could get tighter with each loss.

    Because Cashman wasn’t wearing a turtleneck sweater at 85-degree Yankee Stadium yesterday, he may have found the fibers a little more prickly after the 3-1 loss to the geographically challenged Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Cashman, unfortunately, had seen that game before, only a few days earlier.

    On Tuesday night, after the Yankees had beaten the Red Sox 24 hours earlier, they had a chance to begin making a serious dent in Boston’s hefty lead over them. But Mike Mussina failed to do the job he is paid more than $11 million to do. Four batters into the first inning, the Yankees were losing, 3-0, because of a three-run homer by Manny Ramírez, and they never recovered.

    •

    Mussina is the Yankees’ No. 2 or No. 1 starting pitcher, depending on one’s view of him and Chien-Ming Wang. Mussina gets the nod on seniority, Wang on productivity. But that was Mussina’s poor effort to derail the Red Sox’ express train, and yesterday was Wang’s.

    This time, the Yankees were behind, 3-0, five batters into the first inning. Gary Matthews Jr. tripled home two runs and scored on a Casey Kotchman single. The Yankees never recovered.

    “It makes it appear like we have to do a lot of hard work,” Manager Joe Torre said of early 3-0 deficits. “Normally with our type of offense, it shouldn’t be a problem. Giving up three runs shouldn’t be a problem. We just haven’t been able to consistently put points on the board. It shows up more when the other team scores two or three somewhere along the line.”

    The latest loss, their third in the last four games, dropped the Yankees a season-high 11 ½ games from first place in the American League East after the Red Sox beat Texas, 7-4, last night.

    The loss did not make Cashman’s job any more secure. Despite the reverse route the Yankees have curiously chosen to take to first place, though, Cashman will probably not be evicted from his office on the loge level of the stadium.

    Firing him would be a punitive move, punishing Cashman for the mistakes he made as this team’s architect. It’s highly unlikely that a new general manager could fix the problems that created Steinbrenner’s displeasure.

    At another time, Cashman would probably have been fired already. The list of his predecessors under Steinbrenner, including Bill Bergesch, Cedric Tallis, Murray Cook and Harding Peterson, attests to that.

    But this is another time and another Steinbrenner. This is not the same Steinbrenner who wielded a quick and heavy ax in the 1970s and ’80s. That Steinbrenner would not only have fired Cashman by now, but he would also have booted Torre out of the dugout.

    Gene Michael and Don Mattingly would be in Cashman’s and Torre’s positions. They, not the current incumbents, would feel the wrath of Steinbrenner. But the lamentable reality is that wrath no longer exists, at least publicly.

    The words that come forth infrequently from Steinbrenner these days are almost always filtered through the news releases of the ubiquitous public relations man Howard Rubenstein. The other day, however, an Associated Press reporter, describing herself to Steinbrenner’s secretary as an old friend, got on the call list and wound up with a rare interview. Good for her.
    •

    That’s where Cashman’s big hook, a k a big noose, came from. But the feeling around the stadium is that Cashman’s job is not in jeopardy, that Steinbrenner’s hook remarks were more of a wake-up call for Cashman, Torre and the underachieving players.

    The problem is that Steinbrenner had already sounded several wake-up calls this season. The objects of the calls have heard them, but they have been unable to respond. Torre was reduced yesterday to complaining about the final pitch of the game; Bobby Abreu took it for strike three even though Torre said it was in the opposite batter’s box.

    What about the first 26 outs, he was asked.

    “I’m not saying he cost us the game,” Torre said of the home-plate umpire, Jeff Nelson. “The next pitch he may have popped up. I’m not saying it would have been a base hit. I’m just saying I’d like to have that 27th out.”

    And Steinbrenner wants more wins.

    Asked about the lack of effect of the owner’s comments, Torre said: “He’s passionate about what he does. He owns this ball club. He’s very proud of it. We certainly haven’t lived up to what we need to live up to. We certainly haven’t played up to our expectations, and we’re all accountable for that.”
     
  9. Mystery_Meat

    Mystery_Meat Guest

    She misrepresented herself for the sake of getting an interview. I kind of think that IS a big deal.
     
  10. Ira_Schoffel

    Ira_Schoffel Member

    If she had misrepresented herself to Steinbrenner, the Yankees would have ripped her in every paper in the country.

    That hasn't happened. Their silence speaks for itself.
     
  11. spnited

    spnited Active Member

    How do you know she isn't an old friend of his?
    There are a lot of NY writers who have covered the Yankees throughout George's tenure who could say they are "old friends" of his.
    And no one really knows how "addled" George is these days. We know he's not the old blustering buffoon he once was but some of you guys make it sound like he's incapable of putting two thoughts together.
     
  12. Michael_ Gee

    Michael_ Gee Well-Known Member

    There is no evidence, not one statement, this woman misrepresented herself to Steinbrenner. Misrepresenting oneself to a person whose job it is to prevent you from talking to a source is A-OK in my book. If Steinbrenner is so addled, how come he knew what he wanted to say? Those were perfectly rational comments.
    I also agree with the person who noted AP has editors. I further note that Steinbrenner is still taking calls. If he was REALLY sick, he wouldn't be allowed to. I think a lot of Yankee fans have come up with the George has Alzheimer's plot line to compensate for Carl Pavano.
     
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