Have you ever been thrown under the bus by a team you cover?

You are very wise.

I'm going to think about this part more.

 

Yes, management. Not the ones I normally deal with.

 

put your management on it. let them stand by you.

 

Just going out on a limb here.....when you say 'innuendo' do you mean they're trying to make you look bad for something personal?

Are you female?

 

It's not personal, no. That has nothing to do with it.

 

If this were only more vague....

 

As long as you're right, stand by your story and keep doing your job. They will respect you in the end. If you don't, you'll be a pushover and you're credibility is tarnished for a long, long time. Nobody ever works in this business without dealing with some crap sooner or later. Just make sure you are right when you put out a negative story and then stand by your words until they can prove otherwise. If they don't sue for libel or slander, I'd say you have been proven right in the eyes of the law.

Remember the book Jose Canseco wrote, Juiced? Well it was supposed to be full of crap and lies, but nobody ever sued for slander or libel. The reason why? Because the book was true and nobody could prove otherwise.

As long as you are right, it doesn't matter. Stand up to them and show them they can't push you around and you are not a coward.

 

I have been thrown under the bus by my boss, numerous times

 

Stick to your guns. Reply privately and then, when you have the opportunity, publicly if the throw you under the bus again. If you are right you are right. See below:

I had a team and the newspaper that loves it to death try to kill a book I wrote. The paper's big columnist "interviewed" the team CEO and allowed him to tell out and out lies about the content of my book, which clearly, neither of them had ever read. When I complained to the SE, he mumbled and patronized me. When I wrote I letter to the editor, they re-printed it, but edited it to make it appear as if I agreed with them. Told me everything I ever needed to know about the paper, the columnist, the team and the CEO.



Fortunately, readers were not easily duped. A week or so later I had a reading scheduled in a bookstore, and had a crowd about 10X what was expected show up, and I told everyone there exactly what happened. Fifty told 500, 500 told 5,000, 5,000 told 50,000 . . . you get the idea. In the end an awful lot of people read the book and ended up coming to the same conclusion as I about the team, the CEO, the paper, and the columnist.

The book became a local best seller and nearly ten years lis still in print in hardcover and I still get a couple of checks a year becasue of it. The team was eventually sold and the CEO eventually left in something approaching disgrace, and I've had those in a position to know tell me that my book probably shaved some millions off the sale price - I'm not so sure, but it made me feel good. The SE has crawled off and now hides in a desk job out of sight, the paper is facing the same struggles as every other paper, and columnist is dead dead dead dead dead dead dead dead dead dead dead.

Everyday I look around and live in a house that book built and paid for.

 

Quick question not to call you out, but what parts of management do you not deal with normally and why? You should have a relationship with management as strong or stronger than the players and coaches because those guys make the decisions and generally outlast the personnel. I don't know the specifics of your case, but I would assume if you are writing a negative piece about the state of the team or franchise, you would likely do diligence and check in with management for comment on the story. If they chose not to comment, strike the above. Just curious how you approached that aspect.

 

I was using the term management very broadly. It was actually an owner.

I stood and took the heat. Hopefully it will now blow over once the steam was released. It's one of those things where if you're the team or a fan, you're upset over, but if you're just an objective observer, you're not. They are having a lot of trouble seeing it from the outside as I do.

 

Well, that clears it up. I will now return to banging my head against the wall.