Philadelphia Inquirer: Are you kidding me

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/15014873.htm

 

Please elaborate. What did the writer or editors do wrong?

 

Part of the original Q&A Published by the Inquirer:

Giles shares his Phils feelings

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/15009380.htm

By Todd Zolecki
Inquirer Staff Writer

PITTSBURGH - The Phillies have been bloodied and beaten on the field, and intensely criticized off it.

The starting pitching and hitting have been awful. Manager Charlie Manuel is feeling the heat. General manager Pat Gillick can't put his stamp on the team because of inflated contracts and otherwise unmovable talent. It is a common feeling that the organization botched its handling of pitcher Brett Myers' arrest, and it remains to be seen how it will handle his return this weekend in San Francisco.

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Then there is ownership, which continues to be condemned publicly for the perception that it is more concerned about profit than winning.

Phillies president and part owner David Montgomery is the spokesman for ownership. He has complete management authority over the organization. But the ownership includes limited partners. Bill Giles, of Giles Limited Partnership, may be the best known of a group that includes Claire S. Betz; Tri-Play Associates (brothers Alexander K. Buck, J. Mahlon Buck Jr. and William C. Buck); and Double Play Inc. (chairman John S. Middleton). Being a Phillies limited partner means you stay in the background and keep quiet.

But the 71-year-old Giles, in Pittsburgh as honorary National League president for the All-Star Game, spoke openly and candidly with reporters yesterday about the beleaguered franchise. Giles, who owns about 15 percent of the Phillies, said fans who want this ownership group to sell the team should not hold their breath:

Question: Are you aware ownership is taking a beating?

A: I know that. The best thing about the last two weeks was I was in Italy, so I didn't get into that [Myers] mess. I got the details [Sunday] when I talked to David... . When David told me what really happened, it's really kind of a disappointment for the publicity of it.

Q: What did you hear?

A: I don't know that I'm privileged to say. I'm not the spokesman for the Phillies. I do know what really happened was a lot less than what the public thinks happened and that's the sad part because some bystander saw something that really didn't happen. Brett was trying to help his wife.

Q: What do you mean?

A: "I can't say. I just don't know what Dave wants me to say."

Q: But witnesses saw it.

A: One of our employees [marketing manager Debbie Nocito] saw the whole thing. She said, "He did not hit her at all, and he didn't grab her hair or anything." So all the reports were untrue, from what I understand.

 

The news story published this afternoon, refuting Giles' answers in the Q&A

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http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/15014873.htm

Montgomery: Giles ‘misunderstood’ conversation on Myers

By Don Steinberg
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Phillies president David Montgomery said today that team chairman Bill Giles had the story wrong.

Yesterday, Giles told reporters that Phillies pitcher Brett Myers' alleged assault of his own wife in front of witnesses in Boston last month "didn't really happen" - that in fact Myers "was trying to help his wife."

Montgomery said Giles' misinformation about the Myers incident came out of a 15 minute conversation the two team executives had on Sunday.

"Obviously... I didn't explain it very well," Montgomery said, after a ceremony where the Phillies presented a $10,000 grant at a South Philadelphia Police Athletic League gym.

"I think Bill clearly misunderstood me. We made it very clear that we certainly didn't condone Brett's behavior. He apologized for it, and, most importantly, we understand the very serious nature of domestic violence. We've said that repeatedly over the last couple weeks."

Giles yesterday had told reporters in Pittsburgh for tonight's Major League Baseball All-Star game that Phillies marketing manager Debbie Nocito "saw the whole thing" in Boston and that she said Myers didn't hit his wife at all. That's contrary to the Boston police report on the incident.

Montgomery explained: "What Debbie said very clearly, and that I think was part of the police report, was that she did not see that. She did not indicate that it did not happen."

On Giles' suggestion that Myers was helping his wife, Montgomery again gave the benefit of the doubt to Giles.

"The only thing I would say is that there had been reports that Brett was basically trying to get [his wife] Kim back to the hotel, and I think that may have been what he's construed in his conversation as helping," Montgomery said.

Kim Myers and two witnesses told police that Myers hit her during an argument after midnight on June 23, near Fenway Park in Boston. Police responding to a 911 call found Kim Myers crying and her face swollen. Myers pleaded not guilty to assault charges. There is a scheduled pretrial hearing on Aug. 4, but the judge in the case has waived Myers' presence at the hearing.

Giles had been in Italy on a family vacation during the incident.

Asked about the Phillies, 40-47 at the All-Star break, Montgomery said: "I really want to stay away from baseball questions today... The last 30 days on the field have not been good, anything but satisfactory, and we're hoping to turn it around."

 

It's a tough call. If the Inquirer told Giles this was going to be a Q&A, I don't think it's fair to turn it into a news story when he puts his foot in his mouth. I think you have to run it as a Q&A and let him hang himself. Maybe they could have put an editor's note at the end refuting his version of the events, if need be. Actually, I think they handled it pretty well by coming back with a news story that dealt with the reactions to his comments.

 

now we have an ethical obligation to present news in a certain format? anything newsworthy that comes out of a Q&A is fair game for a news story.

as for the premise of Pendleton's original post ... Todd's story included detailed information from the police report refuting what Giles was claiming, so it was certainly a balanced story. I would have broken out the Myers stuff as a news story, and the other papers who were there did. But as long as you have both sides of the story covered, it's good enough for me.

 

Some notes about this story:

1) It was not a sit down with Giles. It was done in a public setting with reporters from other newspapers present. That was mentioned in the opening before the Q&A began.
2) We have documented numerous times in other stories the contents of the police report, including the first story written on the matter.
3) Along side this story was a column by Phil Sheridan that further explained the contradictions.

I am not arguing right or wrong here, just painting the whole picture.

Jim

 

What this did was to bring out something about the Phillies organization: Maybe they're not taking it as seriously as they publically claimed to have (days after the fact.)

The "Brett was basically trying to get Kim back to the hotel" part of this is very enlightening.

Think about it. What difference does it make if he allegedly hit her on the street or in the privacy of a hotel room? It's as if the Phillies were trying to mitigate the incident as they discussed it among themselves, and the Q & A brought that to light.

Sure, maybe it would've been better handled in a news story format, but you're picking nits about a great 'get' that does a service to the public for having been brought to light.