Rutgers' AD: It would be "great" if the Star-Ledger went out of business

Not whatsoever. I'm saying you're not carrying out some double standard by objecting to the c-word. You object to the d-word, too, and have been quite clear about that.

 

Like, how many familes will give up tickets to Rutgers games as a result of losing jobs? I doubt the woman even thought of it. And I think she made that decision a heck of a lot easier for some!

 

Not excusing Hermann's comments, but this seems a little sour grapes, below-the-belt from the Politi.
Hermann's comments were made "several" weeks ago. And I can't find anything in that piece - or the college piece (which is also anti-Hermann) linked in it - stating when this actually happened. Several weeks could have been two months ago. And yes, I think the timing of her comments matter.
Her comments are bad form, no doubt. But it's a lot of worse if she's dancing on their graves - which to me is what the writer is trying to convince readers she did - rather than making these comments before the layoffs.
He also notes she didn't apologize for her comments. She should be sad and ashamed part of her wish came true and people lost their jobs, and if she's not she's a horrible person.

Not a big Hermann fan to begin with. This piece doesn't make me dislike her any less, but I don't think it was Politi's finest hour either.

For a guy who's not out to get her, that piece reads a lot like, well, a guy who's out to get her.


Fire away.

 

When a student said "they might die again next month," Hermann said "That'd be great."

It reveals her desire, at the very least.

 

I agree. When I saw the headline, photo caption and the first couple of grafs, I expected the next graf to tell how Hermann made her comments in light of last week's layoffs. I'm sure the intent was to make readers think that. Since that wasn't the case, it seems to be misleading on the paper's part, at best.
I don't see either Hermann's cause or the paper's cause helped out by this. Hermann said some stupid stuff and deserves whatever heat comes her way. No question about that. But Politi doesn't come out of this looking too good, either.

 

But, these are supposed to be amateur athletics. Pure, clean fun for the whole family!

 

Lot of sense in this. Journalists should assume that, when one of their organizations goes down, those who felt beleaguered by it will have a sense of relief or joy or vindication or schadenfreude or whatever. Those who enjoy and admire the organization will be bummed. Not everyone is going to mourn the institution or think specifically about the people laid off. There are tons of unemployed people, good ones, bad ones, ones that had meaningful work, others that had bullshit jobs.

Whether self-induced or not, from Hermann's point of view she couldn't get a fair shake from the Ledger. If you feel a media outlet is unfair, it's hard to work up much sympathy when it hits hard times. I feel that way about certain outlets -- wouldn't bother me a bit if they went under, considering how shoddy their journalism has become -- and I've long been on the inside, taking a hit myself and suffering for friends and colleagues in the business. But any business doing lousy work puts itself in the crosshairs, regardless of its claimed or neglected mission. Hermann sees the Ledger as doing lousy work. I give her some credit for being open about it at least, instead of feigning sadness and cackling on the drive home.

 

Well, it's going to boost the stock of some current members. In every game, someone has to lose and I suspect Rutgers is going to be losing quite regularly in the next few years, at least in football and men's basketball. I do question how many people in the NYC market give a rats tail about Rutgers. Notre Dame would have been a far better addition. If you couldn't get them, then Syracuse or Pittsburgh.

 

Sorry. She said she hopes a business fails and a lot of people to lose their jobs. I'm quite comfortable making a moral judgement about he based on that.

It's not that she had a lack of sympathy, as Joe suggested, but she was rooting for people to be put out of work.

 

Which is sort of the opposite of a reporter campaigning to get a coach fired.

 

Julie Hermann is a thoughtless bitch.