More Spurrier-Morris drama

It's over. Romenesko has the letter sent to employees by the executive editor: http://jimromenesko.com/2013/09/12/the-state-its-now-ok-for-columnist-ron-morris-to-write-about-gamecocks-football/

 

The pendulum is swinging too far in the other direction. No one should have carte blanche to write whatever they choose.

 

The State suits back down, as most do after public humiliation:

http://t.co/EQVRshbRY2

 

In recent months, we asked Ron to draw upon his considerable sports knowledge and experience to produce highly readable, relevant columns and enterprise features.The work has been outstanding and has given sports fans much to enjoy and to think about. During this time, we asked Ron to focus first on coverage other than the USC football program.

Riiiiiiiiight...

They asked him to produce highly readable, relevant columns and enterprise features -- in recent months? That would be implicit in his job. He would have been doing that for years or he wouldn't have been a) a columnist or b) employed.

What a crock.

Also, no offense to anyone who has this as a legit, valuable role, but I've seen transfers to "enterprise features" used as a refuge of scoundrels among newsroom managers. It's the easiest way to take responsibility away from a columnist or beat person and put them in drydock, ready to be put out with the trash. The No. 1 enterprise feature crying out to be done in this newspaper's market, obviously, is Spurrier's bully behavior and the impact it has on local fan-boy big shots.

The memo is a reminder that so many newspaper managers lapse into this insulting level of corporate-speak. It's particularly galling coming from an operation allegedly dedicated to clarity and truthful information.

Sounds like this publisher, Henry Haitz The Third, is more Henry Haitz The First (Amendment).

 

I want to be at the first press conference where Morris tries to ask Spurrier a question.

He famously ignored Larry Guest's questions for years and at one point said something to the effect of "You know better than to even ask." when Guest asked him a question.

One of the Gainesville writers had to write Spurrier a letter of apology after he gave Auburn the coaching edge in a game in 1995. Spurrier called the publisher and demanded that the writer be fired. It came pretty close to happening.

 

So, is the takeaway that publishers in places like South Carolina and Florida -- and we can assume other locals -- view sports as the toy department, not subject to journalistic standards, or that publishers are willing to adjust their coverage of important members of the community, when asked, in order to maintain their "access" or "friendships" with VIPs of all stripes?

 

I'd say it's money more than access, YF. I'd assume many of the major newspaper advertisers in Columbia's circulation area are South Carolina graduates and/or fans, and thus hate Morris for all the shit he's given Spurrier over the years.

 

OK. That could be part of it too.

Question remains the same.

Can the paper(s) be trusted to report on the business dealings of the big university in town, or big business in town? Or, are we supposed to believe they only bend to football coaches?

 

Considering how much advertising money most universities spend on a local paper, you would think if a University president threatened to pull all advertising, it would make a pretty big impact.

The difference with football coaches is a lot of times the publisher is either a booster who already has a friendly relationship with the coach or is a complete fanboi who will tell a coach anything he wants to hear if the coach calls them personally and says, "Why would you let this person cover my team?" At the college level, especially at the hometown papers, and especially in the SEC, this is a big deal...

Kudos to The State for reinstating Morris, but does anyone think The State will aggressively pursue negative stories if they come up? They're certainly not going to dig for anything. They might report stuff that falls into their lap (player arrests, etc...).

I will be very curious to read Morris going forward. How quickly will the first critical column come. Does he hang back? Would you blame him if he did, especially if he has ties to the area and cares about keeping his job?

 

Definition of a fascist, right there. Why do we indulge assholes like this?

 

Some of the biggest fanbois I've ever met are executive editors and publishers. I remember hearing about the publisher at one paper in a SEC town who had a huge university flag in his office and routinely wore school colors to work and routinely harassed the beat writers if they had done their jobs and written anything controversial.

You take a legendary coach at a school that hasn't experienced a ton of success over the years and the editors and publishers turn into a 12-year-old girl at a One Direction concert.