AndyJohnson

In all fairness, I dont think the issue anyone had with that article was the fact of whether Welker is underpaid or not, but the writer citing a player saying that Welker shouldnt play because he is underpaid and the Patriots have Edleman so will toss him aside.

condon84

I think the media bashing got more to do with how the Pats are being portrayed.

For example: Columnist infers Pats are being cheap.

Posters here respond: columnist is an idiot.

Said columnist writes how Pats draft picks are working out

Posters here respond: hey, he knows what he's talking about!

RhodyPatriot

It depends what the "content" is. King made a comment this morning about the WR depth on the Patriots and how Brady better hope one of the kids steps up or else. I strongly disagree with that comment and yet I'm not here ripping on Peter King as being anti-Patriot. That's his X's and O's opinion and I strongly disagree with it. The young TE's are going to more than make up for the lack of WR depth in this passing game.
But then we have King's commentary about Belichick and Spygate which I thought was over-the-top and excessively strong. That lead me to wonder out loud if there was a "personal" agenda behind those comments since Peter King gets ZERO access to Bill Belichick and the Patriot locker room. If Spygate occured with a coach who was cozy with King would Peter have come down as strong on that guy for the same offense?? I think not!
I have no problem with critical commentary. I myself have been critical of Brady, Moss, BB etc. What I have a real problem with is agenda driven media and mediots looking to spin a story to generate some buzz for themselves, a MAJOR driving force with our Boston Mediot crowd.

Garbanza

Wrong. I have no problem with "negative" pieces. Something like "Pats missed the mark in the 2008 draft. Only "hit" Mayo. Will this have a negative impact? This reporter thinks so.

Instead, we usually get: Patriots draft day wheeling and dealing will eventually kill the team. Bill Belichick wears too many hats. Is he close to throwing it all away and retiring? Brady sure to leave for San Francisco! The world is crashing!!!! Hey you dumbass sheep - go "bah, bah" upon my command, dang it!

But then again, I assume you are a reporter, therefore 1) the reader is the stupid, sensitive one 2) You are a superior being and 3) your ego is the size of Manhattan.

KontradictioN

It depends on whether or not you actually think Silver was talking to a "friend" or if he was just using the "friend" to try to drive an agenda. Silver himself wasn't saying it, according to the article. It was the "friend".

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Leave No Doubt

Exactly. Remember Tony Mazz' hysterical rant? He wound up saying (screaming?) " You're either a Belichicklet or you're not". Speaks right to your point about P.King.

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AndyJohnson

Just saying the point I saw anyone having an issue with was not the fact of the contract, but the implication that Welker is eing mistreated and will be tossed aside.
There are many ways to write that article, including whether that 'quote' was the only one he got, consistent with all the others, or different than all the others, but what it seemed to me people took issue to was that it was only an attempt to create controversy rather than fair and balanced reporting. I prett much ignored it, but I can see where people have issues with selective reporting in order to create an impression that may not be accurate.
A good analogy is the Curran/BJGE thread. While it was posted by a poster, not reported by a writer, the OP in that thread misrepresented what Curran said (if we assume the guy claiming to be Curran actually is. Its not really that relevant because I am using this just to illustrate my point) The OP inferred that Currans comment was coming from the organization when in fact it was his own read of the situation absent any info from the organization. Look at the sh;tstorm it set off.
Same thing here.
To state that Welker is underpaid and my opinion is he should be careful coming back too soon because of that (I actually dont understand that to begin with) is one thing, and that probably wouldnt get me much attention.
If I troll for a comment that implies there is contract trouble with Welker, that he may have second thoughts about starting the season on time, and do it while the franchise is publicly dealing with Brady and Mankins contract issues get my article noticed.
Getting noticed by twisting the information to imply it means more than it means is poor journalism in my opinion. Doesn't mean he is not allowed to do it. Doesnt mean the underlying fact is any less correct. But it makes me much less trustworthy of his opinion because he is showing that he will distort the story in whatever direction gets him the most attention.

patchick

It's funny to think that the contract that is leaving Welker so clearly underpaid is the same deal that was so obviously too rich for Miami to consider matching.

MoLewisrocks

In both the Brady and Welker pieces Silver proceeded to claim something he personally didn't feel was actually an issue or the case was or might in fact be an issue or the case for the player based not on what the player had said or done to date but on what an anonymous source (someone close to and friend on another team...) claimed their state of mind and/or their circumstance to be. It's a clever way to get around ever being personally wrong or unable to get the object of the piece to go on record agreeing with the premise of the piece or as it's known in some forms of journalism...just throwing something salacious out there in the hopes it ends up sticking.

We all know Tom (and Wes) has outperformed his contract. We all assume Tom (and Wes) would like to have a better new deal. Like another poster said, it's not news that water is wet. Silver chose to intimate the players in question were actually so caught up in their distressing circumstance that one might or at least should contemplate not showing up and ultimately not extending here and the other was risking his career out of fear of replacement by a pretty cutthroat organization...

I think the coolest thing Tommy has said in the last couple of weeks is he doesn't care what mediots think because they don't know anything. And I'm sure he would tell you if asked that Wes Welker doesn't care what his friends on other teams think anymore than Tom cares what his own parents think (hint) because those individuals don't know what is going on here any more than the mediots who desperately want to write and be right about it.

As for me, what I think is even more unfortunate is that every thread here these days has to turn into a referendum on what Deus thinks...which of course is the only thought worth thinking.

AndyJohnson

A) I think that manipulating the story to infer something that you cant prove is wrong. It seems like these stories are being written backward, the result is decided then a bunch of phone calls are made until you can find a quote to back it up. Whether I am right or wrong, the end result has been that many facts come out after the fact that contradict the point being made. What happens, as did with the 'disconnect' story is that it becomes used in other stories, proffered as a 'fact' in other arguments, and you end up with a whole new set of theories that revolve around a guess to begin with as its factual basis.
My problem is when articles are written in a way that create a general impression that is not true. There was a huge overreaction to Silvers article that today seems inane.
B) I'll choose not to comment on the last part of your post.