arrellbee
Rotational Player and Threatening Starter's Job
- Joined
- May 11, 2005
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The Herald may well have pushed this whole terrible sequence of reprehensible newspaper actions to the breaking point where the Patriots have been put into a situation where they will feel that they have to sue the Herald.
Tomase's original article could never be realistically challenged with a lawsuit.
The Herald's "apology" edition on Wednesday actually came across, I think many folks appear to feel, as a somewhat hollow pro forma admission without a whole lot of heartfelt sincerity. If you have listened to Jonathon Kraft's appearance on WEEI, you heard him totally avoid any comment about whether the 'apology' was substantial - all he would say is what I would paraphrase as - the Patriots 'appreciated' that the Herald printed the 'apology'.
But certainly the 'apology' didn't make the situation any worse.
So what happens next begins to cause some real problems. On Thursday you get the Herald now jumping with all four feet on the theme that "Not so fast, Pats". However else the Herald is handling their original reprehensible exercise of journalism, this makes it obvious that they are really still intending to jump all over the Patriots however and whenever possible. This has got to start making the Krafts pretty irritated.
And, now to show how much they hate the Patriots, on Thursday the Herald has mouthpiece Tony Massarotti come out with his rant and tirade badmouthing the Patriots in about as nasty a fashion as I can imagine. You could imagine how at this points the Krafts might really be getting angry at the Herald in a pretty personal manner.
Now comes Tomase's Friday article - in which the paper publishes in black and white complete testimony that they were completely irresponsible in publishing Tomase's article before the superbowl. I cannot even begin to fathom the insolent arrogance and ultimate stupidity of publishing what amounts to a complete confession that they acted in a manner for which they can be appropriately sued. Do they think because the Patriots have been very forebearing and not sued them up to this point that they can now just rub their venom in the Patriot's face with impunity ?
One of what seems to me to be the hallmarks of how the Patriots run their business is that they seem to consciously and deliberately try to do everything they can to figure out and act on things that they can do to make the organization better and more successful. They do everything they are supposed to do in running their business.
It seems to me that the Herald has now done so much irresponsible damage in their original article and now seems totally intent on doing as much more as they can to smear and ruin the Patriots image and product, that the Patriots may feel really compelled to address the issue head on and send a message to the Herald that they can't get away with this. There is a huge amount at stake for the Patriots in protecting the franchise.
So the tradeoff probably has to be made between what negative image might accrue from suing a media outlet versus what might be an even more negative image of allowing a newspaper to get away with irresponsible damage to a franchise business. Interestingly enough, the NFL and all of the other franchises might have a stake in standing up to irresponsible journalism. The Patriots may feel that it is actually their responsibility to send a message that media cannot run wild.
The decision probably has to be made very soon - a matter of no more than a few days. Delaying beyond that essentially sends the message to the Herald and consequently all other media that there are no consequences and no requirement for responsibility. That would be a horrible message to allow to stand.
Tomase's original article could never be realistically challenged with a lawsuit.
The Herald's "apology" edition on Wednesday actually came across, I think many folks appear to feel, as a somewhat hollow pro forma admission without a whole lot of heartfelt sincerity. If you have listened to Jonathon Kraft's appearance on WEEI, you heard him totally avoid any comment about whether the 'apology' was substantial - all he would say is what I would paraphrase as - the Patriots 'appreciated' that the Herald printed the 'apology'.
But certainly the 'apology' didn't make the situation any worse.
So what happens next begins to cause some real problems. On Thursday you get the Herald now jumping with all four feet on the theme that "Not so fast, Pats". However else the Herald is handling their original reprehensible exercise of journalism, this makes it obvious that they are really still intending to jump all over the Patriots however and whenever possible. This has got to start making the Krafts pretty irritated.
And, now to show how much they hate the Patriots, on Thursday the Herald has mouthpiece Tony Massarotti come out with his rant and tirade badmouthing the Patriots in about as nasty a fashion as I can imagine. You could imagine how at this points the Krafts might really be getting angry at the Herald in a pretty personal manner.
Now comes Tomase's Friday article - in which the paper publishes in black and white complete testimony that they were completely irresponsible in publishing Tomase's article before the superbowl. I cannot even begin to fathom the insolent arrogance and ultimate stupidity of publishing what amounts to a complete confession that they acted in a manner for which they can be appropriately sued. Do they think because the Patriots have been very forebearing and not sued them up to this point that they can now just rub their venom in the Patriot's face with impunity ?
One of what seems to me to be the hallmarks of how the Patriots run their business is that they seem to consciously and deliberately try to do everything they can to figure out and act on things that they can do to make the organization better and more successful. They do everything they are supposed to do in running their business.
It seems to me that the Herald has now done so much irresponsible damage in their original article and now seems totally intent on doing as much more as they can to smear and ruin the Patriots image and product, that the Patriots may feel really compelled to address the issue head on and send a message to the Herald that they can't get away with this. There is a huge amount at stake for the Patriots in protecting the franchise.
So the tradeoff probably has to be made between what negative image might accrue from suing a media outlet versus what might be an even more negative image of allowing a newspaper to get away with irresponsible damage to a franchise business. Interestingly enough, the NFL and all of the other franchises might have a stake in standing up to irresponsible journalism. The Patriots may feel that it is actually their responsibility to send a message that media cannot run wild.
The decision probably has to be made very soon - a matter of no more than a few days. Delaying beyond that essentially sends the message to the Herald and consequently all other media that there are no consequences and no requirement for responsibility. That would be a horrible message to allow to stand.
