IMO, Mike Reiss needs to nut up, and tell ESPN to GFY, or shut up

I like Mike Reiss. I have for years. I've always regarded him as a very balanced reporter for the Patriots and I have not changed my opinion on him. I feel that he has been very professional in his handling of deflategate, being generally supportive of Brady and the Patriots but being careful to toe the ESPN party line. But if he wants to maintain his journalistic integrity and self respect he needs to bail from ESPN.

It's no secret that a couple months ago ESPN had a massive website overhaul. From what I can gather, one of the many changes, along with the visually unappealing layout redesign, was that the local ESPN affiliate reporters lost control over a large amount of the content on their teams page. Mike Reiss and his Patriots page was no exception. Mike Reiss' blog was turned from a quality source of relevant Patriots news to some random aggregate of semi-relevant sports stories. Basically in between actual Patriots news the main ESPN website interjects national news stories that may or may not have to do with the actual subject of the page. This has led to weird stories about the Major League All Star Game, playoff Basketball, and other irrelevant stuff to be showcased on the Patriots page on ESPN Boston. Sometimes the news will be older articles brought up due to some algorithmic decision, putting old news in front.

So Mike Reiss has found himself in a position where his ability to produce and publish content has been seriously impaired due to the new layout and ways that ESPN categorizes things. Normally that would just be an annoyance rather than an outright deal breaker but what it means is that it allows ESPN to do a thing like this. Tonight I was on the main page of ESPN, and since the website can ascertain your region through your IP address it automatically puts up your local teams to the side on the main page. I looked at the main headline they had on for their Patriots news. It was this video. A video 10 days old that due to the new ESPN redesign, is allowed, or perhaps forced, to remain the main story for Patriots fans.

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=12850714

Can't you just feel the smugness ooze off the computer screen?

Along with that video is another days old video from the not so long ago fired Keith Olberman that can be seen at the very top of the New England Patriot page.

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:13270464

And this is what people going to the Patriots section of ESPN are greeted with when trying to just keep up with relevant team news. Days old videos, not about any actual news but about the opinions of the national ESPN pundits. They remain the headline stories. And I think we all know why.

I cannot express in words how angry those videos make me feel. I know most of you feel exactly the same way so there is no need to try. We know why they're wrong, biased, etc. That's not the point. (not exactly anyway) The point I'm trying to make is that Mike Reiss, as good a journalist as he is, is frankly being made a fool of by his bosses. His blog is an unreadable joke compounded by the ability of ESPN to sneakily rearrange news articles and give other things prominence on the page.

Look, I don't know what his career situation is. Part of my thinks I'm being selfish for demanding that this man step away from a, very likely, well paying job in an industry that is dying. But damn Mr. Reiss, as a professional how can you put up with ESPN doing this to your newsfeed? Personally I can't stand to deal with the struggle of ESPN Boston anymore and will not read anything he continues to publish while he is on that website.

I just felt like ranting a bit after that video began to autoplay when I went into ESPN. My brain couldn't take it.

It's a damn shame. I like Mike a lot, I used to read his Reiss' Pieces almost everyday. I don't even bother looking at the ESPN blog. You can tell he is bothered by it too because of that comment he made awhile back.

So you want to get rid of Reiss, and insert____________??

ESPN is a necessary evil, and they rule the airwaves and media... but in any media take what is valuable and disregard the rest.. Mike Reiss does a pretty good job in a setting that denigrates the Patriots.

I seldom watch them any more.. not my demographic.

Doesn't bother me at all because I know the Patriots are going to keep on dominating no matter what haters try to do. I like the feeling I get when I travel the country wearing my Patriots gear!

This is not new and it's clear Reiss doesn't like it but, until you're prepared to tell your boss to f**k, off in an industry with very few major players, why not lay off someone who is the victim,not the perpetrator.

RayClay said:

This is not new and it's clear Reiss doesn't like it but, until you're prepared to tell your boss to f**k, off in an industry with very few major players, why not lay off someone who is the victim,not the perpetrator.

Click to expand...

Yep. There have been other threads on this. At the end of the day, Reiss needs to provide for his family and keep his career on an upward trajectory. My guess is that ESPN pays well and Reiss does have opportunity there.

Clearly ESPN has messed with Reiss. He's not thrilled. However he can't leave w/o something better lined up and besides, who would replace him, Field Yates? Trollin' Volin?

Stop and think where a reporter could write about one team on a national stage anymore. It looks like TSPN is phasing that out.

Reiss was a beat reporter who fled the dying Globe for a more durable employer. Like many of those unhappy with the ESPN approach, he set up his own site to comment on those issues.

ESPN pays his bills, so he is not in a position to issue ultimatums. I like his reporting, and do visit the ESPN Boston site because of him. Never have I expected any site with 'ESPN' in the title to be a safe place free of the garbage that stands as reporting on the national site. I just don't read or view the stuff that isn't Reiss.

RayClay said:

This is not new and it's clear Reiss doesn't like it but, until you're prepared to tell your boss to f**k, off in an industry with very few major players, why not lay off someone who is the victim,not the perpetrator.

Click to expand...

Winner.

Very possibly, the OP doesn't have a wife and kids to feed.

Reiss is the LAST person to complain about. He's in the belly of the beast fighting the good fight for real journalism. What's wrong with being a voice of sanity and trying to IMPROVE the content of a bad media portal?

The OP is turning his wrath against the wrong person and giving the real villains the free pass.

MassPats38 said:

I like his reporting, and do visit the ESPN Boston site because of him. Never have I expected any site with 'ESPN' in the title to be a safe place free of the garbage that stands as reporting on the national site. I just don't read or view the stuff that isn't Reiss.

Click to expand...

That's the camp I am in as well. Anything else that is not authored by Reiss or Field Yates I read (if at all) with a jaundiced eye...

Kraft should hire him and pay him to do strictly Patriot reporting

Mike definitely deserves better...

Reiss is in a dying industry, actually reporting on a team. The industry has morphed into TMZ. Unlike the overpaid stars, this guy really does need to "feed his family". He needs our support, not castigation for events WAY beyond his control. The best thing that ever happened to me career wise was saving enough of my earnings such that I had FU money so when the shaft came I was good to go.

I love Reiss and I still read his stuff. But I used to read his stuff as the end all be all I would read his stuff first and if I read something somewhere else I would go to his blog to see if he had it too and whatever it was wasn't true until Reiss had it. I still regularly visit Reiss but this hasn't been true of his blog in at least a year or two now. Instead of being basically the Authority over Patriots related news he is now just any fish in the water.


His reign is long gone and more and more a sight like Barstool offers better perspective than real journalists. Maybe it's because I expect nothing from barstool other than humor and get impressed easily when they have valid points and the opposite occurs with journalists where I expect good fair reporting and get morons instead.

I don't blame Reiss but also can't keep giving him the same clicks I used to if he isn't giving me the same value in return.

True journalism be it new politics or sports is dying. Why do u think so many Globites r over at 98.5? Entertainment like radio or sites like Barstool is where the $$$$$ is. BTW, I saw where Gasper is now part of the Pats pre-game.
I'm one of the few who still gets the Globe delivered. On time BTW!!!!!

The best part of this thread is the part about Keith Olbermann losing yet another job. The day where he and Glenn Beck are alone at desks in an empty warehouse with one camera screaming at each other is not far off.

PatsGuy said:

True journalism be it new politics or sports is dying. Why do u think so many Globites r over at 98.5? Entertainment like radio or sites like Barstool is where the $$$$$ is. BTW, I saw where Gasper is now part of the Pats pre-game.
I'm one of the few who still gets the Globe delivered. On time BTW!!!!!

Click to expand...

News flash......... News Journalism passed away a long time ago.

How hard could it really be to come up with a sports network (or website) that isn't terrible? Can't the ESPN castaways band together into a rogue network? If they had any talent, I'm sure they acquired regular readers over the years that would follow them to some kind of cool "alternative" sports news site that could attract sponsors.

His blog was a good place 2 years ago more or less, I remember the first step towards this mess that is right now was when they made the switch from the former onboard comments section to a facebook platform, so you had to use your facebook account to post. That was the moment I started looking for another options and found this place.

I kept visiting the Patriots ESPN Blog because the news at the time were still being posted only by Reiss, Yates and the other guy, then after some time they changed the layout and then ESPN took over and messed up big time with what once was a very serious place to read news. Nowadays I go there once in a week just for old habits.

There's not a lot of things Reiss can do right now, he is doing the right thing that is not jumping on the crazy train, keeping a low profile and giving his opinions here and there, waiting for better times to come. When a better opportunity becomes available people will remember his ethics even in a bad environment. Throwing the **** in the fan sometimes only burn a lot of bridges, would lead him to unemployment and closed doors, no one wants to hire someone who may or may not create problems, the chance always exists but when you make it clear by doing it, people will avoid the risk.

Reiss has a family to feed, not sure why you'd lash out on him. Hopefully NBC or someone tries to take him away.