Do Boston beat writers have a tainted legacy?

[Patjew]

I am with you all the way Ice Ice except for you lumping Reiss and SMY together. Mike is the man. SMY is not the (wo)man. She's been nothing but a mouth piece for *****ers like Adalius. I'm not going to pretend to like someone's work just because they post here occasionally. I don't care if she's nice or not. No one at my company cares that I'm (not) nice.

 

[Koma]

I think we need to discuss the black cloud hanging over the head of Boston beat writers. Although I really admire some of the better players, such as Mike Reiss, and Shalise Manza-Young, unfortunately their accomplishments will forever be tarnished. We can never forget the glory years that they provided us with, but the bottom line is we will never know the extent of their deception and how much of a competitive advantage they had over other beat writers. Would Dan Shaughnessy really be a first ballot Hall of Famer today without the aid of false reporting?

Unfortunately, when John Tomase was caught deceiving the public in 2008, he offered little explanation. It started with a stonewalling and failure to make a public apology or explanation. It was followed-up by a vague apology without actually divulging any real facts. How long had he been cheating for? How many stories had been published without publishing facts? Ultimately, how do we know that Tomase, and the success of other beat writers, was legitimate?

The punishment handed down by watchdog organizations is believed to have used the largest font in sports writing history, and the Herald was fined an Ivy League internship in 2008:

Apology
Wednesday, May 14, 2008

On Feb. 2, 2008, the Boston Herald reported that a member of the New England Patriots [team stats]’ video staff taped the St. Louis Rams’ walkthrough on the day before Super Bowl XXXVI. While the Boston Herald based its Feb. 2, 2008, report on sources that it believed to be credible, we now know that this report was false, and that no tape of the walkthrough ever existed.

Prior to the publication of its Feb. 2, 2008, article, the Boston Herald neither possessed nor viewed a tape of the Rams’ walkthrough before Super Bowl XXXVI, nor did we speak to anyone who had. We should not have published the allegation in the absence of firmer verification.

Apology - BostonHerald.com

Personally, I don't think this explanation is enough. Until the beat writers come clean one day, they will forever be haunted with the "cheater" label.

Something that always bothered me with the apology edition from the Herald was that Tomase wrote an article in which he described the process that led to him running with the story. The thing was, he never apologized in that article. It was only a day or two later, after receiving even more negative feedback, that Tomase actually said "I'm sorry" in a blog entry. Of course, that's archived now, so you would have to pay to see it.

 

[Patjew]

I do not think so!!. come on man compared to say the US media claiming saddam had wmd every where and they will find in a day.

so every thing is relative ,at that time maybe he thought that was correct and went and published. we all do mistakes ask BB about the damn tapes lol. its like who is going to throw the first stone thing.

Tomase violated all standards of journalistic ethics. Whether or not some other hacks wrote about WMDs means absolutely nothing IRT this conversation.

 

[satz]

Tomase violated all standards of journalistic ethics. Whether or not some other hacks wrote about WMDs means absolutely nothing IRT this conversation.

what standards? . report something which he thought was good ?.He is a reporter and this is news. He broke it that is all. I not defending the guy. He did something wrong ,the paper issued an apology and he been shipped to siberia.

I am unclear as to what they want , some one shot or something?. seems like to hold him for the loss is nutz. if we would have won against the gaints ,this guy`s apology would have been taken in good faith .kurt warner complained about this thing a few days ago and you know why because he lost.seems loosing to gaints somehow has made this bigger than what it is.

Look at the size of the sanchez thread. the legal consent age in NJ and NY is 16 and 17. The girl is legal to do what she wants
and he is what 22 and she is 17 !!! but we do talk about it,

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

what standards? . report something which he thought was good ?.He is a reporter and this is news. He broke it that is all. I not defending the guy. He did something wrong ,the paper issued an apology and he been shipped to siberia.

I am unclear as to what they want , some one shot or something?. seems like to hold him for the loss is nutz. if we would have won against the gaints ,this guy`s apology would have been taken in good faith .kurt warner complained about this thing a few days ago and you know why because he lost.seems loosing to gaints somehow has made this bigger than what it is.

Look at the size of the sanchez thread. the legal consent age in NJ and NY is 16 and 17. The girl is legal to do what she wants
and he is what 22 and she is 17 !!! but we do talk about it,

Shot or maybe waterboarded live on PPV TV would do it for me. A disgrace to Tufts.