The Case of the Malevolent Rumor-Monger

[psychoPat]

In post #1, smyoung wrote:
This "story" began last night when a member of the Boston media got a phone call with this "tip" that Tedy was gravely ill/near death. The story was not aired last night, but said media member e-mailed others with the alleged news, and last night Tedy was at home when he started getting dozens of calls from people asking him if he was sick.

wRONg Bogus?
Or his disciple, Felger?

 

[dhamz]

Butch Stearns.

Sports radio in Providence linked the story to Fox 25 in Boston.

 

[patchick]

Butch Stearns.

Sports radio in Providence linked the story to Fox 25 in Boston.

Sounds like he accidentally set off a tidal wave by emailing other media contacts to see what they'd heard. Can't put that kind of genie back in the bottle. (Definitely not malevolent, though, just foolish.)

 

[psychoPat]

Butch Stearns.

Sports radio in Providence linked the story to Fox 25 in Boston.

Whoever it is,
it is a contemptible dirty trick
causing untold anxiety and dismay
among Tedy's family ... friends ... and many admirers.

Perhaps the instigator
and his enabler
will have something proportionate happen soon to them!

 

[fgssand]

How does a vicious rumor start and spread like this one did??

I understand the old friend of a friend he said she said...but is it not the responsibility of every single person in the media to be certain such BS does not get out?? If this does flow back to Stearns, how could he possibly allow his private email to be exposed?

AM I missing something here?? Why do we even need Tom Curran or Felger on FSNE to take even a moment to confirm the absurdity of such foolishness??

 

[theONLYJerseypatsfan]

In post #1, smyoung wrote:
This "story" began last night when a member of the Boston media got a phone call with this "tip" that Tedy was gravely ill/near death. The story was not aired last night, but said media member e-mailed others with the alleged news, and last night Tedy was at home when he started getting dozens of calls from people asking him if he was sick.

wRONg Bogus?
Or his disciple, Felger?

Why would anyone do that.........the man's got a wife and kids for christ sake

 

[dhamz]

Why would anyone do that.........the man's got a wife and kids for christ sake

Apparently it was worse than emails.

Per Felger yesterday:

Felger: I got, and we’re not going to name names here Kevin, this started last night, there is some lunatic out there, there is some maniac, who has started a rumor that one very high profile pro athlete here in Boston has collapsed, perhaps died. This rumor first came to light last night, I talked to the agent and the agent said, “I just got off the phone with him.” OK that was last night. Um, also, and I’m going to try not to name names, a reporter called some teammates of this player, and asked “Did you hear about so-and-so potentially collapsing or dying?” The next thing you know, the public relations guy for this team, called this reporter back, and said “I just spoke to the player in question, and he asked me to ask you to stop calling his teammates and asking if he’s dead.”

http://www.bostonsportsmedia.com/

 

[Halifax_Pats_Fan]

This is total and utter bull**** and trash...I am unfamiliar with what laws exist re: the media in the U.S. but this clown has got to pay...hit him hard in the pocket book and flush his credibility down the toilet...

Apparently it was worse than emails.

Per Felger yesterday:

Felger: I got, and we’re not going to name names here Kevin, this started last night, there is some lunatic out there, there is some maniac, who has started a rumor that one very high profile pro athlete here in Boston has collapsed, perhaps died. This rumor first came to light last night, I talked to the agent and the agent said, “I just got off the phone with him.” OK that was last night. Um, also, and I’m going to try not to name names, a reporter called some teammates of this player, and asked “Did you hear about so-and-so potentially collapsing or dying?” The next thing you know, the public relations guy for this team, called this reporter back, and said “I just spoke to the player in question, and he asked me to ask you to stop calling his teammates and asking if he’s dead.”

http://www.bostonsportsmedia.com/

 

[JoeSixPat]

How does a vicious rumor start and spread like this one did??

Tedy had gone off to visit a friend in East L.A. named Jésus - it's that simple.

 

[bakes781]

I'm just glad to know that it's not true. But if it was Butch he's been rewarded as the fill-in host for Callahan on WEEI this morning.

 

[chadshammy]

This is crazy, I got a text message from a friend at noon yesterday telling me that "he thinks teddy bruschi just died", I texted him back with "source?". He explained to me that he has a friend who works at Mass General and thats where he heard it. I did not want to post any rumors on this board so I waited all day to see if any info broke. Then about 9pm last night I received a phone call from my cousin saying the same thing. I thought for sure that this was not a rumor anymore and that they were just holding info back. At this point I hope everything is ok with Teddy and his family, because this got way to out of hand, way to fast.

 

[shmessy]

This is crazy, I got a text message from a friend at noon yesterday telling me that "he thinks teddy bruschi just died", I texted him back with "source?". He explained to me that he has a friend who works at Mass General and thats where he heard it. I did not want to post any rumors on this board so I waited all day to see if any info broke. Then about 9pm last night I received a phone call from my cousin saying the same thing. I thought for sure that this was not a rumor anymore and that they were just holding info back. At this point I hope everything is ok with Teddy and his family, because this got way to out of hand, way to fast.

I think your "friend" has a lot of answering to do.

 

[everlong]

Bad rumor floating around

Listening to Felger yesterday on the way home he said there is a bad rumor floating around Boston about a prominent Boston sports figure who was rumored to be dead. According to him one of the local writers call up the team in question and teammates to confirm and they all denied it to the point where the public relations director of the team called the writer back and asked him to please stop making calls on it because it was causing panic to the teams players and that it was totally untrue. Felger wouldn't say who it was on the air because he didn't want to give the story legs since he believed it to be a vicious rumor but he was very adamant about bashing whoever started the rumor, he didn't know who it was but had suspicions.

A friend of mine is the baseball coach of a college team in Boston and he was at a function last night and called to say hey there's a rumor that X is dead. I told him about the Felger comments. He said the sources were very high profile but not connected to the team.

I pray this is just a bad rumor and at the same time whoever started it is a total @ss for doing so. I won't say who it is at this time beyond it's a high profile Patriot.

I

 

[richpats]

Re: Bad rumor floating around

Listening to Felger yesterday on the way home he said there is a bad rumor floating around Boston about a prominent Boston sports figure who was rumored to be dead. According to him one of the local writers call up the team in question and teammates to confirm and they all denied it to the point where the public relations director of the team called the writer back and asked him to please stop making calls on it because it was causing panic to the teams players and that it was totally untrue. Felger wouldn't say who it was on the air because he didn't want to give the story legs since he believed it to be a vicious rumor but he was very adamant about bashing whoever started the rumor, he didn't know who it was but had suspicions.

A friend of mine is the baseball coach of a college team in Boston and he was at a function last night and called to say hey there's a rumor that X is dead. I told him about the Felger comments. He said the sources were very high profile but not connected to the team.

I pray this is just a bad rumor and at the same time whoever started it is a total @ss for doing so. I won't say who it is at this time beyond it's a high profile Patriot.

I

It is a bad rumor - Tedy Bruschi isn't dead.

 

[QuiGon]

This is crazy, I got a text message from a friend at noon yesterday telling me that "he thinks teddy bruschi just died", I texted him back with "source?". He explained to me that he has a friend who works at Mass General and thats where he heard it. I did not want to post any rumors on this board so I waited all day to see if any info broke. Then about 9pm last night I received a phone call from my cousin saying the same thing. I thought for sure that this was not a rumor anymore and that they were just holding info back. At this point I hope everything is ok with Teddy and his family, because this got way to out of hand, way to fast.

With all due respect, your first clue should have been that if it happened at noon, there's no way in hell it isn't all over the media by 9:00.

 

[shmessy]

If it is Stearns, then there is a unfortunate precedence with this guy who also couldn't understand the Borges plagiarism story:

http://www.bostonsportsmedia.com/archives/2007/06/almost_exactly_a_month_ago.php

Stearns' NASCAR Source Proves Unreliable
The gamble of when to go public with information from a source and when to just hold back and wait for more confirmation was illustrated nicely in an experience that FOX25's Butch Stearns recently underwent.

Almost exactly a month ago, Butch Stearns posted the following on his blog:

"NASCAR's Dale Earnhardt Jr. will soon be racing under the same legendary #3 Chevy that his dad used to race in......A source with direct knowledge of negotiations tells FOX25 that Dale Earnhardt Jr. has finalized a deal with Richard Childress Racing Thursday night, and an official announcement will be coming soon."
This is what we reported on Thursday night and here are some more thoughts I would like to add at this time.

I am no Nascar expert. However, the information I gleaned is very, very reliable and I am confident that it will be announced and come true sooner rather than later. If you're a Boston Sports fan, you probably say so what. Fine, we will always have our own soap operas and dramas to worry about with the Red Sox , Patriots and the rest of the Boston sports scene. By the way, can't we just get those NBA ping pong balls to drop already?

Oftentimes in my broadcasting career, I have gleaned information like this and then done my due diligence as a reporter and decided to report the story and oftentimes I've had to wait to be proven right. (It took two weeks after we announced that Theo Epstein would be the new GM of the Red Sox for that one to come true). That waiting period is an interesting time on many levels. It's fun to listen to the comments from people involved in a story like this as we wait for an announcement to be made.


Butch may have done his "due diligence" as a reporter, but his "very very reliable" information proved today to be incorrect, as Earnhardt announced that he will be racing with Hendrick Motorsports beginning in 2008.

The purpose of pointing this out, is not so much to get on Stearns for being incorrect, but because I think it gives a nice bit of insight into the process that a lot the media tangles with when reporting information. The competition is very tough out there and the pressure is on to constantly be breaking stories and being the first with information.

In this case, Stearns took a gamble with a source's information, and it proved to be the wrong move.

 

[Pats726]

If it is Stearns, then there is a unfortunate precedence with this guy who also couldn't understand the Borges plagiarism story:

http://www.bostonsportsmedia.com/archives/2007/06/almost_exactly_a_month_ago.php

Stearns' NASCAR Source Proves Unreliable
The gamble of when to go public with information from a source and when to just hold back and wait for more confirmation was illustrated nicely in an experience that FOX25's Butch Stearns recently underwent.

Almost exactly a month ago, Butch Stearns posted the following on his blog:

"NASCAR's Dale Earnhardt Jr. will soon be racing under the same legendary #3 Chevy that his dad used to race in......A source with direct knowledge of negotiations tells FOX25 that Dale Earnhardt Jr. has finalized a deal with Richard Childress Racing Thursday night, and an official announcement will be coming soon."
This is what we reported on Thursday night and here are some more thoughts I would like to add at this time.

I am no Nascar expert. However, the information I gleaned is very, very reliable and I am confident that it will be announced and come true sooner rather than later. If you're a Boston Sports fan, you probably say so what. Fine, we will always have our own soap operas and dramas to worry about with the Red Sox , Patriots and the rest of the Boston sports scene. By the way, can't we just get those NBA ping pong balls to drop already?

Oftentimes in my broadcasting career, I have gleaned information like this and then done my due diligence as a reporter and decided to report the story and oftentimes I've had to wait to be proven right. (It took two weeks after we announced that Theo Epstein would be the new GM of the Red Sox for that one to come true). That waiting period is an interesting time on many levels. It's fun to listen to the comments from people involved in a story like this as we wait for an announcement to be made.


Butch may have done his "due diligence" as a reporter, but his "very very reliable" information proved today to be incorrect, as Earnhardt announced that he will be racing with Hendrick Motorsports beginning in 2008.

The purpose of pointing this out, is not so much to get on Stearns for being incorrect, but because I think it gives a nice bit of insight into the process that a lot the media tangles with when reporting information. The competition is very tough out there and the pressure is on to constantly be breaking stories and being the first with information.

In this case, Stearns took a gamble with a source's information, and it proved to be the wrong move.

I think the process of how this happened is MOST imteresting..that in this day of fast communication how/why it wasn't killed early on is totally amazing. No one checking sources and spreading rumors?? Just totally ridiculous...and shows a LOT of poor journalism on many people's parts.

 

[patsgo]

Re: Bad rumor floating around

Listening to Felger yesterday on the way home he said there is a bad rumor floating around Boston about a prominent Boston sports figure who was rumored to be dead. According to him one of the local writers call up the team in question and teammates to confirm and they all denied it to the point where the public relations director of the team called the writer back and asked him to please stop making calls on it because it was causing panic to the teams players and that it was totally untrue. Felger wouldn't say who it was on the air because he didn't want to give the story legs since he believed it to be a vicious rumor but he was very adamant about bashing whoever started the rumor, he didn't know who it was but had suspicions.

A friend of mine is the baseball coach of a college team in Boston and he was at a function last night and called to say hey there's a rumor that X is dead. I told him about the Felger comments. He said the sources were very high profile but not connected to the team.

I pray this is just a bad rumor and at the same time whoever started it is a total @ss for doing so. I won't say who it is at this time beyond it's a high profile Patriot.

I

death isnt something you keep as a secret, when it happens its public knowledge , end of rumor

 

[QuiGon]

If it is Stearns, then there is a unfortunate precedence with this guy who also couldn't understand the Borges plagiarism story:

http://www.bostonsportsmedia.com/archives/2007/06/almost_exactly_a_month_ago.php

I think we need to hold on before throwing anyone under the bus... In this case (the Bruschi rumor), nothing was reported and nobody went to press or to the airwaves with any untrue information. It seems what happened was a Boston media figure (maybe Butch Sterns, maybe not) got a tip that Bruschi was dead. So, allegedly, he called up other members of the media to see if any of them heard anything. Perhaps that wasn't the wisest thing to do, but this sort of thing happens all the time amongst the media so nothing unethical has occured.

In the ensuing frenzy, this rumor finally made it to the internet so that's like opening Pandora's Box. But no member of the mainstream media reported this rumor on the airwaves or in print so I am having a hard time wondering how anybody has done anything unethical or wrong.

 

[shmessy]

I think the process of how this happened is MOST imteresting..that in this day of fast communication how/why it wasn't killed early on is totally amazing. No one checking sources and spreading rumors?? Just totally ridiculous...and shows a LOT of poor journalism on many people's parts.

Begs the question as to what kind of Journalism education and training some of these people have.