Tomase's reasoning behind his article

[flasox27]

If your source is a proven liar, shouldn't you try to corroborate the story before printing it.
Tomase is done as a legitimate reporter, he does have a career with the National Enquirer, where he can interview Elvis.

 

[shmessy]

Did anyone see this? I'm guessing this guy is one of us. I remember those conspiracy threads back in September and wanted so badly to believe them.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...porter-All-Over-Spygate-from-the-Start-090508

 

[flasox27]

At this point of time, whether he likes or hates the Pats is irrelevant, He sold his journalistic soul for the big sorry and now the payment is due. No reputable newspaper would have a spot for a writer without journalistic ethics.
He should do the honorable thing and leave. I am sure there is a job for him on the National Enquirer. I heard Bigfoot has some dirt on Elvis that would make a good story he can release before Elvis's birthday.

 

[PatriotsReign]

Did anyone see this? I'm guessing this guy is one of us. I remember those conspiracy threads back in September and wanted so badly to believe them.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...porter-All-Over-Spygate-from-the-Start-090508

I don't think we should cut any slack for Tomase just because he may have been looking into the Jets camera guy thing. He get no compassion or sympathy from me. Not even regarding the threats he's received. I agree it's wrong he's received them, but I don't feel sorry for him about it.

Big deal, he never found anything out...hell, no one has. I STILL can't figure out why and how that story never got any life. I guess when you're a cellar-dweller, no one cares.

 

[shmessy]

I don't think we should cut any slack for Tomase just because he may have been looking into the Jets camera guy thing. He get no compassion or sympathy from me. Not even regarding the threats he's received. I agree it's wrong he's received them, but I don't feel sorry for him about it.

Big deal, he never found anything out...hell, no one has. I STILL can't figure out why and how that story never got any life. I guess when you're a cellar-dweller, no one cares.

Of course not!

I don't care about for whom a journalist cheers.

Tomase (and, more importantly, the Herald management) malpracticed that profession.

If I did that in my profession, the FINRA (formerly the NASD), the SEC and any lawyer would be in my wallet quicker than you can say "Elliot Spitzer".

 

[PatriotsReign]

Of course not!

I don't care about for whom a journalist cheers.

Tomase (and, more importantly, the Herald management) malpracticed that profession.

If I did that in my profession, the FINRA (formerly the NASD), the SEC and any lawyer would be in my wallet quicker than you can say "Elliot Spitzer".

You're right...there should be some kind of repurcussions for what Tomasse did. Our system should not allow for this extreme type of speculative journalism when it can cost major image damge.

 

[shmessy]

You're right...there should be some kind of repurcussions for what Tomasse did. Our system should not allow for this extreme type of speculative journalism when it can cost major image damge.

Once again, though, the focus should be on The Herald editors and management.

Writers write.

Editors edit.

Managers manage.

Owners pay.

It's the job of the more senior and experienced editors and management to be the gatekeepers of what goes out under the masthead to millions (yes, with the internet it is millions) of readers. They are the fiduciaries.

 

[flasox27]

You are right. Everybody on the food chain has their share and all should be punished.

 

[TimU]

A lot of these posts seem to assume that Thomase's story has been proven false. But really none of the allegations in the story as written have been refuted by the League's comments on Matt Walsh. The story wasn't confirmed certainly, but neither was it disproven. The Herald's editors are likely to view the situation in that light and probably feel no need to take any action at this point.

 

[State]

Re: Tomase's Weak Reasoning Behind His Article

As a former journalist, I definitely think Tomase is standing on very weak ground. Dangerous for the big man.

He has a responsibility to come out and name who fed him the BS. His source was wrong, but he needs to reveal his source.

Exactly. Until then one is free to think he made the whole thing up to get noticed, the corpulent ne'er-do-well.

 

[shmessy]

You are right. Everybody on the food chain has their share and all should be punished.

Plus, if you listen to that WROR link again (the one referenced by the OP) note well:

Tomase says 'WE dug around for 5 months' and 'WE coundn't quite nail it down'.

As a former linguist/translater that "WE" jumped out at me immediately on the first listen. He is purposely conveying something important there. I believe he is saying that his editors/management were reining him in for those 5 months.

Evidently, they finally approved a green light on Saturday February 3rd.

The he says "It's not my job to keep stuff out of the paper". Whoa!!!!!! That's Peyton Manning throwing his OL under the bus with 'I can't complete passes from my backside on the ground'. THAT is Tomase saying 'I did MY job, the judgement call belongs to the EDITORS'.

 

[shmessy]

A lot of these posts seem to assume that Thomase's story has been proven false. But really none of the allegations in the story as written have been refuted by the League's comments on Matt Walsh. The story wasn't confirmed certainly, but neither was it disproven. The Herald's editors are likely to view the situation in that light and probably feel no need to take any action at this point.

Right on. I have mentioned previously on several occasions (but not all) that all this is contingent on there NOT being a different, credible source.

That being said:

- Tomase (and, evidently, hundreds of other media members nationwide) had been digging around on this rumor for 5 months.

- For those 150+ days, Tomase and Herald Management felt that it did not pass the "smell test"......as did the other hundreds of media members.

- Tomase wakes up on Friday February 2, 2008 3,000+ miles away from his office (later saying in the WROR interview that, at that moment, the story "wasn't even on my radar"), reads that the NYT has outed Matt Walsh and that Specter is exhuming Spygate.

- Within 24 hours, during SB week, and in the middle of the Arizona desert, Tomase and Herald management somehow do what they could not ascertain for 5 months.

-Did I mention that the other hundreds of media members (many with FAR better contacts and media money behind them than our Mr. Tomase and his near-bankrupt Herald) all read the same reports in the papers that morning and STILL decided not to publish the rumor?

-As I said before - that is what Arlen Specter would call a "Magic Bullet".

 

[TimU]

I have heard this narrative about the journalistic history of this rumor/story before. What is the authority for that?

 

[shmessy]

I have heard this narrative about the journalistic history of this rumor/story before. What is the authority for that?

From the original post in this thread, from Bresna:

"Check out his comments in the WROR Podcast from Feb 5th:

http://wror.everyzing.com/viewMedia....=none&filter=0

go to the 12:20 mark."

 

[Fencer]

Tomase and his editors probably sleep with a copy of All The President's Men under their pillows.

Woodward and Bernstein had ONE screwup as big as Tomase's. They were heroes anyway, because they got dozens of other things right.

But I don't think Tomase and the Herald have earned the right to be this wrong even once.

 

[shmessy]

Former Globe employee lays down the law of journalism regarding confirming sources and how Tomase/Herald broke that law:

http://thecoffincorner.blogspot.com/2008/05/why-is-john-tomase-still-employed.html

 

[MoLewisrocks]

The concensus on Boston radio over the last 48 hours seems to be that in the absence of a tape and given the denial by Levy that his client was ever the source of any walkthrough story (which may well be a lie but isn't that tough ****) it is now incumbant on the Herald and it's reporter to do one of two things. Either issue a retraction and apology under the guise of having been duped by their source or defend themselves and their story and take steps to advance it. The further concensus seems to be that they cannot advance it any more than they should have run it because Walsh or the rumor of Walsh having been the one who taped the walkthrough was as far as anyone working this story for the last 3-4 years had been able to advance it. Which is why no one else ran with it.

Tomase has been extended invites from countless outlets over the last 48 hours and he has not reponded to any of them. Some have indicated that he is being precluded from doing so by his boss at the Herald who are in the first stages of damage control. Felger stated yesterday that the Herald can't want this to escalate because of the impact that would have on their ability to compete with the Globe in the Boston Sports market. He referred to the Herald settling a potential suit with Jeremy Jacobs a while back over his referring to the Bruins owner as a liar in one of his pieces by issuing a retraction of some sort.

The media often criticize their subjects for circling the wagons when under fire. Yet hypocrits that they are they do the exact same thing whenever one of their own finds himself in the crosshairs. The tortured logic some have employed is comical given the way they mock their victims if they remotely attempt to defend themselves. How implausible was Belichick's defese that he misinterpreted a rule... Yet they now expect us to buy Tomase's tortured interpretation of journalistic ethics (not his job to keep news out of print...). Give me a break - if it's wasn't fit to print for years it doesn't magically become fit to print absent some additional credible sourcing or documentation... overnight.

This is just a case of turnabout being fair play. You live by the sword, you die by it - and crying over the injustice of that apparently (for some) unimaginable outcome just underscores the hypocricy that permeates the sports media in this town. Somewhere there are scores of victims - who over decades saw their professional careers adversely impacted after absorbing repeated assaults from the knights of the keyboard who constitute the vaunted Boston media - quietly snickering. Boo-freakin'-hoo.

 

[TimU]

"Check out his comments in the WROR Podcast from Feb 5th:

http://wror.everyzing.com/viewMedia....=none&filter=0

go to the 12:20 mark."

Interesting interview. Thomase claims to have confirmed the story, suggesting that he had more than just a single source. Did I hear that right?

 

[flasox27]

Absolutely right. I appreciate the Ted Williams "Kniights of the Keyboard "reference.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Former Globe employee lays down the law of journalism regarding confirming sources and how Tomase/Herald broke that law:

http://thecoffincorner.blogspot.com/2008/05/why-is-john-tomase-still-employed.html

Great find shmessy! Some of the comments following that story refer to what Felger was apparently refrencing yesterday when the Herald had to make amends over something he stated in an article back in his cub reporter days when he covered the Bruins beat.

And as they pointed out, you can run but you can't hide. If Tomase doesn't face the music like a man, his co-workers at the Herald will. Shank Shaughnessy used to love to make the point (rationalize) that if he attacked someone on Monday he showed up on Tuesday which in his warped mind justified his continued existence. And that was as a venom spewing columnist, let alone a supposedly objective beat reporter. Their job is to tell you what they know, not what they think (or think they know). You can't know much if you have virtually no access. The explosion of sports media outlets has really blurred that line. Papers don't pay, air and face time does - and you get that by being confrontational and edgy. Scoop screwed up because he didn't want to be the Patriots beat reporter, he wanted to be somebody far more significant. Careful what you wish for...