The NE Revolution named TV analyst Brad Feldman their new full-time director of communications and media relations. Nothing wrong with that in itself, except that it appears he will carry on as the TV analyst. Where will the objectivity be? The credibility? The journalistic integrity? Not on any Revos broadcast! Maybe there wasn't much there to begin with, but now there isn't even going to be any pretending going on. It is going to be all home truths, nothing but home truths. How could it be anything else? FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - The New England Revolution announces today the hiring of Brad Feldman as the Director of Communications. Feldman's primary responsibilities will be to manage the media relations, publicity and public relations functions for the Revolution, as well as various broadcast duties. Feldman will also play a major role in the formation of new programs that will expand the outreach of the organization. "Brad's passion and enthusiasm coupled with his experience will allow us to raise the bar in this area for the organization," New England Revolution VP/Chief Operating Officer Lou Imbriano said. "He understands our philosophy and our desire to grow the sport of soccer and will work tirelessly in order to accomplish our goals." For "he understands our philosophy," read he damn well will only say what we want our fans to know.
uh, Francao - how is this any different from any other media outlet that purports to be 'fair and balanced'? is this any differnt than CNN or FOX? sounds like the dude got a promotion. real sinster, eh? did you think that feldman wasn't on the revs payroll before this announcement? when krafty PAYS to put the revs on TV, did you think it was journalism? get real man. MLS time buys are informercials. do you get worked up when you go to dunkin donuts and the same person who sold you your coffee extols the virtues of adding a 1/2 dozen donuts to your order? or do you think the dount people and the coffee jocks should be separated - so the coffee fans get their juice untainted by the conflict of interest inherent in represeting both? I don't want to burst your bubble, but Ron Popiel gets a cut of every pocket fisherman and showtime roticery sold. ...is nothing sacred.
Re: Re: Revos create the ultimate homer being an announcer, a play by play man and a PR person is two different things. They shouldn't be the same person. A good PR person wouldn't have time to do a second job. Seems to me to be another cost cutting maneuver to the Revs, and a "hey we want you to do this too now for just slightly more money okay?" kinda thing. maybe i'm wrong about the second part but i'd doubt it.
Ya'll do know local announcers are generally hired by the team in most sports, thereby making them a de facto PR guy. And if you don't think those guys are doing PR (the Orioles did not renew Jon Miller because of his lack of PR for the team on the air) then you ain't listening. This is not a big deal.
Re: Re: Re: Revos create the ultimate homer This part I agree wholeheartedly with. I hope he has a hell of a staff because the media needs cerain things taken care of during the game.
He won't be the only member of the Revs' media relations staff, I don't think - they have a couple of other people, I believe. I'm not 100% sure the Revs do all of their games on television (definitely not the ones on ESPN2, like this weekend), so it's not an issue 30 times a year. Double-duty is very common in the minors. I did it in the CISL (where, admittedly, you have much less media to actually service). Almost every announcer is on a team's payroll. You don't have to compromise anything if you (as the announcer) take it seriously and don't either (a) kowtow to the team by being an obvious shill or (b) overcompensate by feeling you have to prove to the world that you can be critical. Just tell the truth as you see it. If a team has a problem with that, they shouldn't hire you, and if you have a problem with that, you should find another line of work.
They do all their non ESPN2 games, but I was too uninterested in the release to read the whole thing and see whether he did the commentary for both outlets who cover them or just one. If any of you are worried about "homerism," listen the next time Joe Morgan and Jon Miller do a San Francisco Giants game. I swear I heard Joe swallow one time when he was talking about Barry Bonds. And they're not even on the team payroll.
Miller is, isn't he? I mean, not when he's doing an ESPN game, but isn't he the Giants' radio guy? And Morgan played there.
Doh! Jon is the Giants guy, I forgot. Still, he is supposed to have a track record of being honest as much as that business allows you. I think Joe just wants Barry to like him.
And Keith Hernandez created a sh**storm last season by being too critical, but apologized and smoothed it over. But that's different. That's Keith Hernandez. "What, you are making some wisecracks in a nightclub... wo wo wo. The guy was in game SIX, two runs down, two outs, facing elimination."
Indeed. The only surprise for me is that he is being put at the head of the food chain. Usually that person mans the press box during the game. There are already two capable folks in the Revs media department (yes, I'm sucking up because I want something from them right now), so I guess they'll continue to handle stuff on game day. I do wonder, however, how they'll handle having someone inserted above them on the corporate ladder. As far as the announcer also being part of the PR department, this case is just a bit more explicit than usual.
Re: Re: Revos create the ultimate homer From the announcement of his hiring as coach on May 8, 2000: For the past two and one-half seasons, the animated Hudson has gained fame as the Fusion's popular television color analyst on Sunshine Network and host of the team's post-game radio show on WAXY 790 AM. Before the start of the 2000 campaign he joined the Fusion front office as community outreach manager. http://www.mlsnet.com/content/00/mia0506hudson.html
Now that Brad has more responsibility with his new gig, I'm hoping that he's just too busy for the In The Net radio show and they bring back Adrian Healey. Brad seems like a nice guy and a big-time soccer fanatico, but his monotone delivery and lack of style stands in stark contrast to Adrian's quality pipes and quick wit. Brad, an essential management skill is effectively delegating tasks. So give Adrian a call and delegate In the Net to him.
Hmm, I see a pattern developing. Can the appointment of Ari Fleischer to the position of editorial page editor of the Washington Post be far behind?
You're confusing broadcasting with journalism. Play by play and color commentators are not necessarily journalist. They are part of the product. They are not "reporting" on the game.
Well, it's not journalism per se, but as someone who's done both (journalism and broadcasting), I like to think that there are certain tenets of journalism, like fairness and truth, that a broadcaster should bring to his or her work, even in a play-by-play situation. I don't believe in saying "we", I don't believe in ignoring obvious facts that just happen to run contrary to the best interest of the team I work for, either in the short-term or long-term (a good call is a good call, and a bad call is a bad call, and they both happen on both sides), and I don't respect people who do. That being said, my dad always said that "discretion is the better part of valor," and sometimes you have to walk a tightrope and bite your tongue. There's often no purpose to be served by being a shill or by being a hero if you want to continue to be employable, so you either drop all pretense and be known as an obvious "house man" or you call 'em like you see 'em and get fired a lot. Or somewhere in the middle. Traditional journalism? No. Can you adhere to certain principles? I like to think so. Speaking of Brad Feldman, he has done A-League games in the past when Sean Wheelock couldn't do them, and I thought we might see him tonight on the Sounders/Timbers match that's just starting. Instead there's someone named Paul Dolan doing the match, and he's just brutal.
When the White House starts paying for the Washington Post to print the newspaper, maybe. The Revs, likely, buy the time. It's their program. They can have frigging Joe-Max do on-the-field commentary and it wouldn't bother me a whit. In fact, that people even think this is a problem shows me a general ignorance about how most sports fanchises in the U.S. handle their broadcasting.
June 14, 1987. Mets. Phillies. We Were enjoying a beautiful day in the right field stands when a crucial Hernandez error opened the door to a five run Philllies ninth - cost the Mets the game. Our day was ruined.