OF: Redskins Media Edict: Things That Make You Go "Hmm."

[Om]

September 17, 2010

The sounds of silence.

It's quiet. Too quiet.

Nature (and the media) abhors a vacuum.

Cliches become cliches for a reason...they generally bespeak an underlying truth.

Based on nothing more than having lived for a while in and around the periphery of today's 24/7/365 hypermedia scrum surrounding the Washington Redskins and the NFL, I'm thinking a game may be afoot.

Nothing—and I mean nothing—having to do with the Redskins goes unreported, unnoticed, un-parsed-to-death.

And yet...

Two days ago local sports radio ESPN 980 announced on the air that the Redskins had issued what I believe they termed a "media edict," handed down by team officials at Redskins Park.

In it, reportedly, were new groundrules by which the media would be allowed to cover the team. Among the specifics mentioned were:

● no more Tweeting from pracice,
● no more reporting rumors as fact.
● a somewhat pedantic (and truth be told condescending) definition of what a rumor is.

I thought it was a joke at first. Really? An edict saying the press could no longer traffic in rumors?

Somewhere I was pretty sure W. Mark Felt rolled over...

CLICK HERE to read more

 

[Boone]

Nice piece Mark. I find it pretty odd as well. A little concerning that, given the latest overhaul of PR leadership, this is the direction they are moving. Joe Gibbs was a smart guy. He pushed the Redskins towards more openness and trust with the media, not less.

Gotta wonder if someone's not going to whine loudly to the NFL about being told what they can and can't write about?

 

[EatSleepRedskin]

It's a private company, so the team, and the league, get to make the rules.

Shanahan's point is that he doesn't want teams to know what he's doing as soon as he's doing it.

Doesn't want teams to know every single thing the team does.

 

[Om]

Well, the mainstream press may not have jumped the story, but it IS out there:

http://www.tbd.com/articles/2010/09/washington-redskins-down-on-twitter-11633.html

A JPG of the first page of the "edict" is attached.

Also a link to a story about similar policies in flux at other NFL teams.

Still and all...this one aint' over. One thing to specifically ban Tweeting during practice. Another to try to keep reporters from interviewing players after practice, if that's what the language really implies. You just KNOW guys like Steinberg, Boswell, Wilbon and Loverro are dying to write THE definitely "what I really think about this" column right about now.

 

[TomE]

Oh I don't know, Gibbs occasionally chastised the media about their fervor on certain topics.

Don't recall which hot-topic was going on but I do remember Gibbs pushing for a feel-good story once in a while, the local undrafted Heyer making progress and impressing being one of them.

Everyone whines about leaks and keeping certain matters in house despite the fact that our craving for that drug is insatiable.

Shanny and group, while less subtle than Gibbs, are laying down a perimeter of defense around their "house".

The media will just have to work harder to deliver our fix and the quality of that fix should be much more pure.

 

[DieselPwr44]

Where ever he may be, I bet there's a BIG smile on George Allen's face.