NewChief
12-07-2005, 11:08 AM
Holy crap. Maybe this has been around for a while, but this is the first time I've seen it. The Chiefs organization really, really needs to stop wasting time with their media obsession. They'd be so much better off just ignoring and rising above it. They just keep on feeding the fire. Anyway, here's some prime bits from the FAQ:
http://kcchiefs.com/news/2004/01/19/rufus_dawes_faq/
Q: Why are you always bashing the media, particularly those in Kansas City?
A: My columns are nothing more than my point of view, and no different in tact from what appears in conventional media. You can judge for yourself whether the information is improperly colored by my prejudices or not.
Many in the media, where skepticism is an accepted, well-founded and, I think the correct frame of mind, go out of their way to pour cold water on team positions even when the information they uncover or could uncover is readily available to support those positions.
Such an attitude smacks of something beyond skepticism and that’s where we part company. But enough about me – a sentiment Jason Whitlock has never, ever expressed.
Q: Why do you have such a fixation on Kansas City Star columnist Jason Whitlock?
A: I believe an argument can be made that he’s lowered the bar as far as media behavior in Kansas City is concerned. He and the nodding sycophants at the various radio stations who have serviced his interests are kings of the low brow and to say the Kansas City Star’s coverage has gone down hill since he arrived in town is like saying Bin Laden has an image problem.
Mr. Whitlock would like for us to believe that he’s a thoughtful columnist with his finger on the pulse of the readers. But he’s more interested in the status that comes with such a position, not on the work itself or the ideas that drive it. It seems pitifully obvious that Jason Whitlock wants to be famous if, for nothing else, being Jason Whitlock.
Columnists are to be admired. Admired and envied. But the columnists who last, the columnists who count, the columnists whose columns are indeed their monuments, not only have an essential benevolence, a fundamental affection for the people and games they cover, they possess a hefty dose of humility. Humble Jason Whitlock is not.
Q: Are there any sportswriters or columnists you do like or read regularly?
A: Bob McGinn (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel), Don Pierson (Chicago Tribune), Ron Borges (Boston Globe), Rick Gosselin (Dallas Morning News), Tom Boswell (Washington Post), Bill Conlin (Philadelphia Daily News), Mark Whicker (Orange County Register), Mike Lupica (NY Daily News), the writer not the TV personality, Phil Sheridan (Philadelphia Inquirer).
If journalism is merely history’s first draft, as has surely been said too often, these people need far less editing than most of those working in the field.
Q: You seem equally critical of some local sports talk radio hosts:
A: When I think of radio talk show hosts, I’m reminded of a maxim from a John Le Carre novel: “A desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world.” That’s especially so when there’s a microphone on it. For too many of this type, hate has become a preoccupation, preoccupation a fixation, and finally fixation becomes fanaticism.
Even if you believe that sports talk radio fills a role in today’s lifestyle, it is a laughably inadequate purveyor of news and clearly not an objective source of anything. Sports talk radio is entertainment – much of it bawdy and insulting – and lightweight.
http://kcchiefs.com/news/2004/01/19/rufus_dawes_faq/
Q: Why are you always bashing the media, particularly those in Kansas City?
A: My columns are nothing more than my point of view, and no different in tact from what appears in conventional media. You can judge for yourself whether the information is improperly colored by my prejudices or not.
Many in the media, where skepticism is an accepted, well-founded and, I think the correct frame of mind, go out of their way to pour cold water on team positions even when the information they uncover or could uncover is readily available to support those positions.
Such an attitude smacks of something beyond skepticism and that’s where we part company. But enough about me – a sentiment Jason Whitlock has never, ever expressed.
Q: Why do you have such a fixation on Kansas City Star columnist Jason Whitlock?
A: I believe an argument can be made that he’s lowered the bar as far as media behavior in Kansas City is concerned. He and the nodding sycophants at the various radio stations who have serviced his interests are kings of the low brow and to say the Kansas City Star’s coverage has gone down hill since he arrived in town is like saying Bin Laden has an image problem.
Mr. Whitlock would like for us to believe that he’s a thoughtful columnist with his finger on the pulse of the readers. But he’s more interested in the status that comes with such a position, not on the work itself or the ideas that drive it. It seems pitifully obvious that Jason Whitlock wants to be famous if, for nothing else, being Jason Whitlock.
Columnists are to be admired. Admired and envied. But the columnists who last, the columnists who count, the columnists whose columns are indeed their monuments, not only have an essential benevolence, a fundamental affection for the people and games they cover, they possess a hefty dose of humility. Humble Jason Whitlock is not.
Q: Are there any sportswriters or columnists you do like or read regularly?
A: Bob McGinn (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel), Don Pierson (Chicago Tribune), Ron Borges (Boston Globe), Rick Gosselin (Dallas Morning News), Tom Boswell (Washington Post), Bill Conlin (Philadelphia Daily News), Mark Whicker (Orange County Register), Mike Lupica (NY Daily News), the writer not the TV personality, Phil Sheridan (Philadelphia Inquirer).
If journalism is merely history’s first draft, as has surely been said too often, these people need far less editing than most of those working in the field.
Q: You seem equally critical of some local sports talk radio hosts:
A: When I think of radio talk show hosts, I’m reminded of a maxim from a John Le Carre novel: “A desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world.” That’s especially so when there’s a microphone on it. For too many of this type, hate has become a preoccupation, preoccupation a fixation, and finally fixation becomes fanaticism.
Even if you believe that sports talk radio fills a role in today’s lifestyle, it is a laughably inadequate purveyor of news and clearly not an objective source of anything. Sports talk radio is entertainment – much of it bawdy and insulting – and lightweight.