Media must stick with facts
LOS ANGELES -- This is what I am talking about.
Scrolling through the NBA sites on the Web the other day,
I come across this on Real GM:
"According to radio station 1270-AM in Detroit, the Lakers and Pistons came to
an agreement to trade (Kobe) Bryant to the Pistons. However, Bryant used his
no-trade clause to veto the trade. The report claims the deal was completed
late Tuesday night. Detroit would have sent Tayshaun Prince, Rip Hamilton, Amir
Johnson and a first-round pick to the Lakers."
Thank goodness I didn't hear that live while driving my car. I would have run
off the road. There isn't a speck of truth in that report. Yet, from what I
heard, the pros and cons of the "trade" were debated on the airwaves most of
the day.
Pistons president Joe Dumars hasn't had a conversation with the Lakers about
Kobe Bryant since before training camp. Dumars made a call to the Lakers when
he first heard that Bryant might be available. Any president or general manager
that didn't do at least that should be fired. It's what they call due diligence
-- something certain radio stations might want to invest in.
Dumars was told -- remember now, this was in September -- that Bryant would not
waive his no-trade clause for the Pistons, and that was the end of the
discussion. No players were mentioned, no trade parameters were defined.
Nevertheless, ESPN's Ric Bucher, who had been scolded publicly by Dumars two
weeks ago for throwing his players into unfounded rumors, went on the air with
this old scrap of news earlier this week. The radio station pounced on it,
embellished it and created a mini-media frenzy for itself.
Is that what it's come down to now? Is that how far sports radio shows are
going to go to get some attention? Is it really worth losing that much
credibility to gain a few points in the ratings?
Heck, if the station wants to start throwing out hoaxes, why not go all "War of
the Worlds" on us. Don't low-ball us with made-up trade stories. Give us the
supermarket tabloid stuff:
"Former Piston Bison Dele is alive, spotted at a Kalamazoo McDonald's."
"Sam Cassell really is an alien."
"Stephon Marbury and Isiah Thomas to wed."
"Phil Jackson to star in 'Brokeback Mountain' sequel."
I mean, if you are going to entertain us with bogus stories, entertain us.
Seriously, though, this stuff does damage throughout our industry. Dumars is
disgusted by it, I can tell you that. Why should he trust the media when stuff
like this happens? Why should he give his time to the media if the truth is
ignored and he has to defend himself against bogus reports?
And what about the listeners, the fans? What are they supposed to think? Who
are they supposed to trust? It's back to that ever-shrinking line between
journalism and entertainment media I wrote about a couple weeks ago. The radio
station, from all reports, never presented the trade rumor as anything but a
fact. They weren't discussing a hypothetical situation. They were talking about
a trade that they thought came within one nod of Bryant's head of going
through.
Just utter freaking nonsense. Who's going to hold the station accountable?
Who's going to demand a retraction? Who's going to demand an apology to the
listeners, especially those who believed the report. They have to feel like
they were punked, right?
Maybe not.
Of course, my phone line burns and my e-mail basket floods with people wanting
to know what's going on and why I haven't written about this. Never mind that I
did write about it, way back when it actually happened, and I repeated it the
other day, writing exactly what I wrote earlier in this column.
But, as per usual, nobody wants to hear that. The made-up story is sexier,
juicier; the truth is boring.
Whatever. I prefer to live in the real world. It's less crowded.
You can reach Chris McCosky at (313) 222-1489 or chris.mccosky@detnews.com.
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