During the cold war, the communist party talked to the world through its official newspaper, Pravda, a Russian word which translates to mean “the truth.” It’s not that Pravda exactly published falsehoods, ok well sometimes it did, but its main purpose was to present events from a certain point of view.
In the United States the myth of the neutral press has largely evaporated. Most observers realize that CNN skews to the liberal interpretation of events and Fox news leans a tad to the right. It’s up to the viewer to decide how much credibility they assign to each network.
Wolverine fans have been treated to some interesting coverage of the UM coaching search. Nationally, we had ESPN declare the coaching search was over last Saturday which turned to be as accurate as anyone predicting victory over Tom Brady and Patriots.
Locally we had Terry Foster of the Detroit News saying that Les Miles to Ann Arbor was a done deal and that he was negotiating with the Miles camp for an interview.
And then Les Miles held a press conference to register his outrage at being linked to his alleged dream job.
Which brings us to the Ann Arbor News, which has been leading the Les Miles parade for some time now. If anyone has a gripe with Bill Martin’s handling of the coaching search or conspiracy theory involving Lloyd Carr’s secret agenda to discredit good old boy Les Miles than the Ann Arbor News is the place for you.
Are a you paid employee of Les Miles- say his agent?
Are you a former Wolverine football player who would like to slam Lloyd Carr and a UM regent for having the audacity- the unmitigated gall to not jump on the Les Miles bandwagon?
Then the Arbor News would love to publish your comments.
It’s one thing for a columnist to advocate for one head coaching candidate or another. Columnists are paid for their opinions. But the one sided coverage of the Les Miles fiasco by the Ann Arbor News is a joke. For months they’ve pushed Les Miles as the obvious, best candidate to replace Lloyd Carr. And now the Ann Arbor News is leading voice of outrage against Bill Martin for not agreeing with their choice
The Ann Arbor News has crossed the line between reporting the news and trying to influence what events occur.
Journalism has been described as “the first rough draft of history.” But at some point the enthusiastic coverage of the UM coaching search has become advocacy for a certain result. In this case the draft seems to have been written in advance.
It may sell papers but the sports department has lost any semblance of neutrality.
Eventually, Michigan will have a new head football coach.
And despite his protestations it might even be Les Miles.
And the Ann Arbor News sports department will be thrilled.