an open letter to the new york press
September 14, 2007 – 6:36 pm“If you’re a Knicks fan or someone who follows the team closely (be it by choice or for a living)”
Alan, how many would you say, between your newspaper, the daily news, the post and the ny times–all of the ny sports media covering the knicks–are in fact knicks fans. I think that may be the problem here. all of the media who are covering the knicks consider their job to be just that, a job. but the people reading their work are real fans, fans that want to see their team succeed. when I read a certain reporter spin any knick story (and I’m not talking about this trial mind you) for the worse, it is an insult to me, because I am a knicks fan. i am not paid to follow the team. i want to follow the team of my own volition. if you are not a knicks fan, try to imagine whatever team you do like (hockey or basketball) try to imagine that team being constantly beat up by the press. it boils our blood.
that is not to say that there have not been mistakes in the organization, or that these mistakes should not be fully chronicled, but this media market leaves the fans who wish to read something positive no choice. it was my hope that your paper would provide knicks fans an alternative to the Vesceys, Isolas, and Bermans. the guys who obviously want the paycheck but aren’t going to do their job they way they should. it was never in your job description to piss us all off to no end. you should be mindful of your audience when you write, no?
look at fox news, they do a great job of telling us what we want to hear. they conceal the atrocities of the iraq war and all the other hidden ugliness around the world and report what they think america should know. that is what i’m looking for in my knicks newspaper. if it can’t be fair and balanced, spin it the other way so that it reads positive. tell us what we want to hear. we may not be a first place team. but most of us believe this team has playoffs written all over it. no one has wrote that story yet, nor will they until two months into the season.
i’m not telling you how to do your job. this is just my opinion on how at least one newspaper in town could do business. because if you pick up any one of those other papers, they’ll all read the same.
why will no paper be a fan’s paper in this town? i don’t care if your are the atlanta hawks, there should be a paper in every nba town that assumes you actually “like” the knicks are are not being “paid” to follow them.
