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Jim Les Radio Show

To those who may have been offended by my post, I was merely pointing out how journalists have a responsibility to write stories that are factually accurate. Les may need time to turn his team around, but he has absolutely every right to call out the media if they are inaccurate in their reporting. I'm not defending Les as a "rah rah" BU fan. I am defending him because he needs to set straight an inaccurate story, and because I believe he is doing everything possible to get this team going. Is he perfect? No. But what coach is?

And back to the media. I think some people are confused as to what freedom of the press is. I know for sure that it does not mean it is allowable to make up stories! I don't know if this column did that, but it sure comes across like it did!
 
tornado said:
again.......for those who may have missed it the first two times...
the answer is because I am citing what the very people on the radio show said....take it up with them.

And, lefty, if the PJS wrote an article that you found personally false and offensive to yourself, then what difference would it make if I thought it was no big deal and nothing wrong? Wouldn't my feelings be totally irrelevant? And if you found it offensive, then wouldn't you find it silly and doubly offensive if I said it doesn't bother me?
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Maybe I need to reread the article and try to pick out all the things may be offensive..I don't know...that's alot of questions for me T...but in response to your last question...why would I found it doubly offensive if it didn't bother you? How you take something written about me is out of my control...I would also forget about it because I got better things to do.

I don't have a problem with the article and I don't have a problem with how JL handled it...that's his perrogitive
 
I think Jim, KW, and DR need a pow-wow to air some grievances and bury the hatchet (feats of strength are optional). Regardless of who said what or who's fault it is or isn't, enough is enough. They both have a job to do, but I think that if there are things to be said, they should be said face to face rather than through the newspaper or the airwaves.
 
BradleyBrave said:
I think Jim, KW, and DR need a pow-wow to air some grievances and bury the hatchet (feats of strength are optional). Regardless of who said what or who's fault it is or isn't, enough is enough. They both have a job to do, but I think that if there are things to be said, they should be said face to face rather than through the newspaper or the airwaves.
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A Pow-Wow? I thought we were REDIFINING Brave.;):rolleyes::-D
 
It is hardly anything new, and I kinda wonder why it is that there has been obvious antagonism between the local press and whoever is head coach at BU.
I know it was true during Versace (DL), Molinari (PT), and now Les' (KW) reign, and suspect it might have been during Albeck's but can't really recall.
I quite often read the Chicago press and the press of other Valley cities, and Champaign & other Big Ten cities, and can say with conviction that no other city's local press that I have seen among those that I read often, is as regularly negative, critical, personal, and at times petty. (often dragging up decades-old gripes about things that happened under past coaches and stuff that has little to do with sports- such as campus expansion, etc.). I know where I believe the majority of the fault lies for the ill-will, but I guess everyone will make their own minds up.
 
Lesson learned: Some people can't think for themselves. This wasn't a problem for 48 hours. Then JL says he took exception to it. Now certain posters have a problem with it too.
 
I support the program and Jim Les. In all honesty though, I rarely listen to the Monday night show, because I learn very little from it. Most everything is positive, positive, positive, blah, blah, blah even when the season has been a huge disappointment. Kudos to everyone for the Sweet 16 year and the NIT last year, but as someone else mentioned, this program has not seen the top of the Valley for a long, long time. We have not competed for Valley championships and I think Coach Les promised that. The lack of any bigs who can contribute what is needed is killing this team. Coach Les has been here long enough that this shouldn't be an issue. I am not saying Coach Les should be gone, and I truly don't expect to hear anything from Coach Les or Dave Snell that will be anything different from the always positive, blah blah spin. So, I go to the games and cheer, contribute my money, turn the radio off, and hope it gets better next year. As far as the PJS goes, it's a newspaper, I hope they get the information correct, but it means far, far less to me than my fear that we will not get to being consistently in the top 3 of the Valley every year and post season every year.
 
I don't see where posters have any issue, and you confirm it yourself by
saying nobody even mentioned it.
But it was made an issue because it was discussed on last night's radio show.
Should we not talk about it because people don't want to?
And I think everyone on this board can and do think for themselves.
 
tornado said:
I don't see where posters have any issue, and you confirm it yourself by
saying nobody even mentioned it.
But it was made an issue because it was discussed on last night's radio show.
Should we not talk about it because people don't want to?
And I think everyone on this board can and do think for themselves.
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You totally missed LTL's point, which is a very good one. Nobody had a problem with it until Les had a problem with it. Now it seems like some people get up in arms about it just because Les did. Following the leader, if you will...

FYI: the audio archive from the show is now available on bubraves.com.
http://www.bubraves.com/AudioArchives.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=3400
 
nobody had a problem with "it"?
how did we know what "it" was until we were informed last night on the radio show?
Maybe "it" is a real issue and worthy of being discussed.
If you feel otherwise, you are fully free to stop discussing "it".

But further.....I think I see a pattern in the reporting we have locally, and since I read the basketball coverage from many other teams and cities, I feel I have the ability and freedom to draw a conclusion. I think the local press is fully responsible for the fact that some of the local sports people don't want to talk to them.
Just as an aside...I personally was once called on the phone by a PJS reporter (in the middle of a busy day) and asked if I'd consent to be interviewed as an "expert" in a certain topic she was reporting on, as that was and is within my area of expertise.
My answer was unequivocally "no", for no other reason that that I have seen the media slay people and make them look foolish if they don't get the answers they want, and it had even happened to some in my profession that I know of.
But in the end she admitted she had already called numerous others in the same area of specialty and they also turned down her requests for an inteview for the same reason, the suspicion that they'd be misquoted, misrepresented, and made to appear in a negative light, so I was not alone feeling the press has burned their own bridges by the way they have treated people in the past.
I think they have done the same with sports and BU basketball. The press always seems miffed whenever BU (a private institution) doesn't give them the info or answer they want. Then when they get the precise answer they ask for, they turn on the folks giving them the answer and insult them.
Go figure....and they want to be treated with due respect??
 
This is not directed at anyone on this board. But I think a good number of people don't know the difference between a REPORTER and a COLUMNIST.

Reporter's report the news.

Columnist's give their thoughts, opinions, feelings on the news.

Contrary to popular belief, what a columnist says it not always fact. Some columnists write articles to anger people, or to get a buzz going about a certain topic.


Now getting back to the topic, and I must fully admit that I don't follow this stuff as close as you guys do, it seems to me... that Jim Les has some thin skin these days. First off (and correct me if I am wrong), didn't he take to task BU fans for not being more of a home court Advantage earlier this season? And now he has "rabbitt ears" for what Wessler or others is writing?

Like I said, I don't follow this stuff that closely. But I do follow college basketball very closely, and how is this different than any other college basketball city that has a program with expectations?
 
tornado said:
The local paper went with a story that was a NON-story.
They dug for facts that didn't exist, tried to fabricate hurt feelings and issues that don't exist, and when they were told those facts were totally incorrect, they went with the story anyway, misquoting the very people who had asked the PJS not to print stuff they were just making up.
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Tornado, I just listened to the archive and re-read the story, and I'm not sure where exactly Jim Les said any of that. The only thing the PJS did was write a story that involved Merfeld after Les asked them not to. But the JS has every right to run that story, just like JL has every right not to talk to them or disclose "private" information like the Ruffin injury or the grand mystery behind the people who came in to speak to the team during the losing streak.

Now, does what the JS did hurt it's relationship with Les and the team? Possibly. But so did Les' decision not to be honest about Daniel Ruffin's possibility of playing. Relationships with the media (ON BOTH ENDS) can be very fickle, as you pointed out with your own personal experience.

And by the way, Merfeld's first time facing his former team is definitely a story worth writing about, IMO. And any smart media member would say the same thing.
 
longtimelistener said:
Lesson learned: Some people can't think for themselves. This wasn't a problem for 48 hours. Then JL says he took exception to it. Now certain posters have a problem with it too.
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LTL - just in defense of myself. It may not have been a problem for me 48 hours ago, but that is because I don't read the paper. I read articles online. And I do NOT go looking for anything KW writes. I read Reynold's after a game. And only at other times when my dad (who reads the paper) tells me DR writes a nice article.

But since there was a huge stink over JL being a liar earlier.... I chimed in about how maybe this situation was similar in being a "game-time decision" by the paper to write an article when maybe all along they planned on doing it.
 
Cpacmel,

I understand that columnists try to get things charged up, I have no problem with that. We all need to be challanged at times. What I meant to say is that reporters including columnists need to make sure that they do not report unfactual things. Conjecture is OK, wrong facts, in my opinion is not.

As far as Coach Les being thin skinned, I think most coaches whose teams are picked 2nd and are where BU is would be somewhat thin skinned. I think he does not like anything negative being said. There are many in the BU camp who are only positive, even when it is very difficult to support. I saw similar stuff on your board the past few years. That being said, winning solves everything. My problem is not with the paper, the writers, the positive blah, blah, blah, but with the poor results. Get that fixed and everybody will be real chummy again.

Congrats on your teams results. I see from many boards that you are a big fan. You suffered through many years....too many.
 
cpacmel said:
First off (and correct me if I am wrong), didn't he take to task BU fans for not being more of a home court Advantage earlier this season? And now he has "rabbitt ears" for what Wessler or others is writing?
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I don't think so. I don't recall Jim Les ever being critical of the fans. The only issue I recall is when a caller to his radio show was mildly critical of the fans at the game. Jim himself has never said or implied it that I recall.

And as far as this current issue-- if he asked for the writers to be sensitive to a certain issue and he feels the writer did the story without regard to the issue that was raised, then he has every right to be upset.
And I don't think the writer in question is a columnist.
 
Da Coach said:
I don't think so. I don't recall Jim Les ever being critical of the fans. The only issue I recall is when a caller to his radio show was mildly critical of the fans at the game. Jim himself has never said or implied it that I recall.
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Here's what Les said in regards to the fans earlier this year. This is quoted from Dave Reynolds' column on December 4, the day of the Michigan St game -

"I'm looking for a response from our fans," Les said. "I don't think the atmosphere in our building has been that great this year. Our fans need to step up, energize, come with great enthusiasm and get off their hands a little bit. This is a great opportunity for our program, but I also want appreciation shown from our fans, too, and start to create the environment we want to have."

The fans were there for that game, for the VCU game, and even went through the turnstiles 10,000+ strong for an 8-10, 9th place team playing the last place team in the league. It's time for the team to reward us fans for our loyalty instead of calling us out. We show up every game. We'd like our ball club to do the same.
 
Bravesfan said:
To those who may have been offended by my post, I was merely pointing out how journalists have a responsibility to write stories that are factually accurate. Les may need time to turn his team around, but he has absolutely every right to call out the media if they are inaccurate in their reporting. I'm not defending Les as a "rah rah" BU fan. I am defending him because he needs to set straight an inaccurate story, and because I believe he is doing everything possible to get this team going. Is he perfect? No. But what coach is?

And back to the media. I think some people are confused as to what freedom of the press is. I know for sure that it does not mean it is allowable to make up stories! I don't know if this column did that, but it sure comes across like it did!
Click to expand...

On a historical note most newspapers in the 1800s wrote stories in order to sell their paper. Most of them were a one to two man shop that did not have the time to go out and write true stories everyday so they made them up. Mark Twain was a master at this.

The times have changed and now we expect a lot more from our journalist. We want them to be fair, represent our community with integrity and go after those that try to cheat our system. Sports though in my humble opinion needs to be lumped with entertainment. Let's not take this to serious or the guys writing these sensationalized reports win. He is getting what he wants. You open their web-site and read the article he get's cudos from the $$$$ guys and guess what he continues with what works. Your best bet if you disagree with someones opinion time and time out is to ignore them completely. Trust me two things happen if a writer is ignored enough, they either get canned or they change their behavior.

JL next time just ignore him. You are giving him what he wants, PR. He wants to be as importent as you and only you can grant him that by excepting his existance. I for one has stopped looking at PJS because of their lack of respect to our fine University. If they ever started to work with the leadership of the University to help build up the community then I maybe inclined to read their columns again. Peoria is a small community in which in order to get the most out of it everybody needs to work together. Dare I say it is not NY!
 
Just listening to the broadcast now and besides the whole debate re: the newspaper article, one thing I find interesting is that when someone called in and asked about the defense, Les said that there isn't defensive-specific coach, but rather it's a group effort among the staff. In years past Chuck was pretty much the defensive coach on our staff and I think it's interesting that no one has stepped forward to work on the more specifically on defense, an area where we've been lacking all season long.
 
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