MANIPULATING THE MESSAGE

By:  Holly Horning

Good news! We’ve finally found something that the Tigers do better than anyone else. Something that is so cutting-edge, no other team in MLB does it.

But unfortunately, it has nothing to do with performance on the diamond.

What is it?

It’s their unparalleled ability to manipulate the message.

And they do it everywhere – at the stadium, in the local media and on television. In fact, this year, they raised the bar – even out-performing the Yankees, Cubs and Red Sox.

During a year in which the good times will be few and far between, the PR machine is in heavy-duty overdrive. And it was most evident this past week during the FSD broadcasts.

But before we hit upon these events, let’s backtrack and explain how Detroit manipulates the message to its fans.

First of all, if you read the local papers, there are regular articles that paint “all is well” reports about the team. Reporters who are used to spreading the message that everything is great, plans are on-track and everything is generally just one big love-fest.

Hard questions are never asked – or answered. Visible problems are ignored and issues that most fans know are happening are unsurprisingly absent. It’s no coincidence that certain people within the organization who are in charge of dismal performance responsibilities are never interviewed or conveniently unavailable.

Many of the articles that are published often appear to be dictated or spoon-fed by the media relations people.  They  reek of such obvious intent.

It got so bad in the past that one reporter actually admitted he knew about the problems with Brad Ausmus, the in-fighting within the clubhouse and the scores of players who disliked Ausmus – and didn’t write about it until Ausmus’ contract expired.

Greeeat………

Quite frankly, if you really want to know what’s going on with the team, read the national reports. That’s what I do.

They will tell you about the problems and concerns, really analyze the stats and tell you what’s happening (or not) and offer no-spin on stories such as JV’s return to dominance (a soon-to-be blog) being wholly due to the Astros. And then there’s the player the Tigers received in exchange for Justin Upton. A player who made exactly 4 appearances for Erie before he retired from baseball. No story, no analysis, no criticism.

The Detroit papers will never tell you about the messy things because it keeps the advertising dollars flowing in and their reporters from being locked out of the clubhouse. In fact, there are stories that the Tigers approached one major newspaper and asked them to remove a certain journalist from covering them because he was critical of the team. The paper complied.

But when stories that are less favorable happen to be published, expect the powers that be to give the papers the proper spin with articles appearing in print within hours. The Tigers went fast and furious with the Justin Verlander interview that threw shade on Detroit and lauded the Astros.

The Comerica staffers are quick on the draw – making sure stories are refuted quickly. And they find the hot topics on social media sites and newspapers’ comment threads. It’s not a coincidence that the topics which most concern us on any given week are addressed in the local sports columns.

No, they’re not reading our minds, they’re reading our comments.

Most companies, btw, do have a social media staff with their sole job being to gauge the pulse of the fans and find the topics of greatest concern. It’s a must in today’s world.

But the Tigers upped their game this year by hiring Kirk Gibson to work in their Front Office. The same Kirk Gibson, who was hired by both the Tigers and FSD to do the broadcasts.

Such a cozy relationship…… and rife with considerable conflict of interest. In fact, MLB has been asked to explore and set guidelines that address the growing symbiotic relationship between broadcasters who are also employed by baseball teams.

Gibby is not the first former player to turn to broadcasting and still have ties to his former organization. But he is the first to be an actual Front Office employee who works directly with the people who are responsible for steering the ship.

Jessica Mendoza, an ESPN analyst, was just hired by the Mets. David Ross, also with ESPN, does studio work covering all teams while he has an informal job with the Cubs. David Ortiz does a handful of games for national broadcasts while he also serves in a PR capacity for the Red Sox. And Frank Thomas is an outside business consultant who does studio work for Fox Sports.

None of them work in the Front Office nor do they broadcast for the team that employs them.

But Gibby does.

And you can now hear him regularly shake those pom-poms for the Tigers as well as conveniently address the issues that concern fans without acknowledging that there is concern. We heard him give his approval for the job Brad Ausmus was doing. We’re just not sure if someone was holding a gun to his head to get him to say that.

And less than 2 weeks ago, he went to bat for Lloyd McClendon after reports once again had the Tigers occupying the basement of every major offensive category. After we watched games in which plate appearances were horrific and even Gardy was diplomatically throwing shade on the hitting coach he didn’t hire.

Gibson made an obvious spiel about how expertly Lloyd prepares every single hitter every single day so they come into games fully prepared. It was so obvious in its intent.

And this past week? We were treated to a multi-game love-fest for Jim Leyland. Most disconcerting was the name Gibby, Shepard, Monroe, Kane, Keating and others used to describe the Tigers “special assistant.” Skipper. Whether they had played for him or not.

Forgive me, but doesn’t each team have only one skipper? Shouldn’t there only be one manager in charge? And if you’re calling someone else that name, what does it say about who is actually in charge? What does it say about the Tigers trying to move forward when they hang onto managers from their past?

But clearly, it was a concerted effort to dispel the increasing social media dialog about Leyland’s continued and possibly growing influence on this team. We were treated to multiple dialogs by the broadcasters who wanted to convince us that Leyland was the second coming of Yoda. It was so painfully obvious.

The fans were being lectured in an attempt to quell the unhappy rumblings. Propaganda at its finest.

And undoubtedly, we’ll hear more of this. Gibson is effectively the mouthpiece of the Front Office and both of his jobs depend upon fulfilling the requests of his superiors. Unfortunately, we’ll be hearing more that supports the party line and less of the critical analysis that Gibson has successfully provided.

The powers that be have conquered and controlled the print and digital media. Now they have taken over the broadcast booth.

It’s just a shame that they can’t take their talents, ideas and strategies and run the Front Office. They are undoubtedly the strongest and most capable department within the Detroit Tigers organization.

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