HEAR NO EVIL, SEE NO EVIL, SPEAK NO EVIL

By:  Holly Horning

Earlier this week, I wrote about Chris Ilitch’s “Everything is Awesome” (moniker provided by our reader, Chris) appearances. You know, the ones in which the identical questions were asked by each group of media personnel.

Wow, what are the chances?

https://totallytigers.wordpress.com/2020/03/02/mr-feelgood/

It was the annual appearance by Ilitch to show fans that he really does exist given that we don’t see him at games or anywhere near District Detroit. And it’s really just a coincidence that he appears at every Red Wings news conference but is AWOL when the Tigers hold them.

But these appearances are always feel-good moments. I mean, afterall, it’s not like this team is rebuilding or had yet another bad year in 2019, right?

So why shouldn’t journalists ask Chris about what to expect in 2020? Why shouldn’t they ask him to compare last year with the future?

Nothing’s really changed – at least at the big league level. And, in fact, the same people in the Front Office and in the dugout are still in charge. It’s not like the team is making real, visible changes.

Nothin’ new here. Time to move along, folks.

And if you’re a Tigers fan, you should be immensely happy. And excited. Remember, Ilitch keeps reminding us all that we should be “very, very excited.” Don’t ask why, just be.

But, honestly, don’t you really just want to slap those reporters? Don’t you just want to pull a Cher and tell them to ‘snap out of it!”

Courtesy of ThinkStock and Computerworld

Don’t you yearn for the day when the Detroit press asks the tough questions? When they ask pointed questions about the direction of the team? When they ask for evidence proving that something is really working?

Or within the fans’ fantasy world, holding the powers-that-be feet to the fire when things are obviously not working?

For them to ask anything critical?

For them, for anyone, to come out and say that the emperor has no new clothes?

Yet, we must ask why they remain silent year after year.

Obviously job security is a concern, especially in the problematic print media world that continues to shrink with each day. (And it’s not only the reporters who have to fear job security. We’ve seen 3 Tiger employees recently who dared to question the process and found themselves without jobs shortly thereafter.)

And with those financial pressures, do the Detroit papers depend upon Ilitch Holdings’ money for their much-needed advertising? Could there be a potential quid pro quo situation?

And then there is team access. Telling the truth may just have your press pass taken away. Or at the very least, experience a swirly in a Comerica bathroom.

So yes, these reasons may shed some light on this but they don’t explain why this happens in Detroit almost exclusively.

Go to NY, Boston, Baltimore, St. Louis, Washington, Philadelphia, LA, Cleveland and other cities with major and secondary market teams and you will see the media’s glaring spotlight on their sports teams. You will see them openly question ownership, management, coaching and talent. Even the stars of the team.

But not in Detroit. Never in Detroit.

Instead, years later – and after all the damage has been done – you hear stories about how all the reporters knew that Brad Ausmus lost the clubhouse in his first year. That the team was in disarray. That they knew he was on his way out in his last year. Yet they said nothing. They wrote nothing.

Even when tv broadcasts showed players within the team fighting each other – or showing their displeasure with their manager regularly – nothing was ever written about it. Just one big happy family. Nothing to see here……

Or even reporting the regular and very visible presence of Jim Leyland overseeing field activities, attending the Winter and GM meetings and helping run the drafting. They keep him behind the curtain.

Why?

Isn’t reporting information that sheds light on the organization and performance of a team the job of journalists?

There are published reports about how the Tigers went to one of the big dailies to let them know their displeasure over having the city’s only tell-it-like-it-is beat reporter who sometimes wrote the ugly truth about the team. They asked the editor to remove him from the beat. Which they did.

Just shameful.

But his replacement – a man who can say nothing even remotely negative about the team and rumors that even butter won’t melt in his mouth when it comes to the Tigers – regularly shills for the team. He tweets about the “exciting crowds”, the “large crowds” and even advertises the special ticket deals on Twitter, urging fans to “check out” the tremendous bargains. How thoughtful that he even supplies the link.

And no one questions the lack of professionalism or conflict of interest.

Before the Washington Nationals were (re-)born, the local team here in DC was the Baltimore Orioles. They were owned by famous lawyer Edward Bennett Williams, who also just happened to be the Washington Post’s chief legal counsel. Williams told them to pull no punches if they had to criticize the Orioles because that was their job.

The bottom line is the media has the capability of holding feet to the fire and making people accountable to the public. They are supposed to seek the truth and report it. And today, the only ones who report the truth are national journalists. One reason why a concerted effort was made to keep them out of the press conference called at the very last minute to announce Al Avila’s contract extension on a long holiday weekend.

And when they don’t, teams and people can do what they want. They are no longer under scrutiny. The bar has been lowered.

When the media does ask questions, they can be a catalyst for change and improvement. You see it in other cities – the power to report the truth that puts the heat on owners, management, coaches and players. They can be the friends of the fans.

But not in Detroit. And the biggest question to ask is why?

Is there something about the local and regional culture that invites this? That makes it OK?

Does it have anything to do with the regular expectations of sketchy deals and corruption that is rampant throughout Detroit and other regions of the state? I’m always amazed at the sheer number of shenanigans happening whenever I log onto the local papers. I certainly don’t see anything near that in the region I now call home. And we’re talkin’ Washington, DC, folks!

And yet, this country – and the local fans – wonder why they have the worst performing collection of sports teams in any region or city.

Coincidence?

Not likely.

My guess is that these teams have facilitators.

Some may also call them enablers.

They are the local media and a strong argument can be made that the silent Detroit media is a big reason why these teams are allowed to wallow at the bottom.

The bottom line is that if you change the culture, you change the results.

But how to start?

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