Howard doesn't keep a gig in the cruel and competitive world of Toronto media for 30 some odd years because he's somehow incompetent, fair and square social media wore him out as it did many of the older guys.
Cox was not removed, he declined the HNiC gig, because of having too much on his plate, he still does hockey related work on SN through the week and writes editorials for both the Star and Sportsnet. Cox was truthful about the state of the Leafs and how management kept fumbling away opportunities and squandering draft picks and so LeaFlanders branded him an enemy of the team and from there the myth of incompetency rose up. Cox is quite amused by it all actually
Healy and Strombo, weren't adding anything to the broadcast and they were dumped. The rest of the cast didn't like Strombo a whole lot as he wasn't really a hockey guy, he never played and that was a strike against him. Healy was way too negative, couldn't call a play if his life depended on it and way too sarcastic and egotistical for a television audience.
social media can be a good thing, but it can also be the worst thing at the same time, children making wild accusations without threat of reprisal is both annoying and myth making...Q-Anon comes directly from the cesspool of reddit, need I say more. I go back all the way to the old Leafs Quote Zone when the internet had News Groups and not Forums, some of QZ I stayed away from because of the ridiculousness attributed too some the children posting outlandish non-sense and also some adults, who just wanted to troll and spew out hate
You generally seem to be a fan of Howard Berger and Damien Cox, so I don't think we'll agree, but we'll see where it goes.
I don't think Howard Berger is incompetent. However I don't think it's a coincidence that his career ended as soon as the industry became about social media, and online hits. He got a resounding poor feedback on social media, and clearly did not get the amount of online hits necessary. If it was just "the social media world got to him!" as you claim, he still would not be on Twitter and writing articles on his blog. He used to pay out of his own pocket to travel to each Leaf game so he could write about it. He didn't "grow tired" of it, he got fired, and couldn't get hired again.
Damien Cox would get paid more for his weekly National broadcast segment, then he would writing sportsnet.ca pieces every week or so, and writing for the Star. He was removed from the broadcast because the reception wasn't good. He was reassigned to being on the radio. It was the same reason as Strombo, and it was the same reason as Healy.
Rogers ratings were declining, and they were getting social media backlash. So they looked at the top 3 guys, and cut them. Strombo and Healy both terminated and Cox reassigned to being a radio analyst and the odd HockeyCentral appearence. I'm not sure why you would claim Cox resigned due to time, yet he actually got moved into a position where he technically works more, in a less prominent role, and likely less paid as well.
You seem to shrug off Social Media like it's this thing that companies in general don't pay attention to and it's just some intern on their accounts, when it is actually quiet the opposite. Twitter has turned into companies top communication with their customers/audience.
There's no doubt a negative side to Social Media. People have the ability to be anonymous and saying incredibly damaging or hurtful things. However shrugging social media off as that is all it is, is somewhat ignorant of the significance it has.