TBN: Buffalo News invited to sit in deadline war room. TBN declined offer.

[Mit Yarrum]

Ted Black mentioned this morning that not only was Jeremy White of WGR allowed to sit in the trade deadline war room, but that he also invited the Buffalo News to sit in. The Buffalo News was allowed to bring a camera man with them.

The Buffalo News declined the offer.

How can the clowns at the Buffalo News pretend to serve the public, and at the same time decline unprecedented access to the organization they are reporting on?

I'm probably kicking a dead horse here, but this pretty clearly shows that they aren't really interested in a fair assessment of the franchise.

This rag isn't even fit for the bottom of my kitty litter.

Click to read more...

 

[Jim Bob]

I think one issue could have been that TBN had two people in Tampa with the team, if I'm not mistaken.

 

[McCauleyChirps]

I think one issue could have been that TBN had two people in Tampa with the team, if I'm not mistaken.

Wasn't Vogl at FNC yesterday?

Harrington is in Tampa.

 

[LGBuffalo]

Barring any of the reasons why they declined, it's just a shame that the local newspaper has such a problem with the organization. TBN's one job is to cover the Sabres. Some of the reporters have taken everything so personally, and it just speaks to the unprofessional nature of the reporter. I've lived in a lot of markets in my life, WNY included, and I have never seen such a rift between a newspaper and sports franchise. It's just a shame.

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

Wow, if that's true it's time to spam TBN's website with troll posts.

 

[Clock]

Ridiculous as I think TBN's sports department generally is, reserving judgement on this one. I feel like they would've had to have decent reasoning to not be present.

 

[smitter88]

Ridiculous as I think TBN's sports department generally is, reserving judgement on this one. I feel like they would've had to have decent reasoning to not be present.

Way past the point of giving TBN the benefit of the doubt.

And do we really need to limit it to the sports department?

 

[Clock]

Way past the point of giving TBN the benefit of the doubt.

And do we really need to limit it to the sports department?

I guess I feel like drawing wild conclusions from very small bits of information is a bit too TBN-y for me, so I'm uncomfortable doing it.

 

[SackTastic]

I could see TBN declining if they had to agree not to report certain things, etc, but past that, yeah..


It's not like it really matters. TBN isn't going to change.

 

[haseoke39]

Non-issue for me. TBN gets judged on what they publish, and I'm fairly certain trade-day access came with restrictions on not being able to publish anything relating to what they saw or heard that day. So they skipped a fun field trip, essentially.

 

[Jim Bob]

Wasn't Vogl at FNC yesterday?

Harrington is in Tampa.

Oh yeah, I thought they were both on the trip for some reason...

 

[Karate Johnson*]

I don't live in Buffalo, don't read anything they write, or follow any of their "reporters" on twitter.

It a shame because I would be nice to have a local sports pGe to read about the teams I like, but nothing is better than what they do.

 

[Jim Bob]

Non-issue for me. TBN gets judged on what they publish, and I'm fairly certain trade-day access came with restrictions on not being able to publish anything relating to what they saw or heard that day. So they skipped a fun field trip, essentially.

http://www.wgr550.com/JW--Access-Granted/18525384

Here is White's post on the trip.

 

[TehDoak]

Non-issue for me. TBN gets judged on what they publish, and I'm fairly certain trade-day access came with restrictions on not being able to publish anything relating to what they saw or heard that day. So they skipped a fun field trip, essentially.

They could have sent one of their non beat reporters in, like Gleason or even Sullivan.

Either way, TBN Sports team has long been a joke when it comes to Sabres coverage.

http://www.buffalohockeybeat.com/ doesn't have a paywall after 10 stories, gets the same access, and presents the information in an unbiased way with no grudges or ax's to grind. No real reason to ever go to TBN's site (or buy their paper) for Sabres coverage.

 

[Karate Johnson*]

I want to know the lingering name!!!!!!

 

[haseoke39]

http://www.wgr550.com/JW--Access-Granted/18525384

Here is White's post on the trip.

That's cool, but about what I expected. The most substantive stuff in there was where they get their coffee from and what technology is in the video room. A bit about how Tim Murray is a no-nonsense guy, but the Buffalo News couldn't have written something like this and put it into a column.

Would the trip maybe have helped them get a better relationship with certain people in the Sabres organization? I don't know. That's about as far as I can see this taking White.

 

[SackTastic]

Exactly what I expected.

TBN was probably asked not to reveal the names of players discussed in the room. They refused, which they would have had to, because that blows up Bucky's GM For A Day column, and every other time they cite 'sources' that say certain players 'could have been had'.

Can't let those pesky facts in the way!

 

[joshjull]

http://www.wgr550.com/JW--Access-Granted/18525384

Here is White's post on the trip.

I found this part to be pretty cool

On the way out I meet Sabres Director of Hockey Related Businesses Joe Battista, who shows me the Sabres "Hockey Tech" department. There are three giant flat screens laying out the depth charts of every NHL Team. The top screen lists every NHL player on every NHL team, and their RinkNet score. The Sabres have individual evaluations of every player in the league on this board at all times. Directly below that screen is the AHL depth chart. Each team falls in line vertically with its parent club on the screen above. The third screen has prospects that are playing in juniors. It's a stunningly crisp look at every asset eligible to play in the NHL.

From there we head over to the video department (which I think they call PUCKS?). Ryan Vinz, the former Sabres backup goaltender, is one of the guys in that department. The guys show me just how quickly they can pull up video on any player in the world.

Want to see Cory Conacher's even strength shots from outside of fifteen in the third period? On Thursdays? Click. Here they all are...in one window. Looking around this department, and the Hockey Tech department you get a feel for the cutting edge technology that's out there in the sports world. You find yourself saying, "Of COURSE they have this kind of stuff."

The plan from this point in the Hockey Tech department is to integrate these systems into a fast, efficient tool to give Murray every advantage possible.

As White says, of course they have that, but its pretty cool to hear about it all the same.

 

[vcv]

As long as they don't try to play it like they weren't allowed, I don't really care. In fact, I'd rather they not have been there. I'm sure it would have just led to a negative whiny article anyway.

 

[Crazy Tasty]

I'm sure White had to sign an NDA/CDA and was happy to.
TBN however wouldn't think about signing an NDA or being told what they could or couldn't film or write about.

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

If TBN refused based on a NDA/CDA it just shows that they don't actually care about having a knowledge base to assist in coverage, just being able to have details to spin into stupid drama. Right on par.

 

[CrankyJay]

Pathetic

 

[CrankyJay]

I found this part to be pretty cool



As White says, of course they have that, but its pretty cool to hear about it all the same.

Impressive, thanks for sharing.

 

[Mit Yarrum]

Even if they can't report on everything they see, it's an inside look at the organization that they can use as context in their articles. And just maybe it could help with their strained relationship, which in turn help their readers.

It's pretty clear what happened here IMO. TBN has no interest in fair or accurate articles. Gotta push that agenda to the half-wits calling the whiner line and still buying rags like TBN.

Kudos to Jeremy White here. He thought to ask, and we got a nice look out of it.

 

[Chad Thundercock]

Meh, I don't blame TBN on this one.

You're naive if you think the Sabres organeyezation would give important info about players with the media and cameras there. They gave Jeremy access until noon, before they actually did stuff beyond pick up the local kid off waivers that everyone expected. And probably mentioned whatever that one player is for lolz.

The media got to play pretend GM, and the Sabres just gave 'inside info' that this staff knows what they're doing and have fancy toys.