General journalist question

[BryceC]

I don't doubt any of the events in the article, HOWEVER, whoever was quoted clearly had an axe to grind. My only problem with it is the assertion that these things caused Fred to leave or caused him to have a troubled relationship with Pollard. That is absolutely not verifiable and is borderline tabloid journalism.

 

[Cyclonepride]

As others have said, it is about your body of work, and your reputation is everything as a journalist. Go off the deep end very often, and your future articles and readership will suffer.

Hines has been very good in the past, so I'm giving him some leeway even though I see this as overly sensational and unbalanced.

 

[roundball]

As others have said, it is about your body of work, and your reputation is everything as a journalist. Go off the deep end very often, and your future articles and readership will suffer.

Hines has been very good in the past, so I'm giving him some leeway even though I see this as overly sensational and unbalanced.

Doing game writeups and puff-pieces, which is basically all he did in the past, is a lot different than this sad attempt at investigative journalism. Not sure why Hines looked in the mirror one day and saw Bob Woodward, but man...this is a textbook case of how not to do it.

 

[Wesley]

Sure. Reputation involves both the big name on the front page and the reporter.

Ames Tribune and Travis Hines = good (until today)

Des Moines Register and Randy Peterson = bad (always)

...until today.

 

[BCClone]

Must be backwards day today.

 

[Doc]

3 years ago I said Fred was in Minny actually having contract negotiations with the University. Wasn't gone, but just discussed the possibility of going there.

I was called a non-ISU fan, a troll, people demanded I be permabanned, and, of course, called a "******," because my source was anonymous because I wanted that source to A) not get in trouble B) keep giving me information about the program

3 years later, I still get information from the source, and, of course, turns out they were right, as Fred has said that he DID indeed talk to another school (Minnesota) just prior to his contract extension.

And said source has still been great but I've learned not to post anything on this site because some posters are complete jackholes.

I think you gave it a 75% chance Fred was a Gopher. Maybe that was your problem.

 

[bosco]

Source, "We had to sleep in the ballroom in the hotel because the AD was too cheap to pay for the extra time at the hotel. I think Fred was upset by this and that's the reason why he left to the Bulls"

+

Another source, "It's True that the team had to kill 5 hours in Hawaii since they checked out At 12 and their flight departed at 6."

=

Expose'

 

[im4cyclones]

If conference realignment taught me anything, it was that journalism is dead. No matter the outfit, there is little difference between a blog and a newspaper.

 

[CapnCy]

If conference realignment taught me anything, it was that journalism is dead. No matter the outfit, there is little difference between a blog and a newspaper.

Agreed. Heck, the worlds are blurred all over. Is KXNO radio journalism or entertainment? Journalism is confusing as you have CW working for this site...and a radio station...he hangs out with Blum...who also works for ISU as a broadcaster...and writes on this site...and all the media seem to be chummy..where are the lines? It IS confusing. Obviously these folks have crossover of information in their roles.

 

[Gonzo]

Anonymous sources never used to be acceptable. Then they slowly were accepted. Now it's the norm and obviously being abused beyond belief. They've turned into a crutch. Years ago you'd have to double or even triple source your information. Now all you need to do is find some disgruntled gomer with a few drinks in him to speak as a source to remain nameless, and you can run with it. Pathetic.

Media and journalism today is so ******* lazy, makes me want to puke.

 

[carvers4math]

Agreed. Heck, the worlds are blurred all over. Is KXNO radio journalism or entertainment?

Neither.

 

[zmanzbo]

Anonymous sources never used to be acceptable. Then they slowly were accepted. Now it's the norm and obviously being abused beyond belief. They've turned into a crutch. Years ago you'd have to double or even triple source your information. Now all you need to do is find some disgruntled gomer with a few drinks in him to speak as a source to remain nameless, and you can run with it. Pathetic.

Media and journalism today is so ******* lazy, makes me want to puke.

So true.

 

[Cyclonepride]

Doing game writeups and puff-pieces, which is basically all he did in the past, is a lot different than this sad attempt at investigative journalism. Not sure why Hines looked in the mirror one day and saw Bob Woodward, but man...this is a textbook case of how not to do it.

I'm not saying it's award winning journalism, but there's more to his reputation than that. He's been pretty reliable in reporting ISU news about recruiting. At least not throwing out random rumors that are found to be way off base.

 

[rholtgraves]

CW said on his radio show keeping sources anonymous is key part of being a journalist.

My question is this: if there is no authenticity in articles and no way to verify statements how is journalism any different than tabloids? Maybe my "academic mind" doesn't understand it but if something is not verifiable to the source then it's not worth anything.

Certainly today's issue isn't life or death but what if Hines wanted to post lies for whatever reason. What's to stop a journalist from claiming a lie from an anonymous source and then claiming journalistic integrity by not naming a source? How do institutions combat that?

What if he didn't want to write a lie so he has a "source" tell him a lie and then say "well the source lied, not me".

Because he can be sued and the paper sued. I mean come on people. Hines isn't making anything up.

 

[Gossamer]

Anonymous sources never used to be acceptable. Then they slowly were accepted. Now it's the norm and obviously being abused beyond belief. They've turned into a crutch. Years ago you'd have to double or even triple source your information. Now all you need to do is find some disgruntled gomer with a few drinks in him to speak as a source to remain nameless, and you can run with it. Pathetic.

Media and journalism today is so ******* lazy, makes me want to puke.

I'll bet Nixon would disagree if he were alive. That was 40+ years ago or so...so your comment about "never used to be acceptable" doesn't really hold water. It got a president impeached.

 

[swiacy]

My take is that a couple low level minions whether it be coaching staff or ath. dept. are sources for Hines and they have harped about JP's chintzy ways over the years to Hines in the back doors or bars that they frequent to pass on info. My bigger question is what is Hines' motivation (and his superiors') to run the "story" at this point in time. Looks to me like they are trying to increase circulation because the bottom line of the article is this: AD is CHEAP. Watches all expenses. Takes opportunities to spin positive about Ath. Dept. successes which sometimes needs a fact check.

I repeat, I wonder what the real motive as to why this article was thrown out there.

 

[Gossamer]

My take is that a couple low level minions whether it be coaching staff or ath. dept. are sources for Hines and they have harped about JP's chintzy ways over the years to Hines in the back doors or bars that they frequent to pass on info. My bigger question is what is Hines' motivation (and his superiors') to run the "story" at this point in time. Looks to me like they are trying to increase circulation because the bottom line of the article is this: AD is CHEAP. Watches all expenses. Takes opportunities to spin positive about Ath. Dept. successes which sometimes needs a fact check.

I repeat, I wonder what the real motive as to why this article was thrown out there.

Why can't it just be that they had what they felt was a solid story and published it? If you think one article that people think is crappy is going to increase circulation or that one story has such a dramatic impact on revenue, you don't know much about newspaper/media.

Pointedly, I think the "real motive" of this article was that a journalist had what he felt was a credible story, the editor did his work to justify its publication and it was released.

We really live in a world where there apparently has to be some clandestine or covert reasoning for all that happens.

 

[Yellow Snow]

Because he can be sued and the paper sued. I mean come on people. Hines isn't making anything up.

I don't think he is making anything up either. I also believe that he was just reporting what he was told by his sources. The problem is the fact that he wasn't actually given information from his sources that was the whole story.

For example... the hotel room. Yes - it is a fact that if a player or coach wanted to take a nap after noon on checkout day they would have had to sleep in the hotel ballroom on their luggage. That is true. It is also a fact that the departing flight left at 6 pm. No mention of that at all. That changes the "travesty" of the situation. The story reads as if Iowa State had these guys sleeping overnight in the freaking hotel lobby.

Another... the free ticket scandal. Fact... assistant coaches used to get totally free tickets (not taxed). Now they have to pay the taxes on their tickets (due to the IRS not Jamie). So the source was right - they technically do have to pay (at least something) for their tickets now. The story made it sound like the assistants now have to pony up full season ticket prices for seats. There was NO mention of only paying the taxes on them.

Another... the funding of family members on the trip to San Antonio. It is true that the AD payed for some of it's administrators families for the trip and the assistants had to foot the bill for theirs. That is in an open records request. Travis wasn't lying. The problem is that there is no mention of the fact that the coaches got the trip to Hawaii paid for and most AD personnel that went to San Antonio didn't even go to Hawaii. It was an "either/or" choice that Fred agreed to.

Travis is certainly correct saying that he stands by his story. He didn't lie about anything. It seems that there was some serious intentional misleading going on, either by his sources or Travis himself.

 

[Wesley]

My take is that a couple low level minions whether it be coaching staff or ath. dept. are sources for Hines and they have harped about JP's chintzy ways over the years to Hines in the back doors or bars that they frequent to pass on info. My bigger question is what is Hines' motivation (and his superiors') to run the "story" at this point in time. Looks to me like they are trying to increase circulation because the bottom line of the article is this: AD is CHEAP. Watches all expenses. Takes opportunities to spin positive about Ath. Dept. successes which sometimes needs a fact check.

I repeat, I wonder what the real motive as to why this article was thrown out there.

Thought previous in the know people in this thread said donors have a bone to pick with JP.

 

[Cyhart]

OP mentions tabloid. That's exactly what Hines' article was. Since the underlying premise is untrue (Fred left because of Jaime and his administration) the article is nothing more than a gossip column.