More Professionalism by Traditional Print Media
by J.J. from Kansas on Nov 11, 2010 7:30 AM CST
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PrintTyler over at The Triple Deke beat me to this by eight hours because he never sleeps, but just in case you haven't seen this yet, Robert Tychkowski of the Edmonton Sun wrote the introduction to his Oilers/Red Wings preview for tonight as such:
DETROIT — Welcome to Detroit, where the forecast, as always, is muggy, with a chance of murder.
When you’re trying to breathe a little life back into your year, this is not the place to visit. And not just because they use more white chalk at crime scenes than they ever did in the schools.
The article goes from there to actually talk about hockey and how the Wings are better than the Oilers, as though that has been in question for a while now. I won't link the whole article because site traffic their way benefits them whether their article is fantastic, like what Justin Bourne does or absolute garbage like this tripe, but feel free to drop Robert a line at robert.tychkowski@sunmedia.ca and let him know what you think about the level of professionalism and class he chose to exhibit with this piece of writing.
No threats, please.
[Classy Update: Andy from Wings blog Fight Night at the Joe got a response from him. Ooh, he's a defiant one.]
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Wow
There are no words to describe how disappointing that is to see from a “professional” journalist. That’s the kind of lame joke I expect to see from an opposing blog, not a beat writer from the other team. I’m not even from Detroit but this offends me. Rest assured that I will be emailing Bobby and letting him know what I think about his “reporting”.
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His words are
pure desperation to entertain fans of worthless hockey team…. There is no hockey to talk about with that franchise. Hes a stain on society.
Funny thing is, look at the ‘97, ’98, ’02, and ’08 championships for the Wings. Look at the ’04 championship for the Pistons and the World Series in ’06. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t remember hearing ANYTHING about riots or anything that happened afterwards. Just good clean fun. That cannot be said about many other cities recently. Funny how whenever people want to trash talk with the Red Wings, they can’t find anything bad about the hockey team so they go after the city to make themselves feel better. Good one. So the city had crime issues in like the ‘80s, how is that relevant now?? Now I don’t live in Detroit, but how is the crime and economics of a city relevant in a hockey discussion. Well, it just isn’t… UNLESS you can’t say anything bad about their hockey team. Then it becomes a huge issue. In reality facing ridicule of the city just goes to show how great the hockey team is and how pissed off and jealous everyone else is of them. Feels good to know that our hockey team is the envy of the entire league. Of course they will all deny this but we all know the motives behind a bully. Unhappy with themselves so they take it out on the people they want to be. Simple psychology. But, I will cut these people some slack… because in their mind it’s the only way to get a victory against the Red Machine. There’s only one real relevant rebuttal, and that’s left on the ice.
exactly...
remember all the coverage the Los Angeles riots celebrations after they won the NBA championship last year…yeah if that would have happened in Detroit, it would have been news on every outlet in this country, “same old Detroit”….its bull shit
by HockeyGuy9125 on Nov 11, 2010 9:11 AM CST up reply actions
Update
I commented on the article at the Sun website about 45 minutes ago; there were eight or nine other comments before mine, each one of them responding to Tychkowski’s opening gambit. And now - poof! - they’ve all been deleted. How about that?
So, in the interest of “you can’t do that to me”, herewith my response to Tychkowski:
Did that have anything to do with hockey? Did it show any class or professionalism at all? You’re a journalist for a genuine newspaper, not a sixth-grader trashtalking at recess. If you want to keep any kind of intelligent readership, I suggest you rethink your approach.
Whut in the ever-lovin' blue-eyed worl' is a-goin' on?
Thank you for reposting that here. I remember reading that one before he deleted all of the comments.
Typical newspaper website response to negative reaction when they put up a shitty article. They delete all of the comments and hope that things like this just get forgotten about and swept under the rug.
Say what you will about blogs and some of the things we all say about one another from time-to-time, but few of the good ones and almost none of the most popular ones delete comments from dissenting opinions. Around here, you have to get pretty belligerent to get a comment wiped. Nobody is as mean as the commenters at puck daddy and they certainly don’t delete dissenting opinions. Paul Kukla at his empire will rarely delete a comment and will always let the person know with an email why their comment was erased.
by J.J. from Kansas on Nov 11, 2010 8:49 AM CST up reply actions
Update to the update
I checked back in and all of the comments are showing now when I clicked on the “comments” tab of the article.
by J.J. from Kansas on Nov 11, 2010 9:15 AM CST up reply actions
Well done
I saw some of the comments posted earlier, and only one was anti-Wings (and it was something about Pronger’s wife). You wonder why the newspaper is a dying industry when they can’t handle a little negative feedback to something one of their journalists wrote. Like JJ said, we may get some dissenting opinions here, and other blogs get it as well, but we keep it there unless it crosses the line in terms of decency or inflammatory remarks.
Of course, if I couldn’t handle someone criticizing me and disagreeing with me, I never would have gotten married.
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Wow
I should really move to Edmonton, the land that is apparently free from murder and crime.
Maybe he’s just upset because no good player ever will stay in Edmonton because the city is so bland, while superstars take pay cuts to play in Detroit?
Comments are back up at the site
This made me laugh:
Tim
November 11th 2010, 7:54am
You bring up some good points. What makes Detroit’s recent run of success all the more impressive is the fact that we generally have 2-3 players murdered a year, and yet still manage to win with the rag-tag group of players who are desperate enough to live in the perpetually dark and violence filled cespool known as Detroit.
Tim, whoever you are, bravo
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I've rec'd your comment here
That was impressive. I actually laughed when I read that.
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Thanks man
I don’t like people trashing the D or Mich as a whole, we’ve got enough problems.
Whipping the Oil tonight will be extra nice tonight though
Nice. :)
I pointed out in an email that Edmonton has it’s problems too. Apparently downtown Edmonton is currently overrun with hordes of drug-addicted hobos, so the city MUST fund a Brand New Arena Downtown to Revitalize the city and make Edmonton a “World Class City.”
Random Ramblings from a Somewhat Scattered Mind
"It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time." --Sir Winston Churchill (1874 – 1965)
by Baroque on Nov 11, 2010 9:39 AM CST via mobile up reply actions
Email not valid
Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:
Technical details of permanent failure:
Google tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the recipient domain. We recommend contacting the other email provider for further information about the cause of this error. The error that the other server returned was: 550 550 Invalid recipient <tychkowski@sunmedia.ca> (#5.1.1) (state 14).
So either that is the wrong e-mail for him or they’ve shut down his email.
It’s robert.tychkowski@sunmedia.ca
Gotta get the first name and the dot there. Keep trying to send though. If that doesn’t work, there are other contacts at sunmedia.ca who need to hear that this is not acceptable writing.
by J.J. from Kansas on Nov 11, 2010 9:17 AM CST up reply actions
According to my friends in Canada
Edmonton has a major problem with crystal meth. Classy stayin’ classy.
Letter I wrote to Mr. Tychkowski
Mr. Tychkowski,
As being a resident of the great city of Detroit, I was deeply offended by the non-professional manner in which you wrote your article while following the Edmonton Oilers during their visit against our Red Wings. The people of Detroit are hard working individuals in the middle to low class, struggling to get by because of a recession that has clearly affected our way of living. To suggest otherwise that we are nothing but murders and uneducated men and women is false, rude, arrogant and low. How dare you attack a city when it is on it’s knees. You haven’t the slightest idea what it is like to walk in our shoes each day. And yes, I do walk these streets, unafraid. The murder rate has gone significantly down since the 80s and 90s, but you chose to point that out. You are writing about hockey, sir. Start remembering that. I demand an apology to our city and it’s people.
Granted...
not as funny as a regular post, but still what I feel is necessary. After I sent it, I realized i should’ve used more curse words about Edmonton and it’s drug-addicted downtown area…sigh.
The piece doesn’t have to be biting satire to be good and I thought what you wrote here was very well-done. Thank you for sharing it.
by J.J. from Kansas on Nov 11, 2010 10:51 AM CST up reply actions
Comments to the Author and the Editor
Mr. Tychkowski and Mr. Rodrigues,
Congratulations to you and your news paper for coming up with a way to get all of Detroit to click on your website, I am sure that your advertisers will be thrilled with the increased web traffic. It truly was a great idea. Unfortunately, the way you increased your number of visitors is despicable. I found the opening of your article reprehensible. You have painted the City of Detroit with such a broad brush, insinuating that if you come to the City you should fear for your life; an insinuation that is incorrect. As a Canadian, who lives in Windsor, Ontario and works in the heart of Detroit, I think you should actually visit a City before you criticize a City. Yes indeed Detroit has its fair share of problems like every major City in North America. Unfortunately, the real problem facing Detroit is people perpetuating the myth that that City is not safe; when indeed it is. Much like Edmonton, who in 2008 had the third highest rate of Homicide in Canada, Detroit has homicides, and in 2009 they had 361 one of them according to FBI statistics. I am not saying they don’t have a problem because clearly they do, but when I walk in downtown Detroit I feel safe. When I go to the worst areas of Detroit would I feel safe, no. The way we avoid situations like that is not going into gang neighbourhoods. Would you wonder around the worst areas of Edmonton? I will assume no. We can all spin Data the way we want to spin it, if we want to make Edmonton look like a crime infested City we can! Let’s keep sports to sports. If you want to write an article on Detroit than do some research, come to the City and see what it has to offer but don’t spit in its face without coming here.
Detroit has a lot to offer its visitors, from Culture to Sports to fabulous food.
Come to Detroit and give it a chance.
Sincerely,
by Windsor 2000 on Nov 11, 2010 10:52 AM CST reply actions 5 recs
I couldn’t resist.
Dear Mr. Tychowski,
I’d like to thank you for the kind words in your preview of tonight’s Detroit/Edmonton game. Not only have you further lowered the level expected from ‘professional’ journalism in today’s world, you have shown that true journalists (currently degraded by the ‘professional’ media as ‘bloggers’) have far more journalistic integrity than your average (I will lump you in there only because the writers in Nashville are consistently horrible, such as labeling Datsyuk an offenseless defenseman) writer does in modern times.
Not only did you resort to insulting a down-on-its-luck town using a classless quip about a murder rate that is improving with each year, you failed to recognize that your own city, Edmonton, has the third highest murder rate in Canada (compared to Detroit being #2 in the US). I will give you that it is still far below Detroit, but compared to the rest of either country, you have no room to boast.
Regardless, I thank you for the words of encouragement for tonight’s game. When your opponent’s beat writer can come up with no better opening that to degrade the city of the opponent, it makes me realize that our team must be next to perfect. Decent beat writers may call out a player on the opposing team or comment on the death glare from Babcock or even go the classy route and talk about the history of the opposition. The Wings must not have much to worry about from your last place, 38% win Oilers who are so desperate to get people in their arena that they refuse to acknowledge what the rest of the educated hockey world has and send their top pick back to juniors.
While you continue to deprive your reading audience of credible hockey knowledge in favor of a tired and decades old slam, fans in Detroit will continue to watch our team walk over our opponents on the way to the Finals. While you obviously cannot be fined like the Maloofs were for their arrogance, you should still be ashamed that you had to start off any article by slamming a city instead of a team. I look forward to your report tomorrow morning about the obesity rates, the robbery rates, and just how overrun the city seems where the article about your Oilers being walked over by their opponent should have been.
Enjoy tonight’s game,
Josh Janusch
by Apocalyptic0n3 on Nov 11, 2010 11:06 AM CST reply actions 1 recs
My letter
Mr. Tychkowski,
I am a resident of suburban Detroit, and I can’t applaud you enough for having the creativity of an oil well and using an overplayed hit on the city of Detroit instead of focusing your efforts on your own team. It’s not like we’ve never heard this before. You aren’t the first, you won’t be the last. Most importantly, you shouldn’t be proud of yourself for writing that bit. As a journalism student at Michigan State University, I am ashamed that an employed writer for a real, reputable newspaper would resort to such bush-league material. I attend about half of Wings home games each year, as well as numerous Tigers and Lions games, and walk the streets without fear. As long as you’re not stupid enough to venture outside the major areas like the arena districts and Woodward Avenue and the riverfront (maybe that’s your problem right there), one should not feel threatened in any way. The school system is admittedly the biggest problem in the city. But is it really necessary to take a shot at the youth of the city for something that is no fault of their own? That’s classy. Our city is in shambles. But you know what? I love it. There are only a couple places in the U.S. I would rather live. And I definitely wouldn’t want to live in the great plains of Alberta where the only excitement (especially now with the way your team is playing) is knocking over some livestock. I wish your team the best of luck tonight. On second thought, screw it. I hope Babcock posts your opening two paragraphs in big bold letters on a board in the locker room and the Wings come out and repeatedly stomp on your teams face. I can only hope that your use of “murder” was foreshadowing for tonight’s match, but with the kind of hack journalism that ensued, I shouldn’t be so naive. I wish that you have continuing success as a writer, and perhaps that you take a few ethics classes.
Cheers,
Adam
Don't forget about me!
Thought I would put in my two cents. For what it’s worth.
-—————
Mr. Tychkowski,
I am writing you in reference to your recent article about the upcoming
Detroit v. Edmonton hockey game. It seems, in the first two paragraphs of
the article, that you take a couple of lowly jabs at the city of Detroit.
By the backlash I have been reading, you’ve probably already heard most of
what’s on my mind from several other Detroit natives, and Red Wing fans.
I was born in Detroit, and though I’ve lived in Minnesota for the past 13
years, am very proud of that fact. So a city is struggling—is that a
surprise given the current global economy and the basis of what Detroit’s
local economy was—American auto manufacturing? There is no denying that
Detroit isn’t in great shape currently, but it is full of good people who
are trying to change that. Side note: Would you really feel safe walking
down the bad parts of ANY big city? Whether it be Detroit, Edmonton, New
York, Chicago, or Minneapolis, there are places that are always unsafe.
Go yell about how amazing and safe Edmonton is at 2:00 AM with a couple
hundred dollars taped to your face in some of the shadier districts, and
see how much different Edmonton is than any other major city.
If you couldn’t tell by the former parts of my email, I am quite
disappointed in your article. It is a shame that someone can be
considered a ‘professional’, and yet have the gall to write with the
mannerisms and demeanor of a high school sports blogger. You reflect
poorly on yourself, and the Edmonton Sun, sir. And I hope you are ashamed
of your “professional,” asinine actions.
Sincerely,
[…]
As an aspiring journalist
I am embarrassed. No professionalism or thought went into that article at all.
Back off man, I'm a scientist
SB Nation Detroit --SB Nation's regional hub for all your Detroit sporting needs
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what's most despicable is...
he totally butchered that 40 Year Old Virgin quote. It’s, “Dark and cloudy, with chance of drive-by.” C’mon Robert Techcowardski!
My comment on the article
As student at Central Michigan University currently studying journalism, I am shocked and disappointed in you Mr. Tychkowski. You have clearly forgotten EVERYTHING journalists are taught. I understand the need for a catchy and thoughtful lead to a story, but making a social comment on a city’s crime rate and public school system has no place in a HOCKEY preview. If you want to voice your opinions about the city of Detroit, fine. Do it in a column or an investigative piece. Next time, leave the commentary to the opinion page and leave it out of the sports section.
Back off man, I'm a scientist
SB Nation Detroit --SB Nation's regional hub for all your Detroit sporting needs
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by Ryan Weiss on Nov 11, 2010 3:13 PM CST reply actions 1 recs
Rec'd
I think that’s one of the absolutely most bothersome parts (and one of the best points you made in your writeup over at the mother SB Nation Detroit section). If I’m going into what I know is an editorial, I can give the guy a lot more leeway about the kind of crap he writes, but this is a damned game preview and he has no better way to tie into the fact that the Wings are a dangerous team to play than by digging into that well? Just a low-blow. I’m sincerely hoping to hear back from the Edmonton Sun or get some sort of response from them either apologizing or at least defiantly backing the guy. I could at least respect either of those responses.
by J.J. from Kansas on Nov 11, 2010 3:20 PM CST up reply actions
Interesting
According to the FREEP, this article actually lead to a confrontation between Mickey Redmond and Mr. Bourne between periods:
Now, should we suggest something about where the Edmonton Sun don’t shine?
Or cut the guy a break and assume he came in from the prairie and wandered onto the set of “Detroit 1-8-7”?
Of course, that’s not the type of thing that sits well with Detroiters.
And Fox Sports Detroit’s Mickey Redmond, standing up for the city, reportedly informed the writer of that with a between-periods chat Thursday night.
From Steve Schrader at the FREEP.
When a 62 year old transplant from Canada to the City of Detroit stands up for his new home, it means even more in my book. God bless him.
by Big Z in Orlando on Nov 12, 2010 12:41 PM CST reply actions
And of course
I didn’t see the front page post about this already. Oops.
by Big Z in Orlando on Nov 12, 2010 12:59 PM CST up reply actions
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