Conflicting Reports on Brady Retirement

[PGage]

We are seeing an interesting case study in journalism today on a high profile but low stakes story. ESPN, citing anonymous sources, reported that Tom Brady is retiring, and multiple outlets picked it up and ran with it. The AP is now reporting that Brady has called the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to say he is far from making up his mind. I have seen a Tweet where an ESPN reporter says Brady is retiring, but has not made up his mind about when to announce.

It looks like Brady is retiring, and someone close to him spilled the beans too soon, and now they are trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube so Brady can make his own dramatic announcement.

 It’s not really a big deal either way, but it illustrates the danger of basing big stories on anonymous sources. ESPN did use the plural, so I assume there was more than one. I think there is a place for anonymous sourcing, but in the days when news organizations cared about their credibility and reputation for accuracy, they would have probably waited longer, not quicker to report if relying on anonymous sources to get additional confirmation. 

https://apnews.com/article/tom-brady-retirement-reports-8ec48cdfdcc5f0dd4650b0572dd15252

--

Sent from Gmail Mobile

[Adam Bowie]

Very entertaining to think that this has completely screwed up some carefully orchestrated announcement via a high-profile interview that is trailed in advance and is ratings gold for whichever channel was down to get the exclusive.

In other news, in the UK, ITV's lead newscaster is called Tom Bradby - with an extra 'B'. Think the equivalent of Lester Holt. He also writes thrillers in his spare time. He's enjoying getting quite a lot of misdirected Tweets this evening: https://twitter.com/tombradby/status/1487564502929448978

Adam

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tvornottv+...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKGtkYJFR49_attJ1BLHynYy%2BiWLkc71%3Dvtac08-0RaWvZs8Tg%40mail.gmail.com.

[PGage]

That’s hilarious. Now I like to think a couple of Brits tipped ESPN that Bradby was retiring…

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAD_sJGDhggtAXEyAo3M34Z4q6dYeUCZ8tvP2nyhhGEH_jn6pPA%40mail.gmail.com.

[two...@gmail.com]

From reading the ESPN story the anonymous sources were part of the Tampa Bay organization. My take is that the Bucs want to start planning their future and they don’t want to be stuck in a holding pattern waiting for Brady to announce his retirement. In their post-season discussion they asked Brady to announce the retirement. He wasn’t planning to announce, whether it was to get maximum attention after the Super Bowl, or if he really was planning on coming back. So some front office people talked to ESPN in order to force his hand. If he decides he does want to continue playing it will have to be with another team.

On Jan 29, 2022, at 6:24 PM, PGage <pga...@gmail.com> wrote:

We are seeing an interesting case study in journalism today on a high profile but low stakes story. ESPN, citing anonymous sources, reported that Tom Brady is retiring, and multiple outlets picked it up and ran with it. The AP is now reporting that Brady has called the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to say he is far from making up his mind. I have seen a Tweet where an ESPN reporter says Brady is retiring, but has not made up his mind about when to announce.

--

[brugdr]

I thought this was just insurance that people kept talking football in spite of tomorrow's games probably being a letdown compared to last weekend.  But I'm far from an expert.

David

Sent on my Virgin Mobile Samsung Galaxy S7.

-------- Original message --------

From: Adam Bowie <ad...@adambowie.co.uk>

Date: 1/29/22 15:33 (GMT-08:00)

To: tvornottv <tvor...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: Re: [TV orNotTV] Conflicting Reports on Brady Retirement

Very entertaining to think that this has completely screwed up some carefully orchestrated announcement via a high-profile interview that is trailed in advance and is ratings gold for whichever channel was down to get the exclusive.

In other news, in the UK, ITV's lead newscaster is called Tom Bradby - with an extra 'B'. Think the equivalent of Lester Holt. He also writes thrillers in his spare time. He's enjoying getting quite a lot of misdirected Tweets this evening: https://twitter.com/tombradby/status/1487564502929448978

Adam

On Sat, Jan 29, 2022 at 11:24 PM PGage <pga...@gmail.com> wrote:

We are seeing an interesting case study in journalism today on a high profile but low stakes story. ESPN, citing anonymous sources, reported that Tom Brady is retiring, and multiple outlets picked it up and ran with it. The AP is now reporting that Brady has called the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to say he is far from making up his mind. I have seen a Tweet where an ESPN reporter says Brady is retiring, but has not made up his mind about when to announce.

It looks like Brady is retiring, and someone close to him spilled the beans too soon, and now they are trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube so Brady can make his own dramatic announcement.

 It’s not really a big deal either way, but it illustrates the danger of basing big stories on anonymous sources. ESPN did use the plural, so I assume there was more than one. I think there is a place for anonymous sourcing, but in the days when news organizations cared about their credibility and reputation for accuracy, they would have probably waited longer, not quicker to report if relying on anonymous sources to get additional confirmation. 

https://apnews.com/article/tom-brady-retirement-reports-8ec48cdfdcc5f0dd4650b0572dd15252

--

Sent from Gmail Mobile

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Group s "TVorNotTV" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tvornottv+...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKGtkYJFR49_attJ1BLHynYy%2BiWLkc71%3Dvtac08-0RaWvZs8Tg%40mail.gmail.com.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tvornottv+...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAD_sJGDhggtAXEyAo3M34Z4q6dYeUCZ8tvP2nyhhGEH_jn6pPA%40mail.gmail.com.

[PGage]

If you are right (and it’s plausible, though why did the Tom Brady site initially post a “Thank you Fans for all the love”- type tweet?) it illustrates another danger with relying on anonymous sources without adequate investigation: The sources may be manipulating you fir their own self interest. And if this is what happened, ESPN should not be citing it with pride as justification for their reporting today. They should have at the least reported something like “sources close to the Bucs are saying…”. And if the sources told them Brady had informed the team he was retiring,  when in fact he had nit, and the Bucs were leaking just to force his hand, then they lied to ESPN, and probably should get burned.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/E721F548-21EA-417A-AF79-02453ECBC22D%40gmail.com.

[JW]

" a high profile but low stakes story"

That's an apt description of all this.

ESPN's Schefter, like a few other reporters, specializes in breaking NFL news -- signings, trades, retirements -- and presumably has a nice network of sources whom he's come to trust. So if one of the people who's served him well before tells him "Brady's retiring," and another confirms it, there's no good reason not to run with the story and scoop the competition.

If it then turns out that the principals (Brady and the Buccaneers) aren't ready to go public, whether it's because no decision has actually been made or the timing is just inconvenient, they can issue non-denial denials. But I expect that the original report was based on solid journalism, and if turns out to be wrong, Schefter (and Darlington) and ESPN will live with it.