Gatorubet;1937526; said:
How about you provid a link that shows how the Gainesville press and the Florida Journalism School Woodward wanna-be's publication, The Independent Florida Alligator*, are deficient in meeting standards of reporting and investigative journalism. Ya know - while we're being open-minded about this.
And I like your thought process. An absence of my providing proof of a recent local feeding frenzy like you are currently experiencing supports Josh's statement that our press is complicit in allowing violations to remain hidden rather than bite the hand that feeds it... Because the highly publicized fall of a college football icon like Jim Tressel is a story that happens so often in Gainesville that the local press should have numerous similar examples to draw from.
Can we agree then Steve, that the absence of a local Columbus feeding frenzy during the first ten years of Tressel's career indicates that the local Columbus press covered up Buckeye wrong-doing by virtue of non-reporting and a failure to investigate rather than bite the hand that feeds it?
No? It only works one way? Got it.
*
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Independent_Florida_Alligator
Let me try to color inside the lines more explicitly, okay. There has been a rash of arrests of Florida football players during the last decade that certainly must be among the highest of any university in the country, ever. Now, an interesting phenomena is that they have something like a 70% chance of not being prosecuted.
It's really a very simple request that I make. You make that point that there is no evidence that the press in Gainesville is any less aggressive than the press in Columbus. It's really a rather explicit point you make...a point that concerns coverage of Florida football.
Who said anything about a local coach falling like Jim Tressel? Why do you raise that issue, if not to erect the straw man that you build?
Having made the claim of an equally aggressive media, it should be relatively easy for you to show one instance--just one--where the Florida media filed freedom on information requests and climbed in with both boots on and began to visit players, coaches and perhaps law enforcement at their homes.
My friend, I'm not busting your chops. But let's be clear that the burden of proof lies--with you. You are the one who claims that there "zero evidence" to suggest that a lack of reporting can be alleged. Notwithstanding the nod to impossibility, you are the one who alleges no difference in coverage and that the local media aren't burying stories.
As for the strawman you build, it is understandable that you weren't around here very long. Actually, the Columbus media feeding frenzy has never stopped, just varied in intensity. Prior to the national championship, there was nonstop speculation about drunk driving arrests and the like. The problem paled when compared to Florida, Iowa, or Penn State today, but it only ended with the national championship. That was followed by nearly two years of MoC and the aftermath. Just find the threads on BP. There was a breather after Ohio State was exonerated of the MoC allegations, which he now admits were lies.
So, my point is very clear and I will await your answer with an open mind.
