A few words from NY Post Phil Mushnick

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post responded to an e-mail I sent him with questions about the Islanders coverage on Monday. Here is my e-mail and his response.
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Mr Mushnick,
I would like to ask you a few questions question regarding the Post and it's Hockey coverage of the New York Islanders with relation to your job as someone who covers the media.

You have told me in the past you remember the old days of the Islanders and gave me a few names of their players in the seventies, don't you have an obligation of someone who holds the media under the spotlight that you turn that same spotlight at your own editors and writers for not having a full time writer on the Islanders beat at the New York Post considering Mr Everson reports full time on the Devils and Jay Greenberg is allowed to add occasional Ranger coverage?

How come the sports editor at your paper cannot add a full time Islader blog to supplement coverage, it cannot be that expensive to add a blog page and update it after games to make up for small articles?

Do you feel an obligation to point out Larry Brooks is entitled to his opnion that the Islanders are not New York but in fact as a New York area team and entitled to the same media standards given to the East Rutherford New Jersey Giants and Jets considering you recall how much print space and backpages the Isles used to receive?

Isles if I recall correctly within the last two years have paid for backpage advertising in the Post.

I think the standard is very subjective at the Post regarding hockey as the person assigned the media beat don't you have an obligation to point this out in your space, even if it's at your own paper including what the real hockey ratings are and not what Barry Watkins Msg's media department has claimed earlier this season.

I want to thank you in advance if you take the time to respond but have to let you know up front I have a blog and will be printing my question and any response you provide word for word for my readers because my site holds the hockey media under the spotlight just as you do with other media.

Thank You
NYI Fan Central
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- Brother, if I were King of The Post a lot of things would be done differently. But I'm assigned to cover TV and radio. To that end, MSG does a rotten job covering the Isles, especially since it owns the rights to the team's telecasts. The Post's (lack of) coverage of the Isles is a financial (cost-cutting) decision. I happen to be an Islander fan. Bothers me, too.

Thanks - mushnick

NY Post double-standard on Isles

For openers apparently the PSAL beat is the sports editors preference for Dan Martin because Mike Puma covered Saturday's game while Mr Martin did coverage of a PSAL event.

This was after the Post sent no writer at all to Monday's home game against Philadelphia.

Earlier this year Ranger beat writer Larry Brooks poked fun at Radek Martinek in his column for Ryan Hollwig according to the player pulling at his stitches but when it involves his favorite team here is so offended he writes:

Finally, the faces and titles change but the low-grade environment in Ed Snider's Philadelphia never really does, witness the constant scoreboard video replays of Bully Steve Downie beating up on Fedor Tyutin last Saturday and suggest maybe the Rangers should simply play the "highlight" video of Colton Orr breaking Todd Fedoruk's face every five minutes whenever the Flyers come to the Garden?

NYI Fan Central Comments:
I guess Mr Brooks does not like it when things work both ways?

It get's even worse today with Jay Greenberg having the nerve here to list Chris Simon as immature and a psycho winger then calls Rick DiPietro cocky here with an untethered ego who dismisses good questions from reporters like they were pucks shot from
point-blank range.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Isles don't have anyone who cares about the club in the print media who will respond to this non-sense so I guess I will.

Can you imagine how quick Mr Brooks and Mr Dellapina would go after Greg Logan if he wrote that about Ranger players? We already saw them go after Howard Berger from Fan590 earlier this year.

A good hockey question from the New York Post? Sounds like a contradiction in terms from the beginning.

New York Hockey coverage at the Post and in general has never been at a lower point between the sports editors providing limited space combined with Larry Brooks and Jay Greenberg's subjective double-standards which has only served to hurt the exposure for hockey in the New York market. Sad how far Mr Greenberg has fallen since his days in St Louis and Philadelphia.

Mr Brooks made a career of covering the Isles with the glass half empty going back to being the beat writer in 1980 who would give them a fair share of accolades but never what they deserved for their accomplishments. He did lobby to get players in the Hall of Fame but for every positive thing there have been about five other things that were brutal.

The ink did not even dry for the Al Arbour night feature and Mr Brooks was already making a second feature on Charles Wang about Neil Smith the same day, even though at that time there was no updated report about his status just to write something negative about Mr Wang.

Even worse Mr Brooks got caught with a major mistake reporting Mike Bossy returned for the 25th anniversary in 2006 for money and had to issue a public retraction where he blamed everyone but himself.

As for the Islanders relationship with the Post why should Rick DiPietro or any New York Islander representative give any NY Post writer the time of day given how the Post covers this team much less someone like Jay Greenberg who never writes a favorable word about the Isles and only goes near the Coliseum for the Ranger angle or covers a game on very rare occasions?

The Post provides blanket Devils coverage of the games home and away and you expect Rick DiPietro to help you fill your quote book when you appear twice a year?

Maybe Rick DiPietro has no respect for how the post is covering our team and cannot even put a blog for the team in the paper but DiPietro is generally praised top to bottom from the media folks who speak to him and likely could care less what any newspaper writes as he always seems to make himself available regardless as does the organization as a whole.

Is it fair to speculate Dan Martin told Mr Greenberg this about DiPietro or he needed to put an Islander in there to replace Jason Blake who used to also get ripped in these Post player features? Never does a player or coach from our team make the list for doing something good despite how much Ted Nolan seems to go out of his way for everyone. Peter Laviolette also seemed willing to give his time to anyone and Steve Stirling always was classy and even went into NYC to appear on television after midnight when he was hired.

I'm still wondering why for the first game against Washington Dan Martin uses one of his limited paragrahps on game coverage to make issue of a few empty seats which even Chris Botta had some words for to make some point a game was not sold out which was.

I wonder if Mr Greenberg felt this way about Simon when he was a Ranger and getting suspended for a stick swing at Ruslan Fedotenko of the Lightning or jumping Dave Scatchard in a shoulder harness? He sure seemed mature with the kids in Winnipeg but why even consider that?

Post beatwriter Dan Martin's response

I sent an e-mail to Dan Martin of the New York Post regarding Islander coverage with some questions the other day.

I will reprint my e-mail and his response in full.

To: Dan.Martin
Subject: Islander Coverage

Mr Martin,
Perhaps you could answer a few questions for me?

Why is it the New York Islanders are receiving such a small amount of coverage in the Post (today's preview against Anaheim) while Mark Everson usually has space for full articles on days off and has full road Devils coverage. Several extra writers are brought in for Ranger coverage on off days.

Why is there no space for an Islander blogger at the Post given you or someone comes out to some of the home games, does it cost the editor that much in time and revenue to allow this to supplement coverage?

I intend to use your response in my blog for Islander fans to read so I hope you can respond and perhaps answer why since Evan Grossman left to work for NHL.com the drop in Islander coverage has decreased substantially unless Larry Brooks wants to rip on the club Sunday.

Thank You
New York Islander Fan Central
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I received Mr Martin's response this morning:

Hey, I'm not involved in the decision-making process when it comes to how our sports department covers teams, but I do know that when Evan left, his spot was not filled due to a variety of reasons, some of which I am not privy to. That means that we're a man short and I have to cover the team in addition to my other general assignment responsibilities. And while I don't know exactly why certain things are covered and others are not, the fact that the Islanders have largely struggled in recent years- while the Devils have not- is a factor. I understand your frustration as a fan, but the reality is that as long as the NHL's popularity is as low as it is now and the Isles don't have more success, I don't see things changing.

Finally, while I'm getting back to you as I usually do when fans take the time to
e-mail me, I'd rather you didn't post my response on your blog, but that's your call.

Thanks.
-Dan

NYI Fan Central Comments:
All due respect to Mr Martin's preference, however I'm not doing my blog with a partial focus on the media coverage to win a popularity contest but to get answers for our fans who spend money on the Post and see a small article buried at the back of the sports section and usually only for home games and ask questions.

I feel it's important for fans reading my blog to get the writers take why this team is being covered as it has been in the New York Post. I let him know up front I intended to blog with his response here and see no reason why this should not be printed when as fans we are looking for answers.

Which is why it is my call to print my e-mail and his response word for word.

What can I say about Mr Martin's response?
When I see a game preview that's two paragraphs for the New York Islanders I think we as fans are entitled to an explanation as to what's behind that decision. I have written countless times the writer reports on the team his editor tells him to cover and provides him the print/blog space. I'm not blaming Mr Martin for the lack of space given because it is not his decision.

Having written that Mr Martin did not answer to a Post blog to supplement Islander coverage and told us the Devils success in the standings is why long-time beat writer Mark Everson has dedicated Devils coverage and the Islanders do not.

I personally disagree with this and question how an Islander team that made the playoffs last season and have been to four of the last five playoffs never hired a full time replacement for Mr Grossman or at least provided space for a professional writer to blog on the team to supplement the coverage or has not had a small measure of success. Given the reports we have been told about increased attendance and television ratings close to two hundred percent higher I would think that is a good reason to allow a full time coverage and a blog in the Post.

I also think it's a fair point to make low Ranger national ratings here and a team that has trailed the Islanders most of the season until this week has not seen a cut in their coverage and neither have the Devils who the Islanders are 5-0 against and did lead them for a few months earlier.

I feel my questions were fair and so is this response.

Active day at NYI Fan Central

Busy day at NYI Fan Central today.

Usually I do not like to write that much about it as I experiment with the page and add things in on a trial basis but some things I did today I think our visitors would want to know about.

Here's a recap:

* E-mails were sent today offering NYI Fan Central to be carried by the New York Post and New York Times on their websites. If I get a response I will let everyone know what the folks at both publications told me. I offered to post the blog free or just link to their page. I'm not interested in money or even my name published. I just want to see a blog for the Islanders at these papers to increase the club's exposure.

It will cost these publications nothing and I will just add my pre and post game comments here to those sites. If they are not interested in this blog I suggested adding someone else's Islander blog.

* This blog may or may not have been added to the league's website called Kulak's corner who has a fantastic site. I contacted Paul Kukla last week and asked if he would like to have an Islander blog on his page because they do not seem to have any Islander blogs? I got a response saying he liked this blog a lot and was planning to add it to his site, however at the bottom of his response he told me there was a problem because the blog box has some site called Hockey Buzz as a sponsor that I think engages in rumors that he does not wish to associate with because of it's ownership. I just do not know anything about that site or is it my business and I'm not sure if this blog was added as of today.

* I did reply to Mr Kukla and thanked him for his kind words about this blog and made it clear NYI Fan Central has no affiliation with that website and does not engage in the breaking rumors or news. I'm not even sure what they do so I cannot even guess.

* I opened a New York Islander Center for the World Junior Championships today with links to the International Ice Hockey Federation, team USA and will be expanding on those links as the tournament date comes closer with more coverage just above the prospect center.

* I'm not too sure what a widget or gadget is but I added one for Michael Fornabaio's blog to the Sound Tigers section today as well as one for the NHL.com section. There may be a few repeats but I noticed the NHL feeder and gadget box each had some different content.

A few words: NY Post and bloggers.

Yankees, Mets. Giants, Jets. Knicks, Nets. Rangers, Islanders, Devils. For all the latest and greatest about New York-area sports, check out the New York Post.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
This is like the third time I have seen this ad and could not let it pass again without comment.

I know this is Chris Botta's department and runs along the lines with an earlier commercial on the Yankees telecast that was as incorrect as the ad above but who is the NY Post and it's sports editor trying to fool here with such a blatant lie about coverage of the New York Islanders in it's paper?

Evan Grossman left in season a year ago to work for the league and all Islander road and even home coverage came to a stop outside of a few blurbs from Dan Martin after some home games. The kicker here is Devils beat writer Mark Everson is with his club on the road for most games and of course Larry Brooks covers most road Ranger games and both not only have articles but off day coverage.

Meanwhile the Post left Martin home for training camp, he did not covered Islanders vs Rangers last week while Brooks did a Ranger centric article only and Martin's article after the Caps game made an AP summary look big by comparison. Of course Martin used his small space to question the attendance which even the club took exception to.

Opening night? Brooks and Everson had full page articles, Martin wrote two and a half small paragraphs among several sports stories he had to file as his Islander season preview and was not sent to Buffalo.

Which lead me to these articles about bloggers and the club getting exposure for allowing bloggers, the guided tour and somewhat restricted media access as Chris Botta said here as part of this being about the lack of coverage in the Times, Post and Daily News and the post-lockout culture for hockey in baseball's largest market.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
As I wrote earlier my blog is for me, the folks who wish to read it and to do something for the Islanders to help. Is about the hockey first and foremost as it's been for a good eight years on several of the sites I have owned or moderated.

I would never go sit with other fans in a special section to make myself part of the hockey story.

Best I could do is exactly what I do now. Watch or go to games, write about the hockey and what interest me.

What kind of makes me laugh most of all is the main stream media being critical of the bloggers for wearing Islander jersey's and cheering for their team. Are you trying to tell me most of the hockey beatwriters are nothing more than glorified salesman/cheerleaders for the teams they cover and in many cases die-hard life long fans themselves?

I got a good idea, instead of the NY Post wasting space on telling us how great they cover the Islanders why don't they do profiles on their writers like the Islanders did with their bloggers. This way we know some one's hockey background, what teams they are fans of and their personal motivation?

They do this on political shows and a good ten second in watching you can tell if the person is a republican or democrat just by their own words. Right afterward they say who they are and what they represent so you know where they are coming from with their viewpoint. Why not do the same with sports?

IE: Larry Brooks former Islanders beatwriter, former Devils beatwriter and employee of the organization, life long Rangers fan.

I have to be honest here. If Chris Botta or Cory Witt called me tomorrow and offered me a seat in the blog box I would decline. I remember back in 2000 Chris Botta and I talked by telephone for a good half hour about the club, never tried to sell me tickets, just an upfront honest hockey person who happens to be employed by a club.

I would allow him to link my blog to his site and do what I do now but no more. For me it's about the hockey.

I would feel personally offended if I had to change my blog to talk about myself or what I did in the blog box as some kind of thank you beyond it being a footnote of a blog. I hope the folks doing this understand that folks want to read about what happens on the ice, not about the press kits Mr Witt or Mr Botta gave them. Maybe these bloggers have not figured this out yet but in the end they are there to provide what Dan Martin and his editor are not giving the public. Same with the NY Times, NY Sun, Journal News, SI Advance and Daily News.

I also hope the bloggers start telling the media attending only to watch these people and report on them to watch the games or leave them alone. If these bloggers are there to discuss themselves they are wasting the fans time and the Islanders time.

I will tell everyone this, if I were sitting in that blog box my comments to Sports Illustrated and Sports Business Jorunal is I'm here because the organization feels you failed at your job in covering our team.

Islander News Articles 10/7:

Newsday: Greg Logan kicks off the coverage of the home opening win vs Buffalo.

Newsday: Mark Herrman showed up to do one of his three or four Islander articles a season to remind us how bad a franchise we are while crediting the early results and specifically Mike Comrie.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Funny how Herrmann did an entire article the other day on the 94 Rangers and sold how things can be that way again for a few days but wrote the Islanders dynasty in 1980s might as well be ancient Rome to the current players?

Of course what's a Herrman feel-bad article without some reference to Alexei Yashin somewhere because he likely never watches the Islanders play and does not know the current roster. We may see Herrman Wednesday but my guess is we don't see him again until Al Arbour coaches against Pittsburgh.

Newsday: Greg Logan did an updated on Meyer being placed on waivers and what this could mean for a possible Berard signing.

Daily News : Someone named Brian Bohl
who likely is an A.P writer or associated with the Buffalo media covered the home opener.

"We know we're a skilled line," Comrie said. "We're not satisfied after two games. There's a lot more we can all do out there."

"Both teams tightened up," DiPietro said. "It's tough starting a season back-to-back, but I thought we did a good job coming off with a lot of energy."

"It feels great, but it can turn around just as easily," Campoli said. "I'm just staying even-keeled and hopefully we can keep winning."

New York Post: Dan Martin showed up for his first game to remind us it was announced sellout in an article that read like someone who has not covered a game since last season and did not know the players.

"Comrie told us over the summer that he wanted to be the go-to guy," coach Ted Nolan said. "He's been our go-to guy."

"Our role is to score goals," Comrie said. "We've done that for two games."

"Mike Comrie is a dynamic player with the puck," Rick DiPietro said.

"The last 15 minutes, we kind of sat back," Comrie said. "We have to keep playing."

Buffalo News: John Vogal leads the Sabres coverage of the game.

“It was substantially better,” said goaltender Ryan Miller, who made 21 saves. “We didn’t have quite the offense we had on the first night, but again, the Islanders adjusted to us, too.

Sound Tigers website: Had game summary. Joey MacDonald played well. Tim Jackman, Ben Walter and Frans Nielsen (from Tambellini) had the third goal. Dustin Kohn had a good game in his AHL debut.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio updated his blog on the line combos on the Sound Tigers won won their season opener in Hartford Saturday 3-2.

Ct Post: had article on the season opening win.

"The last two weeks, everything we've been emphasizing to our guys to do, they did," said Jack Capuano, who won his official debut as Bridgeport's head coach. "That's why we were successful."

"Give our young defensemen credit. This is a tough place to come into," Capuano said. "I'm proud of those guys. They sustained a lot of pressure from the forecheck. They made a lot of good decisions with the puck."

"The last two weeks, everything we've been emphasizing to our guys to do, they did," said Jack Capuano, who won his official debut as Bridgeport's head coach. "That's why we were successful."

Hartford Courant: Bruce Berlet leads the Wolfpack perspective on the game.

Sound Tigers next game is the home opener Friday against Steve Stirling's Norfolk Admirals.

Edmonton Sun: Jason Vogel reported prospect Robin Figren played well in his return from injury that kept him shut down in Moncton.