Speaking of Major League Baseball’s decision to yank this year’s All-Star Game from Atlanta, the Atlanta Braves organization put out a statement saying it was “deeply disappointed,” adding:
“This was neither our decision, nor our recommendation and we are saddened that fans will not be able to see this event in our city. The Braves organization will continue to stress the importance of equal voting opportunities and we had hoped our city could use this event as a platform to enhance the discussion. Our city has always been known as a uniter in divided times and we will miss the opportunity to address issues that are important to our community. Unfortunately, businesses, employees and fans in Georgia are the victims of this decision.”
In a column for The Athletic, Atlanta-based writer Jeff Schultz wrote about the Braves’ “tone-deaf” statement, saying, “Shame on them.” He added, “... the Braves have never been the most forward-thinking of organizations. They long have been more concerned about counting receipts than doing the right thing or being any sort of ‘uniter,’ to use their word. The Braves are about the Braves.”
Schultz is right. If the Braves really cared about such things they would have discouraged fans doing the Native American-insulting “tomahawk chop” years ago.
Reactions across the country about MLB’s decision were split among party lines, as you might expect.
During an interview before MLB’s decision last week on ESPN’s “SportsCenter,” President Joe Biden encouraged baseball to pull the game out of Atlanta. Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp defended the state’s voting laws, adding, “Cancel culture and partisan actions are coming for your business. They’re coming for your game or your event in your hometown.”
Major League Baseball is expected to honor baseball great Hank Aaron at this year’s All-Star Game. Aaron spent part of his career playing in Atlanta and fought for civil rights. Former President Barack Obama tweeted, “Congratulations to @MLB for taking a stand on behalf of voting rights for all citizens. There’s no better way for America’s pastime to honor the great Hank Aaron, who always led by example.”
Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump issued a statement calling for a boycott of baseball.
Writing for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, sports columnist Steve Hummer wrote about Georgia’s leaders, writing, “These dear leaders have set us backward, not just days but decades to the era before Atlanta and its environs became the capital of the New South. The loss of baseball’s All-Star game was just the beginning. Why, with a little more work from those beneath the Gold Dome, we can become Birmingham before you know it.”
Another AJC sports columnist, Mark Bradley, wrote, “Sometimes actions have unintended consequences. Maybe this is one. Really, though: What did legislators think would happen? How could they NOT see this coming?”
In his column for The Washington Post, Barry Svrluga wrote, “Atlanta will get an All-Star Game once Georgians put into office people who believe in the idea that each American deserves a vote. This isn’t partisan. It’s democratic.”
One more thought …
Writing for Fox News website, media writer Howard Kurtz wrote about ESPN’s interview with Biden. He wrote, “It’s striking that co-host Sage Steele chose to ask about the controversial law, which Biden described as ‘Jim Crow on steroids.’ In the past, ESPN has drawn flak for being too political and too liberal, particularly when it came to Trump.”
It would have been notable if Steele had not asked Biden about it. The president of the United States is on your network and one of the biggest sports stories of the moment was whether MLB should take the All-Star Game out of Atlanta because of something political? Why even have the president on if you wouldn’t ask that particular question. Steele and ESPN would have been completely irresponsible and negligent if it hadn’t brought the topic up with Biden.
A wrinkle in the Tribune sale?
In an exclusive on Sunday, The Wall Street Journal’s Cara Lombardo and Lukas I. Alpert reported that Tribune Publishing might favor an offer from Stewart Bainum Jr. and Hansjörg Wyss instead of a takeover deal it already struck with hedge fund Alden Global Capital.
Lombardo and Alpert wrote, “A special committee of Tribune’s board has determined that a roughly $680 million, $18.50-a-share bid submitted late last week by (Bainum and Wyss) is reasonably likely to lead to a proposal that is superior to Alden’s $635 million deal, people familiar with the matter said. That is legal deal-speak indicating Alden will likely need to raise its bid or risk losing the deal.”
Tribune includes such major metro newspapers as the Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News and The Baltimore Sun.
According to Lombardo and Alpert, now that the group has submitted a fully financed bid, it will get private financial data so it can begin its due diligence and negotiate other terms. It’s possible that the group could walk away after seeing more of the Tribune’s finances. Or, on the other hand, it could change its offer.
This is giving many media observers a glimmer of hope that Alden won’t get Tribune. As Lombardo and Alpert wrote, “If Alden loses the deal, it would mark a stunning, 11th-hour turnaround for the New York hedge fund, and a major victory for critics who say its model of aggressive cost-cutting has hurt the local news industry.”
The mess at Teen Vogue
Washington Post media writer Sarah Ellison’s latest is a well-reported and sharply-written look back at the mess that went down at Teen Vogue — which hired a young up-and-coming journalist to be editor-in-chief and then parted ways with her before she even started. Alexi McCammond ultimately did not take over at Teen Vogue in large part because of racist, anti-Asian tweets she posted a decade ago.
Ellison wrote about how, “Those narratives, however, mask the more complex dynamic unfolding at Condé Nast, a once-great publishing empire struggling to find its way in an altered business climate — and hardly in a position to vouch for a new hire on issues of race.” (Condé Nast owns Teen Vogue.)
Ellison’s story details how McCammond, a journalist with no editing experience who had never led a newsroom, initially landed such a job and how it all fell apart in a matter of days. It also goes over how Condé Nast and chief content officer Anna Wintour certainly didn’t anticipate the blowback they would get hiring McCammond even though McCammond’s tweets were no secret. She had long ago apologized for them.
Bonnie Morrison, a diversity consultant and former Men’s Vogue staffer, told Ellison, “What they failed to realize is that there is an apology and then there is making amends. The entire fashion industry has revolved around Anna Wintour for years, and she is not someone who is well-positioned to determine which apologies are sufficient. Nor is she used to losing control of a situation.”
Good stuff from Ellison. Check it out.
Traumatic trial
