Barta discusses negative news/ media reaction

[latrans]

Barta: Football media attention has been difficult - The Daily Iowan

Interesting words from the AD in today's issue of the Daily Iowan. Part of me feels that he is right and that the media and the people in general are way too reactionary but on the other hand I feel a little disturbed by how out of touch Barta seems and I think the handeling of the recent issues are good examples of this. I'm not sure if he just doesn't understand how the media works today or if he understands it but just doesn't like it and refuses to play along.

 

[JonDMiller]

1. I think Iowa could have handled the Rhabdo situation better from a PR standpoint, and Coach Ferentz himself has addressed that. Live and learn

2. Some segments of the media have absolutely passed judgement before getting more than 10% of the facts in some instances. From my observations, most of that was not from the local media related to the Rhabdo. I think the local media was in a fact finding mode while some in the national media were already looking for a hangin tree.

 

[Hawke]

“I feel we’re a society of immediate reaction,” Barta said.

That explains his proactive approach during the negative media onslaught. Rather than disappear from the public eye he used his belief that we are a society of immediate reaction
to full advantage. Job well done, Gary.

 

[tweeterhawk]

“I feel we’re a society of immediate reaction,â€￾ Barta said.

That explains his proactive approach during the negative media onslaught. Rather than disappear from the public eye he used his belief that we are a society of immediate reaction
to full advantage. Job well done, Gary.

Yes, and successful organizations have learned how to adapt to it. The old news cycle is no longer relevant, and the definition of local news and media has changed. You have to get out in front of the story and react immediately. Barta & Co. don't seem to understand that.

 

[JRHawks5969]

Todays' media is tremendously full of itself. The story is no longer what happened (reporting the facts), it's how those involved reacted (tabloidization) and, even worse, how those involved interacted with the media (we the media are the real story!).

 

[JRHawks5969]

Yes, and successful organizations have learned how to adapt to it. The old news cycle is no longer relevant, and the definition of local news and media has changed. You have to get out in front of the story and react immediately. Barta & Co. don't seem to understand that.

I wouldn't say successful organizations have learned how to adapt to it. The business world is full of companies that have had horrible PR and continue to do quite well.

 

[PatrickAdamovicz]

Controversy sells. Facts be damned, the media knows it.

 

[GoldKey]

It appears as though the affected parties and their parents are OK with situation, recruits OK with situation, teammates OK with situation.

Not OK = some media and some followers of Hawks.

Big deal.

 

[JRHawks5969]

It appears as though the affected parties and their parents are OK with situation, recruits OK with situation, teammates OK with situation.

Not OK = some media and some followers of Hawks.

Big deal.

Correction...

Not OK = some media, very few followers of Hawks and all Cyclone fans that can fan the flames on message boards, talk radio, etc.

 

[Hawkeye101]

“We really find the social network is becoming an interesting phenomenon, and we’re trying to deal with that,â€￾ he said. “I don’t think it’s going to go away.â€￾

Really? You're kidding, right?

Yes, it's an interesting phenomenon and no, it's not going away. The U of I need to learn how to adapt to the changing times to best manage those events or situations, not try to force the media to play "their game", because ultimately, right or wrong, they will lose.

Time to face the facts, the 90's are long over.

 

[DodgerHawki]

It's not as easy as that...

It appears as though the affected parties and their parents are OK with situation, recruits OK with situation, teammates OK with situation.

Not OK = some media and some followers of Hawks.

Big deal.

we don't yet know the complete fallout from this situation. Is there a current high school sophomore or junior that will end up not considering Iowa because some coach uses Iowa's initial lack of response to insinuate that KF and staff don't care?

I completely get Barta and KF's position that they couldn't share more information on the details of the hospitalizations involved. But for Iowa to hold a PC without either Barta or KF present was a bad decision, and no amount of talking after the fact will change that. It's one thing to take a stance that you won't react haphazardly to situations. That's good. It's another to bring bad PR to your organization for no good reason except that you don't want to expend the effort to get ahead of the story.

 

[rdbrett]

Once again, just because media is ate up with stirring up stories does not give them any obligation to provide information. Nor is the media, you or me entitled to it. They took care of the people they needed to, enough said. I'm ok with them keeping students and families first and not letting PR drive all of their decisions. Intelligent individuals wont rush to judgement.....the Jim Romes of the world will.

 

[tweeterhawk]

Some on the football staff are up to date on the immediacy and splintering of the media, and have responded. The gohawks.com page is dynamite and I was pretty impressed with the way Eric Johnson (recruiting coordinator) tweeted as LOI's came in on the 2011 recruits and had bios and edited video clips blog-ready as the announcements were made.

But the AD's and SID's offices come across as well behind the curve. Some house-cleaning is in order to bring in a greater awareness of the needs to communicate immediately with the rest of the world.

 

[GoldKey]

Re: It's not as easy as that...

we don't yet know the complete fallout from this situation. Is there a current high school sophomore or junior that will end up not considering Iowa because some coach uses Iowa's initial lack of response to insinuate that KF and staff don't care?

Really? Insinuates?

I suppose we have to wait for the fallout from the support by players and parents that spoke in support of the nature and character of Ferentz the coaches and the U - and all that insinuates.

 

[Iowafarmgirl]

But the AD's and SID's offices come across as well behind the curve. Some house-cleaning is in order to bring in a greater awareness of the needs to communicate immediately with the rest of the world.

Yesterday I saw Gary Barta wearing JNCO jeans and a Dr. Suess hat while listening to Alanis Morrisett's "Jagged Little Pill".

 

[homes]

Barta: Football media attention has been difficult - The Daily Iowan

Interesting words from the AD in today's issue of the Daily Iowan. Part of me feels that he is right and that the media and the people in general are way too reactionary but on the other hand I feel a little disturbed by how out of touch Barta seems and I think the handeling of the recent issues are good examples of this. I'm not sure if he just doesn't understand how the media works today or if he understands it but just doesn't like it and refuses to play along.

The problem with this story is that it was not about what happened to the players, but why media members didn't get all of the answers as fast as they wanted them.

It's a tough line to walk. On the one hand, you have players who have rights of privacy that cannot be breached without their consent, so the school must be sensitive to that. Like it or not, those rights are very sacred and highly regarded, as witnessed by the recent terminations and suspensions of UIHC staff who were involved in breaching those rights. On the other hand, there is the media's self-interested, insatiable desire for the next big scoop, which is no longer measured in terms of days or even hours, but in terms of minutes. Any effort to satisfy that beast will just lead to asking for more information, sooner. It's like feeding my dog table scraps. One bite is dangerous, because he never stops begging for more. So, in that respect, it's better to not give them the first scrap - I get it.

We know now a little bit more of what was going on behind the scenes, that KF was in contact with the players and parents very early on. That very important factoid was never fully reported. Maybe that could have been conveyed at an earlier date, for those lambasting him about his lack of compassion and caring. But, to those folks, it probably still wouldn't have been enough. Like I said, it's a tough line to draw.

I also found it interesting in the L.A. Times article about this matter, that the one expert in this field mentioned that if it hadn't been for the 2 severe cases, the other 11 probably would never had been treated or reported. To me, that speaks volumes over the concern the UI football program had for the players. Rather than saying to those 11 you'll be fine, and limiting the treatment to just the 2, all 13 were evaluated and treated. There's your compassion and commitment to these players. But try selling that angle to a reporter who only wants salacious bits of information, or who is interested in stirring the pot, then walking away.

For this occasion, I'm not sure Barta would have ever gotten it all right in the opinion of some.

 

[GoldKey]

The problem with this story is that it was not about what happened to the players, but why media members didn't get all of the answers as fast as they wanted them.

It's a tough line to walk. On the one hand, you have players who have rights of privacy that cannot be breached without their consent, so the school must be sensitive to that. Like it or not, those rights are very sacred and highly regarded, as witnessed by the recent terminations and suspensions of UIHC staff who were involved in breaching those rights. On the other hand, there is the media's self-interested, insatiable desire for the next big scoop, which is no longer measured in terms of days or even hours, but in terms of minutes. Any effort to satisfy that beast will just lead to asking for more information, sooner. It's like feeding my dog table scraps. One bite is dangerous, because he never stops begging for more. So, in that respect, it's better to not give them the first scrap - I get it.

We know now a little bit more of what was going on behind the scenes, that KF was in contact with the players and parents very early on. That very important factoid was never fully reported. Maybe that could have been conveyed at an earlier date, for those lambasting him about his lack of compassion and caring. But, to those folks, it probably still wouldn't have been enough. Like I said, it's a tough line to draw.

I also found it interesting in the L.A. Times article about this matter, that the one expert in this field mentioned that if it hadn't been for the 2 severe cases, the other 11 probably would never had been treated or reported. To me, that speaks volumes over the concern the UI football program had for the players. Rather than saying to those 11 you'll be fine, and limiting the treatment to just the 2, all 13 were evaluated and treated. There's your compassion and commitment to these players. But try selling that angle to a reporter who only wants salacious bits of information, or who is interested in stirring the pot, then walking away.

For this occasion, I'm not sure Barta would have ever gotten it all right in the opinion of some.

I like this post a lot. But "tough line to walk" really isn't that tough if you are sticking to a system you have established and follow. And that is what we have here. If a person doesn't like it, seems like that is more on that person and any pouting or whining to demand more is irrelevent.

Also, I would say "getting it right" has to revolve around what "right" is. My opinion is this was right, in that the key people were protected the most. It doesn't seem complicated and center around the "realities" of today's culture and media.

 

[latrans]

Some on the football staff are up to date on the immediacy and splintering of the media, and have responded. The gohawks.com page is dynamite and I was pretty impressed with the way Eric Johnson (recruiting coordinator) tweeted as LOI's came in on the 2011 recruits and had bios and edited video clips blog-ready as the announcements were made.

But the AD's and SID's offices come across as well behind the curve. Some house-cleaning is in order to bring in a greater awareness of the needs to communicate immediately with the rest of the world.

Nailed it. If you are the AD or SID of the University of Iowa you can't just bury your head in the sand and say I don't like this game I'm going to take my ball and go home.

 

[JRHawks5969]

Nailed it. If you are the AD or SID of the University of Iowa you can't just bury your head in the sand and say I don't like this game I'm going to take my ball and go home.

Sure ya can. Again, this country is full of very successful businesses, teams, etc. who don't go out of their way to kiss the media's butt. These intelligent folks realize there is little you can do to make a sensationalistic media happy, so you just go through the motions of getting them to shut up while understanding the child-like media has no attention span and these manufactured controversies won't be around for long.

Like it or not, the U of I survived rabo-gate and came out of it with one hell of a good recruiting class....and will not be affected by it in future years either. I know that upsets no-talent bloggers and shock jocks (and even a few Chicken Little's on this site), but it doesn't make it any less true. The Iowa Hawkeye football program is on solid ground and the future looks very bright. Go Hawks!

 

[tm3308]

There should have been some information shared at the initial presser. You can't talk about what condition they have, their treatment, etc.? That's perfectly fine, it's the law. But seeing as how the whole thing seemed to center around the workout, why couldn't any details about the workouts be released? Not giving the media anything in a case like this, when there is information that you can afford to release, is not a good idea. A lot of the negative attention goes away if Ferentz/Barta is there to answer questions about the workouts.