How timely was it that the Boston Red Sox fired Bobby Valentine on the very same day the Boston University Sports Journalism Seminar Series focused on Media Relations?….In case you missed it, the Sox decided to hold “group” interviews with their media outlets rather than a full blown news conference to announce the firing….NESN, MLB.com and WEEI were given first crack since they are rights holders with the local newspapers and television network affiliates left to scramble… There was much hand wringing in newsrooms all across town but the subtle implication here might just be that the team did not want this to turn into a “live” circus and purposely chose this method…undoubtedly, many of the outlets would have carried the newser live and millions of fans would have had access, not to mention national outlets, like ESPN and FoxSports, who might have piggy backed off a local feed….<\/p>\n
It \u00a0was the job of the Media Relations department to come up with that strategy and while the people covering the team weren’t happy, the approach worked perfectly…..basically, control the message….<\/p>\n
There’s no question fans want to know everything about the team and while it’s always the job to build that base, media relations people, just like reporters who follow the team on a regular basis, just can’t and don’t report everything…Some stories would be embarrassing to the team, think chicken and beer here, but legitimately there are times the P.R. people just don’t know what’s going on behind the curtain…”It’s not like everyone in the organization knows everything and we’re not putting it out there, says Christy Berkery<\/a>, the Social Media Manager\u00a0 of the New England Patriots…”A lot of it just exists within a really small corner of people”…<\/p>\n