Why The NFL Shit Won't Hit The Big Media Fan. Unless... by Spocko
Today the AP put out a story that the NFL in April received a DVD containing the surveillance video of Ray Rice slugging his fiancé. As you read the story and the follow up from the NFL you will see the personality of the organization shine through. You will also see the linguistic mark of hot-shot lawyers and PR crisis professionals.
Barry Petchesky at Deadspin is doing great work on this story. From today:
Update: The NFL has released the following statement in response to the AP's report.
"We have no knowledge of this. We are not aware of anyone in our office who possessed or saw the video before it was made public on Monday. We will look into it."
Here's what Roger Goodell said last night to CBS when asked if anyone at the NFL had seen the tape before Monday:
"No one in the NFL, to my knowledge, and I had been asked that same question and the answer to that is no. We were not granted that. We were told that was not something we would have access to. On multiple occasions, we asked for it. And on multiple occasions we were told no. I understand that there may be legal restrictions on them sharing that with us. And we've heard that from attorneys general and former attorneys general."
Weasel words for the win! I get tired of the troupe, "It's not the crime it's the cover up." As if all the would be Woodward and Bernstein's out in big media land will act now.
The reality is that big media outlets won't be unleashing investigatory teams--if they even exist--unless they have no choice. And then it will be responding to what someone else has dug up, giving the NFL spokespeople multiple bites at the apple to comment.
There is one major media outlet that could dig deeper into the NFL lies. Fox News.
What would it take for that to happen? What if Hillary Clinton was brought in to give advice to the NFL? What did she know and when did she know it? How much was she paid for this advice? Who did she talk to? Can we get her to talk about it under oath so she can't lie about it? (Barring Hillary herself, did any of her staff advise the NFL?)
That kind of info would put a partisan organization like Fox News in a bind. They want to make Clinton look bad, but it might hurt their big advertiser. Prediction? They would pass.
El Rushbo is the Real Victim Here
Who else normally would support the NFL and doesn't have them as a big advertiser? Rush Limbaugh.
If I wanted to push the story against a company that has a right wing personality and is normally supported by the RW media, I would figure out a reason to give the RW media to pursue the story. They can't look like they are siding with women, that's a "liberal" issue. What or who can they be against? Elitism.
The elites wouldn't let Rush buy into the club/franchise. This is his chance to get back at the people who snubbed him. He has the means, motive and opportunity to lash back at the NFL management. He might even pretend he cares about women in the process. His internal narrative?
"You think I'm not good enough to be an owner because of my attitudes toward women? Well guess what? You aren't good enough to be owners because you rejected me. I'm going to expose your lies out of spite."
I don't think he will do this, he still thinks he can get back into the club. But it would be fun to see them fight each other. Rush won't be able to burnish his image with women now, but he would be able to drag some NFL people down with him.
Now if I can just get a call into Smeadly...