Letter: Article insulting, hurtful to player

I am writing this letter to express my disappointment in The Advocate’s decision to print an article that was insensitive to a young man who has been a contributing member of the LSU football team and a member of our community for the last four years.

Your article “Passing on glory” had the largest headline on the front of the Sports Section on Nov. 15, the Thursday before LSU’s last home game. I believe it was inconsiderate to write about a senior football player who was looking forward to his last game in Death Valley, but was criticized in the article right before being recognized on Senior Day.

The individual’s name is not as important as the issue of your decision to publish the article in the first place. The writer obviously was not worried about the feelings of the player nor was he interested in expounding on the many positive aspects of this person’s character, dedication and achievements as a student athlete. A “thank you” and “congratulations” would have been more appropriate.

Looking back at what “should have been,” is what is written about those who waste their talents through bad decisions, which, unfortunately, there have been a few of recently. A newspaper that serves its local community has to tell the bad news when it occurs, but it doesn’t have to create negative articles to grab attention. You, as the editor, make the decision on what is published and you also have the ability to establish high standards for your writers.

Try taking your paper to a higher level instead of following the sensational reporting that many media outlets use to increase their readership. My guess is that it would be appreciated and noticed by most.

Mark Montgomery

business owner

Baton Rouge

Comments

1) Comment by joey.esposito - 22/11/2012

Russell Shepard's comments in the article reveal he is not bothered in the least about the perceived unfulfilled expectations placed on him by others and also show he has an excellent grasp on his college major of choice, communications. If you want only positive press, read only tigersports.net and the releases from Governor Jindal's press secretary and Kip Holden's campaign director. The great thing about freedom of the press is just that, freedom. And the freedom of all to comment.

2) Comment by Mr. T - 21/11/2012

This was a shameful article and low blow that targeted Russell Sheperd only a few days before his final home game. For the record, the full headline (which I suspect may have been heavily edited by the Advocate staff) was "Passing on Glory...Despite potential, Shepard never shined." Incredibily, during their coverage of the post-game news conference following the dramatic victory over Ole Miss, the Advocate did not even acknowledge that their own crummy journalism was what sparked Coach Miles' tirade...in their article the next day, the Advocate said only that Coach Miles "seemed irked by coverage leading up to what was the final home game for the LSU senior, particularly Russell Sheperd." This is bush-league journalism at its worst, and the author of the article, Scott Rabalais needs to be dismissed for this cowardly attack. Unfortunately, it;s the same sick mindset that the Advocate uses to cover the news as well, with cowardly low-blow attacks on Gov. Bobby Jindal, Mayor Kip Holden and anyone else that holds a high-profile position. These journalistic lowlifes are interesting in one thing - selling newspaper. And they will lie, cheat and steal to do that. So much for fair and balanced reporting!

3) Comment by Melissawaters - 21/11/2012

What, exactly, was the point in writing a negative article about a senior player before his last game? He did not deserve that embarrassment. He did nothing to earn that high profile critical scorn comparing his career to earlier expectations. Whose brilliant idea was it to put that in the paper? To that person, FYI: it backfired.

4) Comment by [e-mail] - 21/11/2012

Kick'em when they're down.

5) Comment by unevahno - 21/11/2012

The article was very snarky and insensitive. All prospective recruits should be given that article by every school trying to get a young man or lady to sign with their school instead of LSU. It was as if the writer was a 16 year old mean girl. Mmmmmm, maybe she was.