Houston Chronicle reporter fired for pro-Watson bias in radio chat
This is the era of multimedia sports reporters. They cover a beat for a daily newspaper, but more of their news is tweeted than printed. And they also make frequent appearances on talk radio, which their employers usually like because it means more publicity for the newspaper.
But sometimes a reporter forgets that when he states his opinions on the radio, he’s still representing his newspaper. America’s daily newspapers – what remains of them – generally strive to be politically correct, to reach as broad a customer base as possible.
Aaron Wilson, who’s covered the Houston Texans since 2015, realizes that football fans account for at least 70 percent of the Houston Chronicle’s circulation. He had to avoid alienating them. Even though Deshaun Watson is estranged from the team, the Texans do not want him devalued as a trade piece. Wilson surely knew that newspaper has a history of encouraging sportswriters to give the home team a break. I know, having been one of them for 13 years.
But times have changed. Wilson didn’t see it until it was too late. He appeared on Boston’s WEEI radio and gushed with praise of Watson, the Texans’ quarterback who’s accused of sexually assaulting – in various ways we won’t illuminate here – two dozen massage therapists.
As Greg Hill interviewed him, Wilson contrasted Watson’s “impeccable character” with his accusers’ “money grab” schemed by an attorney, Tony Buzbee, who’s an “ambulance chaser.”
On March 19, the date of that fateful interview, the Houston Police Department said it was investigating another complaint against Watson that’s not connected to Buzbee. Since then, an additional woman unburdened herself to Sports Illustrated‘s Jenny Vrentas regarding inappropriate behavior by Watson.
Most impactful of all, Buzbee last Tuesday held a press conference in which he sat next to a sobbing Ashley Solis who told her story, without notes. By Friday the wind had shifted like a gale against Wilson. Chronicle sports editor Reid Laymance Zoomed with his staff to inform them of Wilson’s departure. It was a cautionary tale: be mindful of what you say on other platforms.
By then, Wilson understood how his objectivity went out the window and then it went out over the airwaves. He posted an apology for ”an unintentional lack of sensitivity” during the “complex and controversial Deshaun Watson legal situation.”
As often happens, when someone misuses a freedom, others get deprived of it. The Chronicle’s executive editor, Steve Riley, e-mailed the news staff ordering them to obtain permission from their supervisors before making media appearances.
“Facts are good,” he said. “Analysis is OK. Opinion, speculation or baseless assertions are not. We won’t tolerate that sort of commentary.”
He’s trying to draw a line between a reporter commenting, as opposed to opinionating. The result is likely to be the Chron goes back to its old ways of not stirring much discussion anywhere.
When I worked there throughout the Nineties, we tried to take a rosy view, and I even mean that literally. The longtime sports editor, Dan Cunningham, upbraided me for taking “a cheap shot at Pete Rose.”
If you wrote a story that reflected negatively on local teams it was likely to be buried. One time the Houston Astros’ pitching coach, Bob Cluck, revealed how fully his pitchers embraced the scuffball, which was the most historic Astros’ cheating scandal prior to trashcans. Cluck said he taught all the pitchers to throw scuffballs. He didn’t teach them how to scuff, just take advantage of any that might be there.
I thought it was a significant news story, but it was pushed back to Page 6 of the section. Too negative. In those days our protective attitude toward sports teams and their players was so widely noticed in the industry that The Dallas Morning News mentioned the bias in print, much to Cunningham’s dismay.
That was before Laymance joined the staff, first as Cunningham’s assistant sports editor and later as one of his successors. Reid is a first-rate journalist. He distinguished himself with the Boston Globe. He knew what Wilson had done was very wrong.
Wilson should have known better. He’s been on the Watson case since the beginning. He had experience covering domestic violence when he worked for the Baltimore Sun and reported on the Ray Rice punchout of his fiancee in a hotel elevator.
But his March 26 Chronicle piece entitled “Who is the real Deshaun Watson?” was criticized by the state’s most respected periodical, Texas Monthly. The magazine reported that Wilson’s one-sided coverage of Watson had “generated consternation” among Chronicle staffers, some voicing concerns to upper management. Plaintiffs attorney in a money grab? What else is he supposed to do? Sue for autographs?
Wilson was unable to see two sides of this story. It’s a good thing that sort of homerism is no longer acceptable at the newspaper where he used to work.
