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My view is that Tomase shouldn't cover the Patriots any more. I understand him covering the story. I understand him wanting to be first with a story. But a story of this size you have to be absolutely sure about, especially given his timing of it.

Tomase made himself part of the story given the really unfortunate time that he broke it. I can understand why the predominate Pats' fan readership of the Herald have to loathe Tomase because of what he did. I wouldn't want to read any of this guy's stuff if he did what he did to my favorite team.

This doesn't mean that journalists have to be all sunshine and lollypops with the local teams, but really, what Tomase did was make HIMSELF the story because he wanted to break a big story so bad. It really was a messup of epic proportions: A Local Journalist Wants to be Bigshot + Super Bowl + Screwing Over Local Team Through Journalistic Stupidity = Who Wants to Read Tomase?

I think if a national sports outlet made this sort of mistake, it would be easier to keep your job. In a market with competition between papers, why would you want to keep some guy who your readership loathes?

Probably more of a practical point versus a journalistic point.

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Over the course of the last seven years billions of dollars have been wagered on NFL football games. When you add up all the collective betting on football on a global scale it is hundreds of billions of dollars. A lot of people lost a lot of money because of the Pats cheating.

Now,in the gambling world, its called "fixing a game" when organized cheating occurs within a sports franchise. When this happens you leave the rhelm of sports and enter the sleazy world of crime.

Regardless of what Rodger would have us believe, fans outside of Boston think that the Pats had a huge advantage from cheating. So would people betting on the game if they knew about the cheating. When cheating is uncovered in a horse race or boxing match, they don't loose a draft pick, someone goes to jail.

A LOT OF PEOPLE LOST A LOT OF MONEY BECAUSE OF THE PATS CHEATING. THEY FOOLISHLY BELIEVED IN THE INTEGRITY OF THE NFL WHO KNEW OF THE CHEATING AT LEAST TWO YEARS AGO AT GREEN BAY.

You have to realize that cheating in pro sports is something bigger than the sport itself. With the amount of money that goes through gambling transactions, any type of cheating has to be investigated. And that is the door that Goodell, Kraft and Rooney et al. don't want Specter to open.

This story broke nine months ago. In that time we know that Specter sent a letter to Roger Goodell, sent a follow-up letter, spoke with Goodell and conducted a brief meeting with a person with knowledge of the situation.

That doesn’t seem like an unreasonable amount of time to spend on one of the many issues he deals with. He’s the ranking member of the committee with oversight of the N.F.L.’s antitrust exemption. If the league conducted a sham investigation into cheating —as the evidence suggests — then it’s totally appropriate for him to inquire into the matter.

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All print media is freaking out about loss of readership, they need to set an example when an idiot screws it up this bad. The writer and the editors need to be fired for sure. If the print media can't make a case for having higher standards, their outlook becomes even bleaker than it already is. Print media is dead, it just doesn't know it yet.

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Being a journalist, this is a tough one. I don't think I would have ever attempted to run what we had and I don't think my editor would have greenlighted it. There is certainly enough blame to go around here. Tomase deserves the lion's share of it because his reporting was inaccurate, first and foremost. But his editors, and I'm assuming the Managing Editor, Executive Editor and possibly even the publisher were brought in on this one, all blew it. They should have told Tomase to go back to his desk, work the phones and get more, get someone on the record and find out if this tape actually exists. In this business, you can't report rumors, speculation and gossip.

If I were in Tomase's position, I'd hope that I wasn't going to be fired based on one mistake but I agree with the first poster that he needs to be taken off the Patriots beat as he has made the relationship between himself and the team untenable.

patrickdonohueonline.wordpress.com

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In regards to the comment before mine, you think we don't know it? Amid layoffs, buyouts and hiring freezes, people who work at newspaper are more aware than anyone of the danger our industry is in. Let's not pretend, however, that the internet and electronic media are the great bastions of accurate journalism in America.

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They can keep him for all I care. Boston sports fans are done with the Herald. They have zero credibility.

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ahhh screenplay, exactly what does your rant have to do with this article?

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Yes, Mr. Smith Tomase and your self should both be fired as you have done nothing in the past few months but help fuel the fire. You mirrored the same article and put your name on it and since then have put your own biased twist into it.
Where is your apology and admittance of wrong doing,
hmmm?
Why didn't you and all the media try to find out the truth instead of printing lies, hmmm?
First rule of journalism..If your momma tells you she loves you, you better be able to verify that.
Looks like the majority of you should be fired. Who should believe anything you write?

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We have here a csee of Dead Sports Writer Walking. Tomase is finished in the business. What athlete, what organizational sports executive, what devoted fan, will ever trust him enough to speak with him? or to believe he will report their words honestly? But the blood of a sports beat is the professional locker room, and this man will never be able to go into one again and have a real interview (or feel safe). He will now be covering sports like a blogger--from the great distance of the web or television. Tomase is now radioactive in the sports world. He'll be starting over in a new career soon.

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If print journalism is dead, then we are all in trouble.

print journalism TRIES to verify facts and not indulge in unfounded rumours.

If that dies, where do we turn? radio and TV? BLOGGERS? have you read some of the crap on these blogs? And when you confront a blogger, they typically say, "Well, I am not a journalist, after all." So this is the future? Who on this blog, including me, has any real credibility.? Look at screenplay. He feels he can talk for everyone in the world. Outside of New England he says, EVERYBODY hates the Pats. And, you got this from where? All your friends on the golf course?

Ryan, MDS, Steph...all bloggers...NOT journalists. They usually TRY to get it right, but if they don't, hey, it's not like they HAVE to get it right, is it? Fortunately, even though I sometimes disagree, I respect their frequent attempts at something akin to integrity. But this CAN'T be the future.

Tomase made a mistake. I think having to cover the team now is a great punishment, if you ask me. LOL.

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I feel the Headline in the Herald was sincere and is apology enough. I also feel the whole incident was blown way out of sight because of New York/Boston rivalery. Finally I agree the reporter should be reassigned to writing obits.

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I think that Tomase writing obits is a great idea, but that he should also cover the Patriots. It would also be a good idea to write his own obituary, because he'll probably need it after his 1st trip to the Pats lockerroom.
I like to read what the bloggers have to write, but I do like Joe Wallace's blog the most. Joe gets right to the point. Rock on Joe W.

I AM a Pat's fan! I'm not in New England, and I'm damn proud to NOT be a journalist!

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the herald is a rag and allways has been. i think he should face some kind of punishment. maybe Sen.Spector could figure one out for us all?

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