[browna]

Burke is correct. In a roundabout way, he’s saying that the press is totally negative there, because negativity and controversy get articles noticed and more airtime.

Not all media want them to fail, as he said, but a large majority are looking to stir the pot or take things out of context on a day to day roller coaster basis, solely to be that contrarian or provide a “hot take” to get their viewpoint noticed in a saturated market.

Media members predicting how and why a team or player will fail seems to stir up a lot more interest in “hope” and positivity, and if the media is member is wrong and there is success, they’ll share in the joy and their admitting of being wrong is forgotten. If the player or team fails, the media member pats themselves in the back and considers themselves experts by having predicted the failure and will encourage them, and others, to take that approach with the next player or next years team etc.

Looks at the press calling up Reimers parents to get a medical update. The way the treated Kessel. Look at TSn and Leafs lunch. Every day or week is a roller coaster up and down because there is so much coverage, every possible scenario or viewpoint gets tossed out, and the more negative and controversial ones get more airtime or play because they stand out for discussion. That mentality of looking for thenflaws or negativity, and attention those topics get, causes, as mentioned above, certain members of the press to try and find that next, even more controversial topic to discuss, to stroke their own ego for bringing it up, and that topic is usually negative.

Always looking for the negative and dissecting every detail of a player or the team just breeds negativity, and I think that’s what he was gettting at. As he also said, Bennett would be curled in a corner if the Toronto press had his underachievement this season under the microscope day in and day out.