Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Slinger
There's no question that Oilers management/ownership is working the local media, as usual. All management groups will do this to some extent, but the big difference is that the local (and SNET) media are all a bunch of sycophants and fan-boys with no professionalism or journalistic integrity.
It's part of the echo chamber they've created in Edmonton starting with Sather:
The team cozies up to the local media ensuring that they get scoops, privileges and insider info. In return, the media (for the most part) works as an extension of the team and a de facto propaganda department. The fact that Edmonton is a depressing hell-hole with few redeeming qualities means that the locals will hold onto any tidbit of civic pride they can, as opposed to other places that have more going on than their local sports team (the Sask Roughriders have a similar phenomenon).
In the 80's the local sports teams were quite successful so that become the shining beacon of pride for the local unwashed yokels including the hubris of 'officially' referring to their Soviet-style wasteland as the 'City of Champions'. The locals jumped into the cesspool of propaganda head-first and have been doing laps in their own filth for the last 40+ years. This has created more incentive for the the local media to be the cow-towing clowns they are, and has also spawned a couple generations of media yes-men for the Oilers to take advantage of.
There is no question in my mind that this media narrative of "taking less to win in Edmonton" is absolutely orchestrated by the team and the bobble-head media just follows along. We've see it multiple times how players get celebrated as gods, pressured to stay for less only to be vilified on their way out as a warning to other players.
The whole city and team needs an asteroid-sized enema.
|
So true. They're actually quite effective at driving the narrative by inviting the media into their "exclusive" club. Similar to the players "taking less to win in Edmonton" the journalists are asked to "use less journalistic integrity to win in Edmonton".