Giants beat writer apologizes to Melky Cabrera about PED rumor
Here’s something you don’t see every day: a writer apologizing to a player
for giving life to a rumor of PED usage.
You see, there was a nasty rumor flying around on Twitter that Giants
outfielder Melky Cabrera had tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs.
Andrew Baggarly of CSNBayArea.com decided to ask Cabrera about it. Cabrera
categorically denied the rumors, saying MLB hasn’t informed him or the
players union about a positive test. He even contacted his agent to make
sure. Baggarly then decided to pass along word of Cabrera’s denial. However,
Baggarly later had regrets of acknowledging the rumor in the first place and
issued a public apology to Cabrera.
Here’s part of the apology, which you can read in full on CSNBayArea.com:
We live in a different media universe and the rules are changing every day.
Information is immediate. The level of interaction between fans and
journalists is greater than ever. Anyone can self-publish any thought that
rumbles through his or her head, true or untrue. It can be a confusing
cacophony for any journalist, and it certainly is for me at times.
It’s my job to serve readers. But what if it’s just one tenth of one
percent of my readership who are asking these questions? Is it my
responsibility to respond to them in a public way?
Asking these questions from a different vantage point: If I were Melky
Cabrera, would I appreciate a reporter who knocked down a rumor that was just
a whisper in some corners of the Internet? Or would I be royally pissed to
see my name mentioned alongside PEDs, no matter the context, by a
credentialed, professional journalist?
It’s obvious, isn’t it? Well, it should have been obvious to me. It wasn’t.
In retrospect, I made the wrong decision to address these rumors on my
Twitter account and disseminate it to my 30,000-plus followers.
So I feel it’s important that I issue a public apology to Melky Cabrera for
giving greater voice to a rumor that, to the best of my knowledge and on his
word, has absolutely no basis in fact.
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It’s a good read on a sensitive topic and a cautionary tale for anyone who
considers running with a rumor which could do some serious damage to someone’
s reputation. Baggarly may have made a mistake to run with the rumor, but he
deserves credit for holding himself accountable. If only we could say the
same for those who continue to recklessly spread rumors of PED usage about
the likes of Jeff Bagwell and Mike Piazza.
http://ppt.cc/qHcd
牛奶弟 : ˊ_>ˋ 知错能改 善莫大焉...
ps.本季成绩 95G 387AB 139H (10HR) 51RBI 67R 29BB 52SO 11SB (5CS)
359/400/530 OPS : 0.930