OT: Radio host fired from ESPN Radio Syracuse for being overly negative

[tcf15]

Radio station fires Axe for ‘negative’ Syracuse sports talk

Syracuse men's basketball coach Jim Boeheim told ESPN this year that Axe was his most consistent critic.

www.syracuse.com

ESPN Radio Syracuse personality Brent Axe was told Sunday that his “On the Block with Brent Axe” radio show is being taken off the air and he is no longer an employee of Galaxy Media Partners.

Galaxy President and CEO Ed Levine said he fired Axe because he believes the content of Axe’s show had become too negative toward Syracuse University sports.

Axe said Levine informed him in a phone call on Sunday afternoon. The firing is immediate.

“I had a problem with the content of the show,” Levine said. “I’m an SU fan. I’m sorry, but I bleed Orange. I’m not going to apologize for that, and I think a fair reading of the Orange is appropriate. I understand (Galaxy has) a business relationship (with Syracuse), that Coach (Jim) Boeheim and I are personal friends and he’s an investor in my company. I understand and acknowledge all of that. We’ve called it pretty fair, and I would argue we’ve been tough on SU when the on-field or off-field events warrant it. I just think over the past six months it took a different tone and became overly dark and negative. I don’t think that’s what Syracuse fans want to hear.”

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Not surprising.

If your location is basically a Siberian gulag it should be expected that the propaganda ministry would censor any unacceptable commentary.

 

[UCTitleTown]

Syracuse fans from everything I read on social media are very negative towards the program. This guy just has a more formal platform to voice those opinions. A parting shot from Boeheim through his friend.

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

Kind of a delicate balance.

There isnt much positive for SU right now, so a dark outlook is reasonable, but i also can't stand the "media" members that are obviously buddies with the staff, and can find a justification for all of their shortcomings.

This has become a huge problem with all media: sports, politics, finance, etc...
If they like, or agree with the subject of their reporting, they'll ignore the bad stuff or find reasons that it couldn't be helped/was someone else's fault. But the good stuff will be celebrated as yet another reason to praise their guy(s).
Access is the other problem. There are so many media outlets right now that they all fight for the subjects access, and time. You won't get much if you're negative, and some other outlet will take your place.

Media is supposed to have an adversarial relationship with it's subjects. How much is the balance. But it used to be expected that they would at least report the objective truth. This doesn't seem to be the case anymore.

I've never listened to this guy, but i have heard a few clips. He may have been negative, and dark, but from what i heard, he wasn't wrong.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

Apparently Boeheim is an investor in Galaxy just to add some fun to the situation.

 

[businesslawyer]

Kind of a delicate balance.

There isnt much positive for SU right now, so a dark outlook is reasonable, but i also can't stand the "media" members that are obviously buddies with the staff, and can find a justification for all of their shortcomings.

This has become a huge problem with all media: sports, politics, finance, etc...
If they like, or agree with the subject of their reporting, they'll ignore the bad stuff or find reasons that it couldn't be helped/was someone else's fault. But the good stuff will be celebrated as yet another reason to praise their guy(s).
Access is the other problem. There are so many media outlets right now that they all fight for the subjects access, and time. You won't get much if you're negative, and some other outlet will take your place.

Media is supposed to have an adversarial relationship with it's subjects. How much is the balance.

I've never listened to this guy, but i have heard a few clips. He may have been negative, and dark, but from what i heard, he wasn't wrong.

So much good stuff in this post. Unfortunately, most media has decided that its primary job isn't to be thorough and fair. It's to balance journalistic ethics with making money. (And I'll ignore for now the outlier being sued for trashing journalistic ethics entirely in the pursuit of money.)

 

[ctchamps]

Radio station fires Axe for ‘negative’ Syracuse sports talk

Syracuse men's basketball coach Jim Boeheim told ESPN this year that Axe was his most consistent critic.

www.syracuse.com

ESPN Radio Syracuse personality Brent Axe was told Sunday that his “On the Block with Brent Axe” radio show is being taken off the air and he is no longer an employee of Galaxy Media Partners.

Galaxy President and CEO Ed Levine said he fired Axe because he believes the content of Axe’s show had become too negative toward Syracuse University sports.

Axe said Levine informed him in a phone call on Sunday afternoon. The firing is immediate.

“I had a problem with the content of the show,” Levine said. “I’m an SU fan. I’m sorry, but I bleed Orange. I’m not going to apologize for that, and I think a fair reading of the Orange is appropriate. I understand (Galaxy has) a business relationship (with Syracuse), that Coach (Jim) Boeheim and I are personal friends and he’s an investor in my company. I understand and acknowledge all of that. We’ve called it pretty fair, and I would argue we’ve been tough on SU when the on-field or off-field events warrant it. I just think over the past six months it took a different tone and became overly dark and negative. I don’t think that’s what Syracuse fans want to hear.”

He's the owner of the company so he could do what he wants but seems like a hatchet job to me.

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

Apparently Boeheim is an investor in Galaxy just to add some fun to the situation.

Another good point. Along with access and time, investment and advertising dollars are the other reason that objectivity and truth aren't the most important thing anymore.

It must be difficult to report negatively on your bosses/benefactors. But if you don't when it's deserved, you cant be upset with a public that no longer trusts a word you say/print.

 

[Waquoit]

I don't tune in to constant negativity. Was this guy losing ratings? I remember Hartford radio had a negative turd (Jason Page) who got sacked and blamed everyone but himself when it happened.

 

[gsmooth]

Kind of a delicate balance.

There isnt much positive for SU right now, so a dark outlook is reasonable, but i also can't stand the "media" members that are obviously buddies with the staff, and can find a justification for all of their shortcomings.

This has become a huge problem with all media: sports, politics, finance, etc...
If they like, or agree with the subject of their reporting, they'll ignore the bad stuff or find reasons that it couldn't be helped/was someone else's fault. But the good stuff will be celebrated as yet another reason to praise their guy(s).
Access is the other problem. There are so many media outlets right now that they all fight for the subjects access, and time. You won't get much if you're negative, and some other outlet will take your place.

Media is supposed to have an adversarial relationship with it's subjects. How much is the balance. But it used to be expected that they would at least report the objective truth. This doesn't seem to be the case anymore.

I've never listened to this guy, but i have heard a few clips. He may have been negative, and dark, but from what i heard, he wasn't wrong.

100% nailed it especially with access journalism. I don't type about politics here or where my political leanings are on sports websites. You know the saying "a picture is a 1,000 words"? I saw a picture one time of Tom Brokaw, the NBC Nightly news anchor Mon-Fri, of him laughing and socializing with President Reagan and other politicians. That right there showed me everything that was wrong with media. Those politicians should not be thinking of media members as their friends that they can socialize with, it doesn't have to be adversarial but it should lean towards being more adversarial than chummy.

Another example is a few months before the financial crisis in 2008 all the business media outlets (CNBC, Fox Business News, etc.) were parroting the words of CEOs of these investment banks that everything was fine, SMH. Why? Because they want the access to them. If they openly question what the investment bank C-Level execs tell them, they won't get another interview with them and they lose content to fill air time.

Sports journalism doesn't have to be adversarial like finance, politics, etc. but even if your company is getting funded by Jim Boeheim, you can't go on air and say he deserves another chance and that Syracuse looks like it's on the upward trajectory. You have to say their season sucked.

 

[olehead]

He's the owner of the company so he could do what he wants but seems like a hatchet job to me.

You mean axe job.

 

[EBonz30]

Not surprised he got the Axe….