It’s been a rough decade few years for James Dolan’s New York Knicks. Between the ignominious memorable Isiah Thomas/Stephon Marbury era, capped off by a deplorable very classy sexual harassment suit, and the last two years of active tanking prescient planning as part of Operation: Lebron, the Knicks have been hard-pressed for good press. Until now (and it only cost $650 million!).
Newsday Censors Self, Agrees James Dolan’s Knicks Are Super Awesome
↵When Dolan added Newsday to his media empire two years ago, realists conspiracy theorists wondered if the obvious conflict of interest between someone owning both a team and a paper covering that team would manifest itself in warmer and fuzzier coverage of said team. And they were...exactly right. Indeed, as the New York Observer reports, Newsday has instituted a new sycophantic hard-hitting policy for its sport pages:
↵↵The paper’s editors have told their writers there has to be a new, softer tone. They don’t want loaded words. They don’t want name-calling. They don’t want stories to be unnecessarily harsh.
↵↵In other words, they’re becoming PR flacks going to be fair and balanced! And while Dolan has predictably denied any meddling with Newsday’s newsroom, this anecdote certainly suggests otherwise:
↵↵Last year, Newsday’s editor at the time, John Mancini, reportedly walked out of the newsroom because of a dispute over how the paper was handling the Knicks.
↵↵No word yet on if/when Dolan will announce Ari Fleischer as the paper’s new sports editor.
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