Franklin presser

[Jerry]

Well, there is no "responsible party" at PSU. Two adult males are accused of awful crimes. There is an alleged victim and two alleged perps. All of them have legal rights. PSU needs to let the process play out.

What people don't understand about law today is that you don't need a legit claim. This is especially true in cases where one party is a public figure and the reputation of the claim will cause irreparable harm. The woman, I am almost 100% certain, will make some kind of claim that PSU didn't protect her. That claim will never go to court and be settled but an sloppy statement by the coach could add to her claim. So if CJF said "man, we feel horrible for her" that would be used as evidence that they know they were capable and should be held in a civil penalty. Or if PSU said "we are aware of the situation and decided it warranted the men's dismissal" and for whatever reason they win their case, they'll sue PSU for defamation. And they'll win a substantial out-of-court settlement.

One of my best friends, the founder of the company I worked for, had an Xmas party with the senior leadership team. A woman got drunk and in some edgy conversations that included five people, she grabbed his hand and placed it on her breast. She was telling him she had the nicest breasts in the room. Two months later, she sued. His lawyer advised that she would lose in court because several people witnessed it, including me. But she would say he bought the drinks and purposely got her drunk so she'd be vulnerable. That would extend the case and damage his reputation. So he settled out of court for a low six-figure sum with an NDA. Three months later she made the claim that employees were pirating software and her lawyer tried to get an analysis done of every single employee's software to audit if it was licensed or pirated. At this point, the company realized that they had to fight lest have several more of these experiences. The company spent ~ $300k and two years to fight that lawsuit. That is just the hard numbers. They lost a ton more in soft dollars as various employees spent a lot of time working on it. A year later, a woman sued because she was not hired for a position claiming this was done because she was Asian. The company, based in LA, brought the lawyer in and gave him a tour. Not only was the owner Asian, but over 50% of the employees were Asian as well. LOL.

Interesting stories in your closing paragraph, Obli, but not at all surprising in this day and age.

As for your other points, you're right of course, but there is no debate about the fact that the only permissible answer in this situation...and we've heard it 100 times before in circumstances like this...is: "I'm not at liberty to comment on an ongoing legal matter."

Yesterday's manufactured media indignation had no quarrel with that response nor was it aimed at the reaction of the team and the university to the alleged incident a few months ago.

Rather, it was only about the optics...stepping away from the podium and having the flunky provide the canned statement instead of the coach.

As I said in a post above, these media guys need something for their daily dose of indignation and yesterday that was it. But there's no there there. The caravan is already moving on. However, I guess this was as good a way as any for us to while away the hours before the game tomorrow evening.

 

[LandoComando]

Or 20,000 posts. Can he/she get it done within 3 years? Magic 8 ball says yes.

I got that easy

 

[GregInPitt]

They only turn out to be about me when other people attack me instead of the issue at hand. Simple concept one would think

No one "attacks" you.

You state your opinion and others state theirs. If you could state yours independently without making it a response to anyone that has a different opinion than you do, you'd be treating threads more like what a message board seems intended to be. You seem to feel you are here to "correct" others opinions, but a message board is always full of opinions that differ, a concept you don't seem to "get". Trying to "correct" opinions is a waste of time and only makes you look foolish. That really is a simple concept. Unfortunately you don't seem to "get it"..........

 

[Obliviax]

Interesting stories in your closing paragraph, Obli, but not at all surprising in this day and age.

As for your other points, you're right of course, but there is no debate about the fact that the only permissible answer in this situation...and we've heard it 100 times before in circumstances like this...is: "I'm not at liberty to comment on an ongoing legal matter."

Yesterday's manufactured media indignation had no quarrel with that response nor was it aimed at the reaction of the team and the university to the alleged incident a few months ago.

Rather, it was only about the optics...stepping away from the podium and having the flunky provide the canned statement instead of the coach.

As I said in a post above, these media guys need something for their daily dose of indignation and yesterday that was it. But there's no there there. The caravan is already moving on. However, I guess this was as good a way as any for us to while away the hours before the game tomorrow evening.

that was told to the press before the presser started. they were told to contact PSU communications if they had any questions. So what did they do? They asked two questions, filmed it, and edited it so that the PSU stating that the coach would not take questions on this matter didn't show.

that is our media today.

 

[LandoComando]

No one "attacks" you.

You state your opinion and others state theirs. If you could state yours independently without making it a response to anyone that has a different opinion than you do, you'd be treating threads more like what a message board seems intended to be. You seem to feel you are here to "correct" others opinions, but a message board is always full of opinions that differ, a concept you don't seem to "get". Trying to "correct" opinions is a waste of time and only makes you look foolish. That really is a simple concept. Unfortunately you don't seem to "get it"..........

Read some of the comments. I don't care that they attack. Just shows they can make a valid argument but they do.
Some don't seem to comprehend what an opinion is...it is not an opinion that we handled this poorly so it got national attention. That's a fact.

 

[Obliviax]

Read some of the comments. I don't care that they attack. Just shows they can make a valid argument but they do.
Some don't seem to comprehend what an opinion is...it is not an opinion that we handled this poorly so it got national attention. That's a fact.

there was no way to handle it better. The video was parsed to show CJF being pissed off that no matter how many times the press was told that he wouldn't entertain questions on this subject, they continued to ask.

Remember, Joe said "In hindsight, I wish I had done more." This seems like a common sense comment when any disaster comes to light. yet, it was used to eviscerate Joe for years.

You can't win with today's press. I wonder why they still have Q&A sessions. Just come out, make a statement and walk off.

 

[LandoComando]

there was no way to handle it better. The video was parsed to show CJF being pissed off that no matter how many times the press was told that he wouldn't entertain questions on this subject, they continued to ask.

Remember, Joe said "In hindsight, I wish I had done more." This seems like a common sense comment when any disaster comes to light. yet, it was used to eviscerate Joe for years.

You can't win with today's press. I wonder why they still have Q&A sessions. Just come out, make a statement and walk off.

There was--Franklin stays at the podium and says "Please refer to the statement"
The head coach can never walk away--it looks like they're evading.
Paterno was correct when he said that and honest--he wished he would have done more. Of course he wished that. "The powers that be" are the ones that made that situation worse--not Paterno.
Franklin just had to say "We have no further comment. Next question"
He can't be angry about them asking him questions regarding this situation. He cowered--and that's what everyone is saying
Again, they don't dictate what the media can ask--how you handle that is what matters
Not Franklin's fault--horrible PR/MR department

 

[Obliviax]

There was--Franklin stays at the podium and says "Please refer to the statement"
The head coach can never walk away--it looks like they're evading.
Paterno was correct when he said that and honest--he wished he would have done more. Of course he wished that. "The powers that be" are the ones that made that situation worse--not Paterno.
Franklin just had to say "We have no further comment. Next question"
He can't be angry about them asking him questions regarding this situation. He cowered--and that's what everyone is saying
Again, they don't dictate what the media can ask--how you handle that is what matters
Not Franklin's fault--horrible PR/MR department

We'll have to agree to disagree. It was a no-win situation. PSU was lucky that this all flew under the radar until now. We can thank our lucky stars we have such eager beavers in the media when an incident like this, that has nothing to do with football, is made into a national event.

 

[ryoder1]

This notion that we now have some kind of PR nightmare situation where Franklin is going to be lambasted by the national media by not making a "no comment" comment seems way exaggerated and overly negative to me.

He could have and should have just said we have no comment, it is an ongoing legal matter. But they wanted to handle it the way it was done. I am fairly confident this was what he was told to do. Was it the right strategy? Probably not but that doesn't mean we all of a sudden have some kind of media crisis. I don't think that suddenly turns this story into some kind of huge national news story. Why? Because he walked to the side and had a statement read by someone else?

This is not a story in itself. The story is there are two former players accused of rape, etc. That is the story not Franklin deferring to a spokesperson to read a statement. If he had argued with one of the media members or had gotten visibly irritated with them or actually said something about the situation then that would have snowballed into national headlines.

 

[Obliviax]

This notion that we now have some kind of PR nightmare situation where Franklin is going to be lambasted by the national media by not making a "no comment" comment seems way exaggerated and overly negative to me.

He could have and should have just said we have no comment, it is an ongoing legal matter. But they wanted to handle it the way it was done. I am fairly confident this was what he was told to do. Was itt the right strategy? Probably not but that doesn't mean we all of a sudden have some kind of media crisis. I don't think that suddenly turns this story into some kind of huge national news story. Why? Because he walked to the side and had a statement read by someone else?

This is not a story in itself. The story is there are two former players accused of rape, etc. That is the story not Franklin deferring to a spokesperson to read a statement. If he had argued with one of the media members or had gotten visibly irritated with them or actually said something about the situation then that would have snowballed into national headlines.

that is, basically, what PSU said in the statement.

 

[mcpat]

I don’t know why, but too many people (IMO) give the media a pass for being jerks for the reason that they are “doing their jobs”.

I’m not buying it. Their jobs were to report the official statement. Did they really think they’d get more comment than that? No. They wanted to film an encounter that they were hoping would turn awkward and they got their wish.

They made the news that wasn’t otherwise there and then reported on it.

I’ve lost a lot of respect for one of the reporters. And if that’s what it’s always been like with that reporter and I didn’t know it, so be it. But I am unsubscribing and unfollowing.

I want to know about the football team from the beat reporters. That’s it. I don’t want them trying to embarrass the program.

 

[LandoComando]

We'll have to agree to disagree. It was a no-win situation. PSU was lucky that this all flew under the radar until now. We can thank our lucky stars we have such eager beavers in the media when an incident like this, that has nothing to do with football, is made into a national event.

They were on the football team when the event occurred--how does that have nothing to do with football?
Again, if this happened at Ohio State--we all know the reaction would be different.
None of this would have been a national event if Franklin stays at the podium and says, "We have no further comment regarding an on-going legal issue. Please refer to our statement." It's that he walked away.

 

[LandoComando]

This notion that we now have some kind of PR nightmare situation where Franklin is going to be lambasted by the national media by not making a "no comment" comment seems way exaggerated and overly negative to me.

He could have and should have just said we have no comment, it is an ongoing legal matter. But they wanted to handle it the way it was done. I am fairly confident this was what he was told to do. Was it the right strategy? Probably not but that doesn't mean we all of a sudden have some kind of media crisis. I don't think that suddenly turns this story into some kind of huge national news story. Why? Because he walked to the side and had a statement read by someone else?

This is not a story in itself. The story is there are two former players accused of rape, etc. That is the story not Franklin deferring to a spokesperson to read a statement. If he had argued with one of the media members or had gotten visibly irritated with them or actually said something about the situation then that would have snowballed into national headlines.

And the bold is the discussion--it was not the right strategy yet some are trying to defend it
It did turn into a huge story because he walked away from the podium--that's not an opinion--that's what happened.
Next week we play Ohio State is our biggest game of the year (their biggest game too) and you don't think because of that the national media is going to be asking him about it repeatedly?

 

[JWB389]

I don’t know why, but too many people (IMO) give the media a pass for being jerks for the reason that they are “doing their jobs”.

I’m not buying it. Their jobs were to report the official statement. Did they really think they’d get more comment than that? No. They wanted to film an encounter that they were hoping would turn awkward and they got their wish.

They made the news that wasn’t otherwise there and then reported on it.

I’ve lost a lot of respect for one of the reporters. And if that’s what it’s always been like with that reporter and I didn’t know it, so be it. But I am unsubscribing and unfollowing.

I want to know about the football team from the beat reporters. That’s it. I don’t want them trying to embarrass the program.

My observation….they HAD to come away with a story. PSU was not giving them a story on the crime. Instead, they made Franklin the story. Either way, they got a story….for clicks.

 

[Obliviax]

So here is a video on the statement before CJF took the mic at the presser...