Former NHL writer reveals how the league censures its own reporters!

Fans are outraged by these revelations ahead of the postseason.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 3 years ago
Former NHL writer reveals how the league censures its own reporters!
Twitter

I don’t think this will come as a shocker to fans out there: the National Hockey League gets a kick out of controlling the information that gets out to fans across America. However on Friday, former NHL.com writer Sean Shapiro, who now works for The Athletic in Dallas, revealed all of the restrictions he faced when working under the league and commissioner Gary Bettman, and the list is quite surprising. 

Shapiro made it public on his Twitter and fans were outraged to see all that is being controlled and published on NHL.com: 

  • you couldn’t use the word concussion unless the team uses it directly. You also aren’t allowed to write about fights. One time I put a fight in game copy and got an email back from copy editor reminding me how I was breaking the rules.
  • all moves (and not that there would be any trades or signings in bubble) had to be officially done by the teams. So if you got a scoop or heads up on something, you couldn’t write about it until there was a press release.
  • the writing portion of NHL.com can tell some great stories, I wrote some things that are in clips I used to get future jobs. But it is a part of the league’s designed image, just like team writers are really part of of marketing in the end.
  • and this is ok, teams and league should market themselves. But it’s also something that’s important to remember when the league says stories will be told about the bubble and those people telling the stories allowed into the bubbled are on their payroll with NHL agenda.
  • I couldn’t go into the bubble now with my family situation. But the fact NHL wouldn’t allow PHWA’s request for 3 reporters to get into hub to match  NHL.com coverage is an issue.
  • last thing, we’ve had no issues with Stars PR on any of this or in camp in Dallas. They’ve done a good job and have been great to work with. This is an NHL issue, not a team specific one.

Shapiro did not share these informations to burn the reporters at NHL.com, he admits that they do a good job, and imagine how hard it is with those restrictions! He only hopes fans won't get misinformed during the 24-team playoff tournament.

I get that a control of information gets done for any large institution that generates a lot of profit and involves many people. Am I worried that no independent journalistic team will be present to bring nuance to the coverage of the NHL? 

Yes, definitely…

But, there’s nothing we can do about it… 

Source: Twitter