When I called Hagenbeck’s office looking to speak to either the
Superintendent or a designated official about the panel he formed, I was told by
Mr. Frank Demaro, a spokesman for the Academy that I would “have to go through
the sports information department.” But since the athletic department
won’t talk to GoMids.com about this or any subject (which Demaro confirmed),
West Point has lost a golden opportunity to explain this study group further to
their alumni and fans. At first I thought the Superintendent’s
office was giving me the “you are not an accredited member of the media”
treatment, but Demaro assured me that if I was Anderson Cooper calling from CNN
that he too would have to go through the athletic department. This is like
calling the White House Press Office and asking for a comment about the Iraq
Study Group that the President formed and the Press Office referring you to the
Pentagon.
A follow-up phone call to the Superintendent’s office to confirm their stance
on not commenting on the panel was not returned for several days prior to this
story appearing on GoMids.com
Could West Point be handling this
story any worse? The ironic part of their inability to get ahead of this
story or to even deal with me in a more professional manner is that I’m not out
to make them look bad. I’m not out for a “gotcha” story. I thought
it was a responsible journalistic question to ask the Superintendent what role
his athletic department was playing in his study group. How difficult
would it have been for their office to say that the Superintendent will be
working hand-in-hand with the athletic director throughout the process?
For whatever reason, they won’t. So now we are all left to speculate why
not. Why is West Point not talking? Why are they not talking about
the roles AD Kevin Anderson and head football coach Stan Brock are playing in
this study group?
Remember, the Superintendent’s office said that they weren’t treating me any
differently than CNN. So this isn’t a “you’re just GoMids.com”
thing. When it comes to the Superintendent’s study group, if your media
affiliation isn’t the Pointer View, the Superintendent has nothing to say on the
subject. At some point these questions will be answered, just like the
last question I asked of West Point which was, “Can you confirm that Kevin Ross
has been fired?” If the West Point brass is happy with how they handled
that situation than perhaps they will see nothing wrong with their
communications strategy with the study group. I respectfully beg to
differ.
I am hopeful that some official up at West Point reads this column and
realizes that the less they talk, the more it appears as they are hiding
something. Sure, the athletic department can continue to believe it is the
1980s and there is no such thing as the internet or responsible internet
reporters. They can continue to ignore me and hope that I will stop asking
questions, but I don’t think that is going to happen anytime soon. And
what is the Superintendent’s office’s excuse for not commenting? If they
think this study group is a good idea, and CNN or GoMids.com wants to give their
good idea some free ink then why not offer up a few sound bytes or quotes?
At a time when Army can’t buy positive media exposure for their football
program on the field, they are doing a great job of encouraging negative press
away from the field. Don’t their players, alumni and fans deserve
better?
If you care to comment on this column, please an email to Ausiellodp@yahoo.com