Those of us in the news business are only as good as our sources. And every source can, if the source wants, build up trust over a period of time and then turn it on its head.
Former Titans coach Mike Mularkey did just that, nearly six years ago. He recently said on a podcast that he thought he was about to be fired, so he told Ian Rapoport of NFL Media that Mularkey was about to get a contract extension. Rapoport went with it, and Rapoport got burned.
Mularkey didn’t do it to hurt Rapoport. Mularkey did it as basically a practical joke on the powers-that-be in Tennessee. Just as they’re getting ready to fire him, the media outlet the Titans partially own say he’s about to get a new contract.
Rapoport addressed the situation last night on NFL Network. After playing the clip, Rapoport said this: “That is not cool. That’s not funny. I was a younger reporter than, and the amount of online hate and ridicule I got because Mike Mularkey thought it would be funny to get back at his old boss. It was not fun. . . . I don’t blame Mike Mularkey, but I want to. And that was not cool and that was not funny and we should treat truth better than that.”
He’s right. It was a dick move by Mularkey. Rapoport’s reputation became a pawn in the chess game that Mularkey was playing with the Titans. Mularkey should not have done it, and he should be called out for doing it.
But there’s more here to ponder. First, Rapoport fell victim to Mularkey’s ruse because, in the age where first trumps accuracy, sports reporters routinely get a false start on the Twitter thumb race by not confirming a piece of information with a second source. I see it all the time. I’ve done it. If you trust the source, that’s good enough because if you take the time to confirm that a source who is always right is right again, you lose the ability to impress your editors and producers.
It’s why we see, for example, five different people tweet the same thing within minutes of each other. The source (usually an agent) texts them simultaneously. They all run with it. Seeking confirmation isn’t an afterthought; it’s a never-thought.
Some actually copy and paste the text into Twitter, as a way to hit publish faster.
This must-be-first attitude — and Mularkey quite possibly targeted Rapoport because Mularkey sensed Rapoport wouldn’t seek confirmation from the team — makes misplaced trust an occupational hazard.
Mularkey is hardly the first source to lie to a reporter. We know of multiple people who deliberately manipulate reporters with a steady stream of truth, followed by a well-timed strategic lie.
Of course, this issue is separate and independent from the contract-reporting BS in which most national insiders engage. It’s one thing for the reporter to know he’s being lied to by the source. It’s different when the reporter knows it’s a lie and pushes it anyway, because if he doesn’t others will. Others are, if the reporter even bothers to press pause and ponder the ethical dilemma.
So, yes, Mularkey was wrong. But the industry has created an environment where this can and does happen, because nobody confirms the scoops that are routinely fed to them with a spoon. Confirmation takes time and time is the ultimate currency in the 280-character Dash.
