One of Gregg Doyel's Fellow Journos Saying He Should've Threatened to Quit Over His Caitlin Clark Punishment is the Best Unintentional Comedy of 2024
It was just under a month ago that disgraced Journo and long time Deflategate Truther welcomed the most celebrated professional athlete of the current moment with a greeting in her introductory press conference that would get the average man a court-ordered ankle bracelet and an order to stay at least 1,000 feet away from all schools.
Finding themselves painted into a creepy corner alongside their socially awkward misfit employee, Indy Star did what media outlets tend to do when they have literally no other option: The right thing. They put him in the time out chair to give him the chance to think about what he'd done. And reportedly took him off Caitlin Clark Stalking Duty for the foreseeable future. Hardly the most unfair punishment, all things considered.
But never let it be said Journos don't look out for other Journos. And Gregg with 3 G's just got a bold and courageous show of support from one of his own, Greg (With Two G's) Cote of the Miami Herald:
"I don’t believe what he did was a journalistic felony. I believe it was a dumb misdemeanor. But it’s a felonious penalty when you tell the lead columnist in a city welcoming its new big star that he can’t write about her indefinitely. I wouldn’t stand for that.
"If the Miami Herald tried to tell me that and the role was reversed, I would use whatever leverage I had to say, ‘That’s not standing with me.’ You need to threaten to quit. You need to make a mess of this if you need to.
"They can’t tell me what I can cover and what I can’t cover because I misspoke at an introductory press conference."
Doyel needs to threaten to quit. In the words of the most trusted person in the history of America's news media:
The thing is, I can respect Cote for taking the unpopular opinion on this. He could've stayed out of it. He could've done the safe thing and taken a knee. But out of either a sense of loyalty to a member of his profession or because he genuinely believes a wrong has been done, he chose the path of most resistance. That's commendable. And perhaps a legitimate case can be made that Indy Star overreacted to a situation that could've been settled with Doyel's apology. Reasonable people can differ as to whether the punishment fits the crime in this case.
But threaten to quit? Holy smokes, what year is this? Because unless we're experiencing some sort of temporal displacement, it's still 2024. Which makes it about the 12th consecutive year when outlets like Indy Star have been drowning in red ink and people like these two have been getting laid off by the thousands. Eliminated in cost cutting moves. Replaced by wire service reports. Their column space being handed over to AI bots. Go into any editor's office and declare, "That’s not standing with me" and they'll have security escort you to the door without giving you time to pack your shit.
Leverage for these guys went out the window about 50 bad earnings reports ago. But it's like they don't read their own websites. If they did, they'd understand the reality of their situations and how untenable their employment is. They've all convinced themselves they're the Journos from the movies. Redford and Hoffman in All the President's Men. Pacino in The Insider. Keaton in Spotlight. Heroic figures who stood up and laid their careers on the line, willing to speak truth to power because giving the people the information they deserve is their life's mission. When the reality is, Doyel writes about the WNBA and the Colts. And if he did offer to quit, they'd likely not even post a job opening. They'd just let some intern report on what the score of the Fever game was and how many 3-pointers Clark had.
But sure, keep living in your little fantasy world bubble. The rest of us will be here watching your once proud industry collapse in on itself.