Restoring your trust in my reporting...

[DanMcQ]

This should be interesting...

www.bostonherald.com/blogs/sports/patriots/index.php/2008/05/14/an-explanation-is-coming/

An explanation is coming

Readers of this space have probably been asking themselves, “Where the hell is Tomase?” over the last couple of days and it’s a fair query. Right now I’m just landing from Washington and working on a story about Arlen Specter’s press conference regarding his interview with Matt Walsh.

While that is going to have me tied up for the rest of the night, I just wanted to make one thing clear — I know I screwed up on the Rams taping story and I don’t intend to hide behind today’s apology or an editor’s note. In Friday’s Herald I will explain as clearly as I can where that story went wrong and begin the journey of restoring your trust in my reporting.

I cannot in good conscience demand accountability of the people I cover and then not provide it myself. So it’s coming on Friday. Just be patient.

John

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 14th, 2008 at 5:24 pm and is filed under General.

[DanMcQ]

"Tomase's explanation"

www.bostonherald.com/sports/football/patriots/view.bg?articleid=1094427&srvc=home&position=0

First and foremost, this is about a writer breaking one of the cardinal rules of journalism. I failed to keep challenging what I had been told.

I had repeatedly heard that this walkthrough had been taped, and from people I trusted. Eventually I accepted it as fact and stopped questioning the assertion.

***

We worked on the story throughout the day on Feb. 1, and by just before 9 p.m. felt we had a version on which we could call the Patriots for comment. The timing was another misstep. The call should have been made much sooner. I felt we had to know exactly what we were intending to print before trying to get a reaction. Patriots PR director Stacey James scrambled to find the right people, and eventually told us the coaches had no knowledge of it. The team was steamed, and I was told, “You’d better be sure.”

Caught up in the moment, I was excited to break a big story, but I had been so wrapped up in the process that I hadn’t stepped back to consider the ramifications.

Walsh’s name set off alarms. He worked for the Pats during the 2001 season and his name had been floated amongst the rumors. Many believed he had filmed the walkthrough.

My determination to get the story had been re-stoked. I began reaching back out to sources.

One that I trust said he had been told the walkthrough was taped. A second said he had been told the same thing, but neither had seen a tape.

I already had been able to verify that a member of the team’s video staff had been setting up a camera at the walkthrough, but on the final, crucial point of whether the camera was actually rolling, I made a devastating leap of logic and assumed that’s what I was being told rather than confirming it explicitly. I considered the fact that it was taped unassailable.

And this is the exact point at which the story broke down.

***

I should not have written the story without seeing the tape or getting multiple, firsthand confirmations from members of the organization.

No one forced me to write that story, and it’s important to note I do not believe I was ever lied to. I believe my sources intended to provide accurate information, and it was incumbent on me to vet it more fully.

...and he intends to continue to cover the Patriots as a beat writer. Good luck with that.

[kghoya]

we should have an all everything boston subforum