After Redskins' WR Michael Westbrook attacked teammate
Stephen Davis and repeatedly punched him at a team practice
yesterday, the Redskins "called at least two local TV
stations and asked them not to show footage of the fight,"
according to Richard Justice of the WASHINGTON POST. Mike
Cavender, VP/News of CBS-affil WUSA, said that Redskins Dir
of PR Mike McCall asked him not to use the tape. WUSA was
the only local station that got footage of the incident.
Cavender: "He did ask me not to use the tape, but I told him
I thought it was very newsworthy and in any event I planned
to use the video. He asked me not to air it, but I
declined." Fox-affil WTTG Asst. News Dir Scott Matthews
said he also received a call from the team, "but that he
told the Redskins official that the station 'would cover the
story as we saw fit.'" WJLA-ABC and WRC-NBC did not have
videotape of the fight, but reported the incident on their
newscasts. NFL Dir of Communications Greg Aiello said that
the league has no league-wide policy concerning the taping
of practices by the media (WASHINGTON POST, 8/20).
