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Writers boycotting NHL
Awards in support of Botta |
The Professional Hockey Writers Association chapters that cover the Islanders, Rangers and Devils "have voted to boycott the voting process" for the annual NHL Awards "over the fact the Islanders arbitrarily revoked the media credentials" of former VP/Media Relations Chris Botta, according to Ken Campbell of THE HOCKEY NEWS. Botta had been writing for outlets including Fanhouse.com, and complicating the issue is the fact the Islanders "had initially paid Botta to do a blog and later stopped funding it, but Botta continued it." The NHL is "said to be weighing its options, but all indications are that other writers ... will cast ballots for the awards and the matter will be dealt with in the summer with commissioner Gary Bettman." The Devils and Islanders chapters "each voted 5-0 to boycott," while the Rangers writers voted 7-3. Additionally, one voting member from Nashville "announced Monday he will join the boycott." That "will remove 21 people from the voting process, which leaves somewhere in the neighborhood of 160 voters." Campbell wrote, "My experience is fans are not terribly interested in how the media is treated by teams. ... But what fans should care about is the integrity of the awards. The players should, too, because not only does it have ramifications when it comes to their compensation, we're also talking about their legacies here." Campbell added, "There seems to be a notion the process will be tainted somewhat by the fact that three chapters representing 20 writers will not be voting." However, writers "have proved time and again that geography and familiarity have no bearing on the results of the year-end votes" (
THEHOCKEYNEWS.com, 4/4).
BLUE JACKETS WRITERS JOIN THE CAUSE: USA TODAY's Gary Graves reports the Blue Jackets chapter of the PHWA this week "joined a boycott by the three New York-area chapters," and "all told, 27 writers are withholding their votes." PHWA President Kevin Allen, who covers hockey for USA Today, said, "What we all agreed on is that we need the league to address the Chris Botta situation. But writers don't all agree on whether or not this should be tied to voting." Until the boycott arose, Botta "had been silent on the issue and appeared to have accepted the decision and moved on." But in a post to islanderspointblank.com, he "called the team's take on the boycott creative but stressed he did not urge the writers association's New York chapters to abstain from voting, a move he said was initiated three months ago" (USA TODAY, 4/6).
SHOULD WHOLE GROUP BOYCOTT? SI.com's Stu Hackel wrote, "It's too bad that the entire PHWA won't boycott, although it issued a strong statement ... to say that it was 'adamantly opposed to -- and distressed' by both the Islanders decision and the NHL's unwillingness to intervene on Botta's behalf to defend independent coverage of the sport by journalists as a whole." The PHWA said that it "will honor its agreement with the league to conduct the awards voting." But the group warned the Islanders' action and the league's acquiescence "if allowed to stand and become precedent, signals an end to the league's agreement that independent and objective coverage not only benefits its fan base, but the NHL itself" (SI.com, 4/4).
