When I think about the Red Sox season, I think about the relationship between the beat writers of the Sox and the management of the team. It was clear throughout the entire season that many of the writers had inside sources within the organizations and that they were at the whim of these sources. Many of the articles talked about the players, and many of the articles took one individual and put all the blame on that one individual. There were very few articles from the major outlets, however, criticizing management and ownership. In fact, many of them made sure to exonerate any wrong-ship they had. Bobby Valentine, Josh Beckett, and Carl Crawford were the scapegoats for the team.
I think as a journalist you can never get cozy with your source. You can never fear them, fear that insulting them or being truthful about them will turn them away. If it does, then so be it. I think that points more towards how they are than you as a journalist. My feeling is that many of these Red Sox beat writers feared they would lose their inside sources within the Sox in the middle of a very newsworthy season. Unfortunately, the coverage suffered and we, the people, may not know the true story for a long time.
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