I am just saying wrote:
Phil Hersh will learn that this type of bias by a reporter/journalist is self policing.
It should be self-policing, but that depends on the commitment of his future interview subjects to stand up to his a$$holish behavior. Few athletes are going to do that, because they feel the attention is more important than principle. They may even have agents and sponsors angry at them for refusing to talk to media. Phil Hersh knows this, and is unconcerned.
Just like when Jim Gray verbally attacked Pete Rose duirng a "greatest players of all time" award ceromony before a baseball game and then the next night he was on air live to interview a star of a game and the player wouldn't talk to him because of how he treated Pete.
I wish our athletes would have the balls to do that. But they don't.
We'll have an American that wins Chicago again one day and that person will probably think twice about talking with Herch, given his combatitive attitude towards American runners.
Maybe. They will still answer Phil's questions, because Phil will be fawning all over them and being "nice".
Phil needs to remember that he should report on the story, not to try and become the story or at least part of it.
Road racing is a minor sport, and Phil Hersh is a major reporter (in his own eyes). He feels he is doing our sport a favor by reporting on it, and while he claims to be a fan, he is not above being an "angry, vengeful god" and writing or not writing about our athletes in whatever way he chooses.
I've tried this approach to a sports reporter in an "Area Man Beats Kenyans!" situation, and let me tell you, the reporter holds all the cards. A sport writer is absolutely hardened to criticism, and looks at it like a tiger looks at a toddler if you try to shut down their access to a story. At the end of the day, they control perception, and you control nothing.
The only way that athletes can change Phil Hersh's behavior is by refusing to comment as a group. If he can't do his job, it's a problem for him, and possibly for his editors, especially if the story still gets out via other media outlets. There are plenty of good reporters who can do the job in a respectful, mutually beneficial fashion, while still asking challenging questions.
Phil Hersh, you're not needed, and if I have my way, you're not welcome, either.