If you are pissed about Mike Bonner's reporting...

[codeDawg]

Unfollow him. He has 6,609 follower right now. Click here and hit Unfollow: https://twitter.com/MikeBBonner This board can make at least a 10% cut in that. These journalist guys really get off on follower numbers, so it does matter.

Also, his boss is Zachary Creglow. Email him at zcreglow@jackson.gannett.com. Call him at (601) 961-7293. Tell him IN A CIVILIZED AND NON-CONFRONTATIONAL MANNER that you don't appreciate how MSU is represented in the paper and that you are choosing not to read it anymore. On top of that, don't read it anymore.

If you are feeling really froggy, here is a whole list of people and their contact info: http://www.clarionledger.com/about

IMPORTANT: Don't make this a political debate. This isn't about one kid's beliefs or statements. Don't even have that conversation. This is about not throwing MSU under the bus at every turn. This is about asking the paper for a beat reporter that represents our interests.

Message board whining does nothing to help. UM gets their way because they show up in real life.

[Political Hack]

IMPORTANT: Don't make this a political debate. This isn't about one kid's beliefs or statements. Don't even have that conversation. This is about not throwing MSU under the bus at every turn. This is about asking the paper for a beat reporter that represents our interests.

Thought this deserved a little more attention...

[MainEventDawg]

This is about not throwing MSU under the bus at every turn. This is about asking the paper for a beat reporter that represents our interests.

This should be a qualification to have a significant amount of access to our athletic department. And this un-written rule should go for any reporter/newspaper in our area.

[gtowndawg]

I unfollowed him last night and removed his blog from my bookmarks.

Honestly, there is nothing he puts out that Bob Clarksadon doesn't do better as a blog or Twitter. And Bob puts out information purely for the benefit of State and making us and our players look good.

Seriously, ignore Bonner until he leaves.

//Our media people really need to get on top of this and stop letting people like Bonner have access.

[codeDawg]

This should be a qualification to have a significant amount of access to our athletic department. And this un-written rule should go for any reporter/newspaper in our area.

There was a time when we needed the newspaper media more than they needed us. That time has passed. We control a tremendous amount of our own PR now thanks to social and digital media, and the paper is weaker than ever. There is no reason the athletic department can't handle media relations more aggressively than they are.

[RossDawg82]

This is exactly why you should have someone who is actually a Bulldog fan as the beat writer and not someone who is from Boston or wherever he came from

[MainEventDawg]

This is exactly why you should have someone who is actually a Bulldog fan as the beat writer and not someone who is from Boston or wherever he came from

I don't understand why the CL can't hire a MSU grad to cover MSU sports. Wouldn't having someone with first-hand knowledge of the university be beneficial for the position? It's like they purposely hire guys that are going to throw us some negative publicity before they move on to a better position in 1-2 years. The guys they have been hiring don't know shit about MSU and couldn't care less.

[codeDawg]

This is exactly why you should have someone who is actually a Bulldog fan as the beat writer and not someone who is from Boston or wherever he came from

You'll never get that. You just need to make sure the guy you do get knows what side of his bread is buttered. There's nothing wrong with Bonner, but he does need to understand this isn't an enterprise journalism spot. It's a beat writer job and for better or worse, fans / readers want homers in that role.

[Lloyd Christmas]

Can someone enlighten me as to what Bonner said that pissed people off?

[codeDawg]

Can someone enlighten me as to what Bonner said that pissed people off?

Just to be clear, this is about a track record of putting MSU in a negative light, not the most recent event.

[Lloyd Christmas]

OK..well what's the most recent event? I looked through the first couple pages of the board and couldn't really find anything.

[codeDawg]

OK..well what's the most recent event? I looked through the first couple pages of the board and couldn't really find anything.

One of our guys made a narrow minded statement on Twitter. Bonner stirred the pot.

Bonner is trying to manufacture relevancy and attention with a controversial subject. We should not be rewarding that.

[TheRef]

From what I can gather, a player commented on Twitter about the Michael Sam announcement.

[dawggoneit]

I haven't read anything anyone associated with that rag puts out since they totally ignored the crap the UMites pulled with their "driver" and the lost recruits. They are always eager to jump on any negative rumors about MSU but won't print anything negative about the bears unless there's no way to cover it up. Then they usually try to hide it deep within the fish wrap where no one will read it. Don't miss it at all!

[RossDawg82]

He basically said that he doesn't have a problem with homosexuals but thought that football was too dangerous of a sport to go home and lay with a man. He also apologized but that wasn't widely reported by MB. It was a remark made by an 18 year old kid who quickly deleted and apologized for it.

[The Croom Diaries]

This is a good thread. I don't think e-mailing the editor will do much honestly, I'm sure he was glad Bonner did this. The real point is getting MSU to put a stop to this. It would be easy if the C-L did like the Daily Journal and hire a guy like Logan Lowery, but I won't hold my breath. State needs to stop catering to these guys and start making things incredibly difficult for them to do their job.

[Goat Holder]

It will get worse before it gets better though, like everything else in life. If we played hard-ball and restricted access, you better be ready and willing to handle the backlash and negative reporting that the CL will do in retaliation. Get through that period, then you can change things.

[esplanade91]

Wasn't happy about him tweeting that last night (equally embarrassed at Rufus' tweet) but when he ICYMI'd it this morning I unfollowed. Glad I came over here and saw this.

[MainEventDawg]

There isn't much more negative they could post about without pissing off a lot of the customers they might have left. We already get the negative publicity when something happens. We just lay there and take it. We just need Stricklin and crew to make some bold moves.

[Goat Holder]

We're talking about a newspaper/site that doesn't realize that you can simply delete your history, and then view your '8 free articles' again. I really don't think they know any better. I bet they feel like they have a monopoly on MS news.

[MSUDawg4Life]

Wasn't happy about him tweeting that last night (equally embarrassed at Rufus' tweet) but when he ICYMI'd it this morning I unfollowed. Glad I came over here and saw this.

He posted it again? I was about to give him the benefit of the doubt, but if he's too stupid to let it go after fans have voiced their displeasure then he deserves to be blasted.

[codeDawg]

He posted it again? I was about to give him the benefit of the doubt, but if he's too stupid to let it go after fans have voiced their displeasure then he deserves to be blasted.

There is a fine line in "journalism". In today's world, taking a controversial or inflammatory stand gets attention, which gets clicks, which makes money. Here was someone else taking a controversial stand and all he had to do was retweet it to get attention.

He got what he was looking for. That blog post was probably the biggest post of his year so far. He was rewarded for it.

As BeatManSteve pointed out in his blog, it's not that it wasn't a story, or that it wasn't news, but that it was not a story OUR beat writer should be reporting on. It casts MSU in a negative light. Leave it to the UM reporter or some other outlet.

Don't point out when our players do something negative. Don't point out what the UM fans are chanting at a game. I'm not going to reward that behavior and you should not either.

[MSUDawg4Life]

There is a fine line in "journalism". In today's world, taking a controversial or inflammatory stand gets attention, which gets clicks, which makes money. Here was someone else taking a controversial stand and all he had to do was retweet it to get attention.

He got what he was looking for. That blog post was probably the biggest post of his year so far. He was rewarded for it.

As BeatManSteve pointed out in his blog, it's not that it wasn't a story, or that it wasn't news, but that it was not a story OUR beat writer should be reporting on. It casts MSU in a negative light. Leave it to the UM reporter or some other outlet.

Don't point out when our players do something negative. Don't point out what the UM fans are chanting at a game. I'm not going to reward that behavior and you should not either.

I think he was looking for an angle to bring MSU into the story. Unfortunately, one of our players gave him what he was waiting for. Controversial comments on a national topic. Voila! A MSU story related to that issue.

I think what many are angry about is should he have been trying to drag MSU into that issue? Should he have gone to the lengths he did to create that story (screen capture, etc.)?

[BeastMan]

I weighed in as well. http://3rdand57.com/my-take-on-mike-bonner-tweet/

My biggest issues are:
(1) why was deleted material posted
(2) If Bonner saw the initial tweets, why not RT them? If he missed them, where did his screenshots come from? CL staff or rival fans? Who pushed that story?
(3) if we're brutally honest, Warren is a 3rd or 4th TE option last year that had 1 catch. What he tweets is not MSU news. If Dak tweeted that, then yes it needs to be covered. If journalism is now in a place where we look for controversy from guys on the roster the average fan doesn't know, sad state.

[dickiedawg]

He basically said that he doesn't have a problem with homosexuals but thought that football was too dangerous of a sport to go home and lay with a man. He also apologized but that wasn't widely reported by MB. It was a remark made by an 18 year old kid who quickly deleted and apologized for it.

NOTHING was widely reported by MB. The apology was just as "widely reported" as the initial tweet; that is to say that he retweeted both of them. Folks are making a huge deal out of absolutely nothing in this case, Bonner was just doing his job.

[Fred Garvin]

I don't understand why the CL can't hire a MSU grad to cover MSU sports. Wouldn't having someone with first-hand knowledge of the university be beneficial for the position? It's like they purposely hire guys that are going to throw us some negative publicity before they move on to a better position in 1-2 years. The guys they have been hiring don't know shit about MSU and couldn't care less.

It is not his job to promote Mississippi State. His job is to sell newspapers. Stuff like this sells newspapers, gets hits on the C-L web page and gets his name in the national media. As far as he is concerned, there is no such thing as bad publicity. If what he did pisses you off enough, unfollow him and cancel your subscription to the C-L.

[codeDawg]

It is not his job to promote Mississippi State. His job is to sell newspapers. Stuff like this sells newspapers, gets hits on the C-L web page and gets his name in the national media. As far as he is concerned, there is no such thing as bad publicity. If what he did pisses you off enough, unfollow him and cancel your subscription to the C-L.

This is exactly right, and until we start voting with our feet as followers, subscribers, and especially advertisers, we'll keep getting the same product we get now.

[sandwolf]

We're talking about a newspaper/site that doesn't realize that you can simply delete your history, and then view your '8 free articles' again. I really don't think they know any better. I bet they feel like they have a monopoly on MS news.

Hahaha, exactly.