The New York Knicks have found the New York Daily News coverage of the team to be too critical, which led to journalists from the paper to be banned from the teamโs post-draft press conference on Friday.
Indications are that this was at the direction of owner James Dolan as he has slammed the paper and barred reporters before.
The outcry was swift and on Saturday the Professional Basketball Writers Association was harshly critical of the franchise for its decision.
โThe New York Knicksโ decision to ban New York Daily News journalists from RJ Barrettโs and Ignas Brazdeikisโ introductory news conference Friday was unprofessional and unacceptable,โ the organization said in a statement. โJames Dolan, the owner of the Knicks franchise, previously has said that barring Daily News employees from media availabilities sends the Daily News โa message.โโ
"In reality, the only message he is sending is that he is a bully who retaliates against legitimate news outlets that publish content he dislikes. Members of the Professional Basketball Writers Association support our Daily News colleagues, and we condemn the Knicksโ attempts to hinder journalistsโ ability to do their jobs and inform the public.โ
Itโs no secret that Dolan is famously sensitive to criticism of his ownership. All it ever does is bring him bad publicity.
The Knicks won 17 games in 2018-19 and havenโt had a winning season since 2012-13, which is also the last time they made the playoffs. Theyโve won just one playoff series since reaching the Eastern Conference finals in 2000.
So yeah, I could see why he would want every newspaper too mad at him to cover his terrible team.
Source: Larry Brown Sports
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