Thrasher, FSU pushing back on inaccurate reports

This article is a few weeks old, but there was a nugget hidden in it, one completely ignored in ACC territory, that is THE issue IMHO that FSU needs to push and honestly, it is pure BS FSU has to mention it....the ACC should of figure this out themselves, but it is a rudderless, leaderless conference:
 FSU officials also have been concerned about overly negative coverage from cable sports giant ESPN, and Thrasher said the university is working on that front as well. Football coach Jimbo Fisher has spoken directly with ESPN personalities regarding his concerns, and Thrasher said FSU athletics director Stan Wilcox has reached out to enlist the help of the ACC, which has a corporate partnership with ESPN."I think we've gone through the right channels," Thrasher said. "[ACC Commissioner] John Swofford seems to be interested in ensuring that we get a fair shake with ESPN."


The fact the ACC's own conference seemed to be feeding on the ACC's lone threat to the SEC....well, it is all about money isn't it?  The ACC needs to wake the hell up.

Thrasher, FSU pushing back on inaccurate reports



"During a political career spanning more than 25 years, Florida State University President John Thrasher has had a front-row seat to view media coverage of a wide variety of topics -- some good, some bad and some in-between.
Through it all, he said, he has maintained a fondness and appreciation for newspapers and the news media in general. He said he believes a free press is a cornerstone of American society. That doesn't mean media outlets should be allowed to report half-truths or untruths without some sort of response, however. So after observing the hyper-critical coverage of Florida State's athletic program and quarterback Jameis Winston during the past several months, Thrasher is leading FSU on a counter-offensive.Thrasher, who took office in November, gave a brief overview of his approach to FSU's Board of Trustees during a conference call on Monday. He further discussed his plans during an interview with Warchant.com on Tuesday. Thrasher explained that he already was frustrated by reporting by the New York Times and others when he arrived in California before the Rose Bowl and read a piece by longtime Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke. In his column, Plaschke took turns ripping FSU's players, coaches and administration, and said the perception of the university is "an academic joke.""I was really upset," Thrasher recalled Tuesday. After gathering some staff members who had made the trip, Thrasher crafted a rebuttal to the newspaper, detailing some of the university's many accomplishments."In truth," the letter stated, "FSU is an elite public research university with highly ranked academic programs, a very distinguished faculty that has included six Nobel laureates, and extremely talented students who graduate eager to change the world."That letter, which was published a few days after the game, was only the beginning. Just two months into his term as president, Thrasher has assigned Browning Brooks, FSU's interim vice president in charge of communications, to work on an "overall approach for rebranding" in the wake of the Winston saga. "One of the things I really felt like we needed to do was be a little more aggressive in our response to some of the things that were out there that, frankly, were not accurate," Thrasher said.The focus of the initiative will be on better explaining the university's side of its ongoing Title IX investigation, which stems from a December 2012 sexual assault allegation against Winston, and also detailing the many positive accomplishments of the university. Thrasher said he has been bothered not only by the many opinion pieces that have criticized the university but also the inaccurate reporting in many of the news stories."A little surprised, honestly, at some of the reporting that was done," Thrasher said. "I think there were some folks out there, frankly, that were trying to make names for themselves, and they were using this as an issue to promote their agenda. I think that's regrettable."You look back at the record - I'm not going to defend Jameis or not defend him. But I'm defending Florida State University and what we did. And I think what we did was appropriate. From the standpoint of when we first knew about it to the standpoint of the state attorney looking into it and the local police, the Tallahassee police, to our own Code of Conduct hearing, which was done by, I consider, probably the preeminent person in the state in respect and integrity, and that's (former Florida Supreme Court justice) Major Harding."Thrasher's approach is a change of course for the university. During the months before he took office, FSU officials were reluctant to fire back at negative reports. And Thrasher said he understood that approach, especially since the university wanted to be respectful of Winston's accuser, who was an FSU student before withdrawing from school."But now that we've been sued by the individual," Thrasher said, "I think we can kind of let it flow a little bit more, in terms of what we believe we were doing and what we think we've done correctly. So that's kind of the approach I'm taking on that issue."But on the other side, there's so much good to talk about, in terms of what FSU's doing. Whether it's the MagLab, whether it's our law school, whether it's our school of business, which is going to be a world-class place when we get it built. Bringing in the kind of folks we do, and the research that we're doing here, all of those things are very positive. So I'm looking forward to getting out and talking about that."As part of FSU's new strategy, which is still being fleshed out, Thrasher and other university representatives plan to visit newspaper editorial boards, write more frequent letters and columns for media outlets, and also meet with other groups to spread the university's message.Thrasher believes FSU already has seen one positive from pushing back. After complaining to the New York Times about an article on Winston's Code of Conduct hearing, the Times' public editor wrote a follow-up piece saying she agreed that the article was not handled correctly.

Video: 1-on-1 with freshman QB J.J. Cosentino

"I thought that was really positive," he said.FSU officials also have been concerned about overly negative coverage from cable sports giant ESPN, and Thrasher said the university is working on that front as well. Football coach Jimbo Fisher has spoken directly with ESPN personalities regarding his concerns, and Thrasher said FSU athletics director Stan Wilcox has reached out to enlist the help of the ACC, which has a corporate partnership with ESPN."I think we've gone through the right channels," Thrasher said. "[ACC Commissioner] John Swofford seems to be interested in ensuring that we get a fair shake with ESPN." Note: This is the first of two articles from our interview with FSU President John Thrasher. The next piece will focus on his thoughts on athletics, including views on skyrocketing coaches' salaries and the need to invest in the programs. "