Ballclub banishes beat reporter

Once again, journalists are not being respected, this time by the Los Angeles Angels.

April 3 saw the team’s radio station inform Sam Blum, a beat reporter for The Athletic, that he would not be welcomed back to the “Beat Reporter Roundtable” because he was too negative towards the team.

As journalists, we are taught from the beginning to always be unbiased and to report the news the way it is intended to be reported.

Blum does the same by reporting on the good — a Shohei Ohtani home run while pitching — and the bad — Anthony Rendon getting into an altercation with a fan.

I’m an Angels fan and every week there seems to be something negative about the team. However, every outlet reports on the subject, not just Blum.

The problem with the franchise is the lack of transparency and inability to keep a clean reputation.

This situation with Blum will likely be forgotten next week and the Angels will slowly develop more positivity on their radio network. But there won’t be anybody to tell it like it is.

Blum himself has said the organization has a “toxic positivity” to it, meaning the franchise is unwilling to say anything negative about itself or admit there are problems. For a team that hasn’t been to the playoffs in eight years, there has to be some accountability.

Unfortunately, the Angels will likely never say there’s a problem.

That itself is an issue. When the franchise is unwilling to admit they’re wrong, the media finds a new story to talk about and most of the time it’s negative.

The Angels shouldn’t ignore the criticism, they should learn from it. People grow because their mistakes are highlighted and they learn from it.

Fortunately, other beat reporters like Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register and Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com are standing in solidarity with Blum and are choosing to leave the radio segment.

Journalists have to stand up for each other and make sure that no team can get away with censoring someone because the organization doesn’t like what is being reported.

One day I hope the national and local media can find something positive to report on for the Angels because I want my team to finally see some good come it’s way.

However, if journalists covering the team are being blacklisted because the franchise cannot stand being called out for its issues, then the cycle will continue.

RCC’s baseball team beat LA Mission College with an 18-3 win on April 4. The team is 23-5 overall and 11-1 in conference play.

Softball

The softball team defeated Golden West 17-9 on April 4. The Tigers have an overall record of 11-15 and are 7-7 in the conference.

To stay up to date on upcoming campus events, visit the Viewpoints calendar listed at viewpointsonline.org.

If you have events happening on campus that you want featured on the calendar, send information about the event to sports. viewpointsonline@gmail. com.