Decorated sports journalist and U.S. Senate candidate in Minnesota Michele Tafoya weighed in this week on the latest saga between a New York Times reporter and a National Football League coach.
In an interview with the Ruthless Podcast released on Friday morning, Tafoya described her experience in the profession and offered a stark assessment of the state of journalism today.
“The landscape has changed a little bit,” the former Sunday Night Football sideline reporter said in the interview. “You go to the NFL owners’ meetings, and they’re at a resort. I was covering the stuff, and if I was going to put on a swimsuit, I went off with my husband on some corner of the beach.”
Tafoya’s comments come days after Diana Russini of the New York Times’ Athletic resigned from her post after Page Six published photos of her and New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel holding hands at a resort in Arizona.
In comments to Page Six, both Russini and Vrabel denied any impropriety.
Podcast co-host John Ashbrook noted that it’s not just sports journalism that is lacking professionalism these days.
“We are talking on the heels of this big Eric Swalwell story and a lot of criticism being levied at political journalists for overlooking that story for a number of years,” Ashbrook began. “I know you’ve worked in the business for a very long time, and I just wonder if you think it’s fixable. Do you think there’s a path back to the normal journalism we sort of grew up with?”
Tafoya responded by acknowledging that clickbait and attention-grabbing pamphlets have a long history before expressing her thoughts on the current state of the industry.
“I don’t know if it’s fixable,” Tayofa responded to Ashbrook. “I am encouraged that a guy like Nick Shirley can saunter into Minnesota with an iPhone and his dad and break out this story that was actually there.”
Tafoya’s skepticism is backed by recent public polling. Trust in the media is at an all-time low. A Gallup poll found that only 28% of Americans have trust in traditional media outlets to report the news in an accurate and fair manner.
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The longtime broadcaster is joined in the Republican primary by Retired Navy SEAL Adam Schwarze and former University of Minnesota and NBA basketball player Royce White. The winner will likely face either Representative Angie Craig or Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan, who are currently competing in the Democratic primary.
Schwarze and White have been invited for interviews on the podcast.
Tafoya’s appearance on Ruthless was a part of the Ruthless Midterm Interview Series, an ongoing initiative to interview major GOP candidates. The hosts have already interviewed candidates in 13 states, with more scheduled as primaries across the country take place ahead of the November midterms.
Minnesotans will head to the polls on August 11th for the Republican and Democratic Senate primary elections. The general election will take place on November 3rd.
