With the specious claim that it was forced into the move, FC Cincinnati decided to make its feud with journalist Laurel Pfahler public on Thursday night.
Pfahler, who runs the independent website Queen City Press, said last week that the club revoked her credential for two weeks, but declined to elaborate on the reason.
Now, we do know why the MLS club decided to suspend a member of the press who, by all accounts, is entirely well respected and ethical in her conduct.
In short, Pfahler was suspended for not toeing the company line.
That is the only conclusion that can be drawn from two competing statements that came out on Thursday — one from the club and one from Pfahler.
The statement from FCC was full of insidious-sounding allegations, but light on any actual detail.
“We had no intention of making this story public,” the club said, before doing exactly that.
“However, since Laurel Pfahler has driven public attention to the matter, we have no choice but to provide answers to the many questions our fans are asking,” it added, before providing no actual answers.
“Laurel has failed to act in accordance with the standards and practices of the Society of Professional Journalists and the MLS Notice of Credentials Use Conditions,” it continued.
As Awful Announcing pointed out, that first thing doesn’t even exist.
“She refuses to accept responsibility for her actions, despite multiple conversations and attempts at working together to forge a productive relationship between her and the club. Out of professional decorum, we will not be sharing the details publicly.”
This is a situation that should have been handled behind closed doors. With the MLS club declining to take that very logical decision, it is very much not “professional decorum” to publicly accuse a reporter of violating their ethical duties without providing any other details.
Thankfully, Pfahler ended her policy of silence around the situation in a statement of her own.
“I will not stand for bullying but for now this is my lone response to FC Cincinnati’s statement of attack on me in response to others standing up for me,” she said on X.
“I strongly disagree with the statement that I violated any journalism ethics or MLS Credential guidelines. Last week, when I asked for examples as to why I had lost credentials, I was told three situations where I spoke to sources outside of the facility or team approved interviews. I do not believe simply talking with sources within the team is how to cover a professional franchise. I believe the fans deserve more.”
— Laurel Pfahler (@LaurelPfahler) March 14, 2024
Basically, what Pfahler claims she is accused of is doing journalism.
This, crucially, is not the first time FC Cincinnati has allegedly acted this way toward the media. It seems that the club hasn’t yet recognized the value of independent media coverage, which is baffling from a franchise that quite recently finished dead last in MLS for three seasons in a row.
Pfahler was there for those lean years, giving the club consistent coverage during a time when many others wouldn’t. Even now, when FC Cincy is one of the best teams in MLS, there are no more than a handful of reporters who cover the team on a consistent basis.
FC Cincinnati has chosen to alienate one of those and the fans who follow her, making itself look very small in the process.
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