Reporter Who Was Critical Of Steve Spurrier Replaced By Spurrier's Pal

[El Supremo]

For years now, Spurrier has had an ongoing, petty feud with The State's Ron Morris. Throughout the course of this feud Spurrier has done plenty of childish things. In 2011 he refused to answer questions at a press conference while Morris was in the room, and in 2012 he responded to one of Morris's more critical columns by threatening to quit. According to Romenesko, that last incident led to Morris being instructed by his bosses to stay out of all of Spurrier's press conferences. He also had to write an apology column.

And now, this:

“The publisher of the paper has removed Ron from any coverage of the football program, which down there is akin to the Washington Post not letting Dan Balz write about government,” one of Morris’s former colleagues told me. “Effectively, he’s being forced out at the behest of the football coach, with the publisher not standing up for him.”

Morris declined to talk to me, but others familiar with the situation — including former University of South Carolina and State staffers — described how The State’s publisher made his veteran columnist agree in writing that he would never again write about Gamecocks football or talk about the USC program on TV and radio shows.

“It was a journalism restraining order,” said one of Morris’s ex-colleagues.

It gets worse. Morris is being replaced on the Gamecocks beat by self-described "superfan" Glenn Snyder. And guess who freely admits to helping Snyder land this new gig: Steve fucking Spurrier.

http://deadspin.com/reporter-who-was-critical-of-steve-spurrier-replaced-by-1296297209

I'm very pro freedom of the press, and this absolutely stinks. Dave Krieger and Dave Logan on tonight's Drive Home said that they had never heard of such a repressive thing.

[madinmaryland]

1. Sorry, but sports writers are lapdogs to the local team. You bash the local team, you will

be looking for a new job in a New York Fucking Minute.

Sports writers aren't even "journos"

[KamaAina]

2. Doktor Hunter S. Thompson couldn't hold on to a sportswriting job on the base paper

at Eglin AFB in Florida. Because he had too much integrity. For that.

[trumad]

3. Agree...

That's why bloggers rule--- they don't give a shit.

[joeybee12]

4. And that's why local coverage is so nauseasting...