rozel lee fired
The Tribune reports that their own prep sports reporter Rozel Lee was fired for voting “incorrectly.”
The Guy Toph Award goes annually to the best high school athlete in Hillsborough County. The winner is determined by votes from high school coaches and 19 journalists. Those voters are supposed to rank the top eight players, and take the kids’ athletics, leadership and academics into consideration.
But instead of ranking them, Lee voted the second best player (in her opinion) last. Seems that she knew (or guessed) that plenty of other voters would have chosen Jarred Fayson pretty high, and she wanted Marcello Trigg to win the award.
The tactic worked. Marcello Trigg won the award, and Jarred Fayson finished second*, only two points behind Trigg. Because of the way votes are counted, Fayson would have won had Lee ranked him fifth or higher. Lee was the only voter to rank him lower than fifth.
According to Janet Weaver, Lee was fired because “Journalists are not supposed to influence the things we cover. It moves us from covering the news to making it.”
Sticks of Fire official position: That’s a bunch of crap.
Any vote by any journalist is in fact an influence on an outcome. It’s not unusual in any sport for writers to vote for all manner of awards. NHL’s 3 stars of the game, MVP awards, even entry to various Halls of Fame are determined partly (or in whole) by media covering the sport.
If it is Rozel Lee’s job to vote in a poll, she should have the authority to vote any way she wants without fear of getting fired.
Of course, any voter found attempting to manipulate the system should be immediately stricken of that ability. But not fired.
Rozel, if you want to continue to write about local prep sports, I have a spot for you right here on Sticks of Fire. No voting required.
*Because of the controversy, there’s talk of giving a second award this year to Jarred Fayson.
Tags: citizens, newspapers, sports, tampa
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February 6th, 2006 at 7:17 pm
This sounds kind of underhanded. We are talking about kids right? I am not sure I would want this person working for me either.
February 6th, 2006 at 7:22 pm
I don’t buy the “influence the things we cover” story for a sports writer either. However, Lee wasn’t given a vote by virtue of her sportswriting talent alone-her position with the paper got her that and she had an obligation to the players (who were mostly minors I would think and therefore worthy of extra consideration) and her employer who has every right to expect she play by the rules-both their letter and spirit. I think firing was the right sanction.
February 6th, 2006 at 9:43 pm
Seven Deadly Sins of Journalism…
Tommy Duncan blogs on how Tampa Tribune prep sports reporter Rozel Lee was fired for creatively fixing her votes so Marcello Trigg would win the Guy Toph Award. Tommy explains, “But instead of ranking them, Lee voted the second best player (in her op….
February 7th, 2006 at 10:17 am
I am with you on this … mostly. Is it Rozell’s fault that the voting system is inherently flawed? I mean, who on earth would have decided to set up a system where you can vote for the best, but also rank someone low to affect their overall votes. It’s just madness, and it’s retarded. Did Rozell take advantage of a crappy system? Yes. Should she be fired? No. Should she be disciplined? Yes. I mean, why not just do a listing of the top 3, rank them by points with your top pick getting the most points (or additional points for being a top pick, as they do in the college football rankings), and do it that way? It was a dumb system, and they deserve to have it taken advantage of. Rozell was using the system. Wouldn’t you? Rozell was fired because she liked to ruffle feathers, and didn’t go with the status quo. She was never afraid to stand up and give her opinion, no matter how unpopular it was. The Tribune doesn’t have a real ethics policy. They have a good ol’ boy system. If you don’t follow what the old white men who run the company from Virginia say and do, then you’re gone. The Trib needs to get away from this holier than thou crap. Someone should ask them why they didn’t make an endorsement for president last year. Ask them if it had anything to do with the mandate from the good ol’ boys in Virginia that said “Endorse Bush, or endorse no one at all.” Rozell should consider herself lucky to be away from there.
February 7th, 2006 at 11:10 am
Rozel Lee’s dismissal is just the latest example of knee-jerk reaction by newspapers who are worried more about their image in the community than the proper way to handle a talented journalist who made a dumb mistake. What Rozel did in manipulating the outcome of an award vote might qualify her to become Florida’s next secretary of state (hopefully with less makeup this time), but that by itself wasn’t reason enough to boot her out of The News Center.
Between her and Brad Smith, the precedent has set over there at Parker Street. Trib writers, especially those with their own blogs, are likely on pins and needles about anything they do anymore. Way to build morale over there! After all, things weren’t bad enough with journalists being more hated than lawyers and used-car salesmen, and their “coverage partners” at News Channel 8 snaring their best stories.
(Note to Pravda West: Don’t gloat, you’re being watched too!)
February 9th, 2006 at 11:02 am
I agree the firing is a little overboard, but the truth is journalists shouldn’t vote on the things they cover at all. The Trib’s claims that Lee somehow unduly influenced the outcome, when the other 19 reporters also all influenced the outcome by voting at all, is completely absurd. They ought to have coaches vote and not let the coaches vote on their own players–or SOMETHING, anything not so blatantly silly as having reporters vote on the outcome of a story they’re covering. Not that journalists shouldn’t be allowed to have or express opinions, just that if you’re going to vote for best high school athlete maybe the people voting on it should be, I don’t know, involved in high school athletics, rather than covering it from a distance.
September 20th, 2006 at 1:04 pm
she deserves to be fired.
November 19th, 2007 at 5:31 pm
Rozel is so much more dishonest than anyone reading this webpage will ever know. The firing is so many years overdue. It is karma finally visiting her after so many years of mistreating so many people. Believe me on this one. She has 5 kids even though 4 of them have been estranged from her since before the turn of the millenium. Ask one of those 4 children about her. You’re perspective will completely change.
March 21st, 2008 at 2:31 pm
For what it’s worth, the fifth one, Ansley, has the same ethics — or lack thereof — that she does.