I'm talking about Esther and Casey because when they kicked Ariel out of UFC 199, they also kicked them out with him, even though they had nothing to do with him breaking the story. Casey was with Ariel, but had nothing to do with the situation. When they kicked out Ariel and Casey, they asked where Esther was. She was ringside taking pictures. They said she has to go too. You ask what it has to do with them, well, nothing. That is part of the problem. They kicked them out for nothing. It was guilt by association. People want to support them for kicking out Ariel for crossing them. But what about the collateral damage? This isn't just about Ariel. Others were needlessly banned as well.
I also deeply disagree with what you are saying about respect. Suggesting he should not break UFC news because he owes it to Zuffa, Dana, UFC or whoever seriously compromises his journalistic integrity. I really feel like you would be hard pressed to get many people from the journalism field to agree with you. It's a serious conflict of interest. Sure, Dana did a lot for him. He admits it. But he should in no way let that get in his way of doing his job. They wouldn't do that for him. If fact, if you haven't watched the MMA Hour, you should. You get an idea of what it is like working with them. They jerked him all around the place. They certainly don't come across as very ethical. They do a lot of dick moves of their own. But he also has sat on news before when they asked him to.
The UFC giving credentials to journalists shouldn't come with strings attached. Helwani working for Fox shouldn't come with strings attached. You are talking about all they did for him, but he bit the hand that fed him. But they fed him with a payday as a Fox employee. That shouldn't come with strings attached, especially after they fired him multiple times. After they cut official ties with him, he shouldn't be obligated to them at all. He should be obligated to his current employers at MMA Fighting. Not getting the scoop could be regarded as disrespecting them in favor of some on again off again "friendship" with Dana White.
On journalistic integrity -- you do have a point there about journalistic integrity. A journalist's integrity should not be swayed by feelings of loyalty to a guilty party. BUT!!! When you cite journalistic integrity, you imply a moral duty to report something for the good of society because hiding it would be "evil."
As Run'n'Gun and I have discussed, this is not about public interests. There are no public interests here. Only private interests between Helwani and the UFC. What is the journalistic integrity for? You mean not reporting and "covering up" Brock's signing is some grave crime to humanity? LOL hell no. The UFC was gonig to reveal that themselves!
This is not about journalistic integrity, stop pretending it is.
As for Esther and Casey, they are collateral damage, I agree on that. They were needlessly punished for a crime they had nothing to do with. But I don't care about them. I'm just weighing between the two -- Helwani and the UFC -- and seeing which one I side more with. I clearly side more with the UFC against Helwani.
As for press passes and strings attached... first off yes, if you work for Fox you should follow some rules! All organizations have rules or "strings" that you need to follow, or you are out. That's exactly what happened with him in the Fox deal. He got fired because he was stupidly getting away from those pesky strings.
But deeper than that is the concept of delicadeza. It's a cultural thing so it's hard to explain but in short if you have honor you wouldn't stab a friend in the back. This is a cultural value so I can understand if you don't get it, because it's not your culture. I would overrule this if there was a need for it -- a strong journalistic integrity moral need. But there is no such thing. So if he feels his loyalties now lie with MMA Fighting, and Zuffa be damned, I get your point, but I call that kind of reasoning traitorous and despicable. Was the few hours of getting breaking news ahead of everyone else worth tarnishing his honor like that? In my book, a resounding NO.
But I get your point that not breaking the scoop would be disrespectful to MMA Fighting. That's actually a very good point. But alas, he must live with it. If he sides with his current employer, then he has to be ready to stick it to his former. And so he did. And they stuck it right back to him where it hurts. And I like that. The leak is clearly an attack on Zuffa, and Zuffa merely retaliated. So I will tend to side with the first victim. If you were to ask me which was more just, I'd say Zuffa was in the right to stick it to him. "He started it," in other words.
