Minus Alan Schwarz, New York Times Football Concussion Coverage Has Evolved From ‘Flawed’ to ‘Missing in Action’

On August 2, I reported that Alan Schwarz, the Pulitzer-nominated concussion reporter for The New York Times, had been moved, without announcement, to the new title of national education reporter. See https://concussioninc.net/?p=4344.

In an email to me the same day, Schwarz insisted that he had been promoted, not exiled. See https://concussioninc.net/?p=4354.

A month later, Schwarz debated the concussion issue with author Buzz Bizzinger on National Public Radio’s Talk of the Nation. See https://concussioninc.net/?p=4621. (NPR host Neal Conan did not mention that Schwarz was now off the concussion beat; Schwarz didn’t mention it either, and it is not clear if Conan or NPR even knew.)

Since August 2, according to the Times online archive, Schwarz has had four bylined stories: “Atlanta Public Schools Open Amid a Testing Scandal” (August 8); “College Football Player Died From Head Trauma, Father Says” (co-bylined with Jorge Castillo, August 31); “Columbia Resignations Shake Faith of Some in Lee Bollinger” (September 2); and “Four-Year Degree Guarantees Are Growing for College Freshmen” (September 15).

On Twitter on September 7, Schwarz posted dozens of items about his trip accompanying Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s visit to East Technical High School in Cleveland, and defended himself against the skepticism of another Twitterer over whether he, Schwarz, had learned square roots when he was four years old.

Meanwhile, in my reading, The Times has not run a single story about the National Football League’s relation to the national concussion issue that was not prompted by a press release.

I think it’s fair to interpret all this as showing that Alan Schwarz was exiled, not promoted.

On Twitter, I follow Tom Jolly, the former Times sports editor who is now the newspaper’s associate managing editor/night news. According to his Twitter profile, Jolly has “roots in Pittsburgh,” home of the corrupt circle of NFL-affiliated doctors at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. I welcome Jolly’s comments on any of the above.

Irv Muchnick