NATE ROBINSON TWITS APOLOGY FOR FAILING TO PAY TICKET LEADING TO SUSPENDED LICENSE

Twitter is reconstructing the relationship between the press, sources and the public. Twitter has created a quick personalized connection between the public and media personalities with the ability to take out and neutralize the middle-person, the mass media. Now, with direct access between original sources and target audiences, the public can receive and individuals can transmit messages faster than the mass media can keep up. The mass media’s monopoly on the distribution of information is over.

Therefore, faster than Knicks beat writers can offer their requisite judgmental head shake, New York Knick Nate Robinson can issue the requisite media personality apology for a personal error or problem gone public (or is it “gone posted”).

Apparently Nate was driving with a suspended license (5th suspension) and did not know it because the ticket was mailed to his Seattle address and not his New York home. Nate was pulled over for what he believed at the time was tinted windows which happened to be rolled down. While pulled over, Nate complained about being held up too long and being inconvenienced by the stop. Now, far too many are making a big deal out of a traffic stop and a player's failure to pay a ticket by criticizing his twittering during the stop and his arrest. While five suspensions in four years (or less) demonstrates that Robinson's life is not as organized as it should be around traffic tickets (someone should be in charge of responding after he receives traffic violations), it does not indicate that Robinson is evil or unworthy of a basketball uniform.

As typical of the New York press when it comes to their shaping of Nate Robinson's public persona as an immature little man, the incident is being decried as the reason Robinson should not be a Knick. The judgmental New York beat reporters have gone as far as claiming this will impact Nate's contract negotiations significantly, a notion which has been debunked by Nate's agent as ludicrous.

As for the twittering, that was probably the smartest thing Robinson did that day. By twittering his predicament in real time to his followers, he publicized an incident which was sure to hit the news wire if he were arrested.

Furthermore, by twittering during what he initially thought was an invalid stop which could lead to an invalid arrest, he maintained contact with supporters and family in a situation which easily could have disconnected him from others at the officer's discretion. For driver's, especially DWB (driving while black) drivers, it is not a bad idea to be both polite to the officer and to notify someone as soon as possible that you are under police care and may need some help or vigilant watchful eyes. Read the original article . . . .