A Director of Writing?

I really enjoyed listening to Gregg Bell talk to us last week.  He gave us a look into what his career has become.  I think he has it pretty nice when it comes to writing about the Huskies.  He gets to travel with the team, be right on the sideline for games and be a part of their team huddles among many other benefits.  I also think it can be nice that he does not ever have to hear any bad feedback because he is writing for fans of his team. 


I do think jobs like Bell’s can be problematic for journalists.  The college’s athletic department now has the opportunity to break all  of their news themselves, and present stories with a spin that makes them look better.  I thought it was interesting (and a little insulting) when Bell joked about how the athletic department talks about which “carrot” they’re going to throw to the journalists.  It is scary that they can decide to keep some of the big stories for themselves.  I think it can be problematic if the athletic department constantly breaks all their news because it could draw people to depend on them for all their news about the team, instead of relying on journalists who provide more than one angle on the story.  If it becomes popular, it could make it even harder for sports journalists to get a job because people may not feel they need to read what sportswriters are writing if they are not the ones breaking news first. 


I am sure that this trend is going to become popular among sports programs.  It is a great system for sports programs.  I bet they love the idea that they can in a sense control what their image is through their news stories.  I know that this is a pretty common practice for other programs, but I never really thought about sports programs having their own “journalists.” I interned for Ohio University Communications and Marketing one summer, and they cover things the same way Bell does for the Huskies.  There are stories that you know you aren’t going to cover working for UCM.  I actually went to a few meetings they had when the annual party school rankings came out and got to listen to them try to think of a way to spin the story to make it sound good for Ohio University.  I think it could be bad for sports if they have this much control over what information is given to the public.  I think sports journalists are going to have to work even harder to get a story and to make sure they hold athletic programs responsible.

Press Box Behavior

Jason Fry wrote a piece on how sportswriters need to act on the job. I guess I never really thought about it, but there are certain norms as to what sportswriters should and should not do. I agree with Fry that cheering is something journalists should not do in the press box. It can easily give the opposing team the impression that you could write about them in a bad light and cause them to not talk to you or to be more hesitant in talking with you. I think it could also lead players, coaches or anyone else involved in the organization to take their stories and tips to a different publication, one that they view will teat them fairly.

I think Thomas Bowles’ case of losing his job freelancing for Sports Illustrated after cheering for Trevor Bayne in the press box affirms the belief that journalists need to remain neutral while on the job. I can understand Bowles’ argument that he could be excited for something huge to happen in the sport and have it not affect his coverage of the event. I am sure his piece was just fine. However, I think the issue had nothing to do with his writing and everything to do with the impression he gave to others by cheering for Bayne.