Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Sports Reporting????

A journalist asks the questions that need to be asked.   For the journalist, the public information officer and PR professional can be incredibly helpful.  But too often, journalists aren't journalists.   They allow themselves to be controlled by corporations and public agencies.  They become stenographers instead of reporters.  You can't fault the corporation or the public agency for wanting to control communication; it's not their fault the reporter isn't doing the job.

Congratulations to the student journalist at the University of Kentucky for doing what journalists are supposed to do.  The athletic department bans him because he called student athletes to confirm a fact for a story?  He's banned because he didn't follow the athletic department's rules????

It's not surprising "professional" local sports reporters don't seem to run into that problem.   You understand why when you listen to sports commentator Bruce Hooley describe how sports "reporting" of college athletics has changed.