fshorr's blog

The students in this seminar learned a very important piece of information this past Thursday. It is so easy to get starstruck when conducting an interview with a professional athlete. But, to gain their trust and respect, reporters must treat professional athletes like humans and have the confidence to build a personal relationship with them.

Sullinger commented how frustrating it is to have a reporter simply stick a microphone in his face and expect an answer. He sincerely appreciates when the reporter takes time to ask how he is doing, talk to him about the game casually, and also give him space to finish up his post game routine in the locker room.

It was also very interesting to learn how reporters representing a specific team have both advantages and disadvantages to their jobs. The players on the team tend to trust and “protect” these reporters because they know that they “have their backs”, so it is very easy to get an interview. The negative to this is these team reporters can never really break a scandal or a negative story. They are stuck to constantly portraying the team in a positive light.

Some players also seem to have unrealistic expectations about what reporters should be allowed to ask them. Sullinger mentioned the fact that controversial questions should not be asked, but if they have to be, keep it to a one and one interview- as to not embarrass the player. In my opinion not only is that scenario unrealistic in most instances, but players need to realize that they will, at times, have to answer for a bad play or a scandal. The public, most often, will demand an explanation for the athlete’s behavior and it is the reporters job to get the answer. That is part of the job, and athletes should not expect to be coddled when they have something to answer for. On the other hand, a reporter should be sure to phrase a question as respectfully as possible.

First I just have to say I was highly impressed with how media savvy Jared was, especially for a 20-year-old rookie. Few athletes have as much knowledge about how to deal with the media as Jared does, and he hasn’t even had one full season as a professional athlete yet!

I’m still surprised that there is no league requirement for rookie media training, although Jared made a good point that maybe he just wasn’t selected because they looked at his past interviews and felt he was already prepared. With this approach, the league can target specific media training to each athlete, rather than requiring a cookie-cutter training day for all rookies.

Professor Shorr said in his blog, “No matter how long Sullinger stays in the league, he’ll be a media darling…a ‘go to’ guy”. I agree, because he doesn’t seem the type to let the attention go to his head. Unfortunately, not all athletes have the same outlook that Jared does. Check out the way some of the athletes treat the reporters in the following clip…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VosNK542wrI

Granted, we don’t have full context for some of these, and it’s very possible that the reporter wasn’t being smart in his or her line of questioning. Jared informs us to treat athletes like humans, and I think that’s a fair statement. If athletes want the respect of journalists, however, they should respect them back… it’s a two-way street.

As our guests this week mentioned, some athletes are a better interview than others (hint: Kevin Garnett is not an easy interview), and part of the job is meeting each individual athlete and knowing how to approach them. Molly said that she took all of last season to observe and take note of what she saw, and then she got to know the players… now she’s a part of their group. If you take the time to observe the athletes, and then get to know them, and ask fair questions, you’ll have their trust and get your story too.

I wonder what this seminar would have looked like if it was combined with the one where we had beat reporters as our guests. Beat reporters need to get a story, whether or not it makes the team look good, but that doesn’t necessarily make them bad guys. In some ways, Molly’s job isn’t the same hard-hitting journalism that other guests have shown to us. If she is employed by the team and always focused on making them look good, she won’t be willing to ask the tough questions. I think that’s why it’s important to have people like Molly but also beat reporters and other journalists so we can get all sides of the story.

My initial thought leaving Thursday’s seminar was that Jared Sullinger needed a reality check. His answer about having a one-on-one interview to deal with a tough question after a game was completely unrealistic, as has been mentioned in the comments already. It seemed like he wanted all reporters to treat him like Molly McGrath, and protect him at all times. But after reading the “Death of the Interview” article on blackboard, I looked at the seminar in a different way (http://blackboard.bu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2fwebapps%2fblackboard%2fexecute%2flauncher%3ftype%3dCourse%26id%3d_56926_1%26url%3d).

This article talks about how the interview world has changed. Instead of post games when reporters would hang out with the baseball manager in his office and just talk, they now have seven minutes and then they are out. The article then goes into how this has affected the way those in sports treat their media sessions and how the distance between athletes and the fans that watch the games and buy the tickets has increased.

After reading this article, what I now take away from the seminar is how down to earth Jared was. I liked that the talked about how he likes it when reporters just come up, talk to him and get to know him. I had heard this from the various reporters that have already talked to us, but it was nice to hear it from the athlete’s side, and that they do take these things into account. Reporters are the ones who get access to these players, and it is important to remember to get to know their personalities as well and allow the fans to see them.

Another thing that I took from the seminar was the careful attention that needs to go into asking each question. Jared impressed me with how much he took in. He takes note of the media, and remembers when someone asks a bad question. It seemed that he gets more frustrated with how a question is phrased as opposed to what the question is referring to. If you get lazy and don’t put thought into how you word your question, Jared will remember that. And this puts more emphasis on getting wording correct when dealing with tough topics. If Jared makes a poor play at the end of the game, bad phrasing of a question about it can cause him to shut down for the rest of the session.

The blackboard article really changed my thoughts about this seminar and made me look at it in a different light. Jared made it clear that he wants the media to view him as a person, and if we are to be successful, we need to treat him as one.

This was an excellent seminar. I was a little worried that Jared Sullinger wouldn’t actually say a whole lot because I was sure that there would be a team PR person there to reel him in if needed. This was clearly not the case. He was smart, witty, interesting, insightful and a pleasure to listen to. I’ve spent many afternoons interviewing athletes back in college, so I feel like I understand the concept of athletes as real people. But it was still neat to hear that straight from a professional. He wants to have fun and enjoy himself just like anyone else.

I don’t think I learned as much from Molly McGrath, only because I have no interest in such a position. This is not to say that I think what she does is unimportant or not valued. It is. She has a job to do like the rest of us, and clearly does it well. But I think that it is disheartening to hear that she is the preferred media type of some athletes. Look, we have a job to do as well, which is asking tough questions that won’t always make people look good. When I spoke to Mr. Twiss after the seminar, he understood that responsibility, even as a PR man.

I actually enjoyed hearing from Mr. Twiss. He’s been in the business a long time and understands that reporters and players are bound to have a contentious relationship a lot of the time, and it’s his job to mediate some of that disconnect. Even if professional athletes don’t like to hear it, in many ways it is part of the job and the responsibilities of an athlete to face the media and deliver the goods, honestly and fairly.

I will be honest in saying I was definitely a little star struck when Jared Sullinger entered the room at Thursday night’s seminar. That feeling faded as the night went along, and I quickly realized that Jared was just a normal guy. I don’t think that will be the case with all professional athletes, but it is certainly important to treat them as you would treat anybody else. Though it seems simple, this is crucial in dealing with athletes and being able to develop a relationship with them. If you can’t treat them like a normal human being, then why would they ever want to talk to you? Just be confident.

It became clear to me in the seminar that all athletes are different and react to the media in different ways. Jared comes across as a player who is easy going and easy to get along with, although I disagreed with him about asking the difficult question in a one-on-one situation. I think he will soon realize that he is going to be asked difficult questions about the games and plays he didn’t make in a large group of reporters. Playing for the Boston Celtics, it’s not something he will be able to avoid. As Phillip already mentioned in his comment above, I did find it interesting as well that Jared said a reporter should never ask for his phone number. Obviously there are athletes and coaches who feel differently considering that Darren Haynes said he had their phone numbers in the previous seminar. A reporter should not ask an athlete for his or her number the first time they meet, but I do believe it is possible to do so in a respectful way after getting to know the athlete.

Molly McGrath gave some great advice for getting to know athletes and about phrasing questions appropriately. However, as an employee for the Celtics, Molly cannot ask the difficult questions necessary for good reporting. Yes, it’s important that athletes trust you, but they also have to understand that sometimes they will have to answer the difficult question and be accountable for their play during the games. So we should take some of Molly’s advice in knowing the personalities of the players, but at the same time, we cannot be afraid to be honest with them and ask the questions that will give us a good story. As we have already learned in a previous seminar, there is an appropriate and inappropriate way to phrase questions

Something I found interesting during the seminar was learning that Jared did not take part in any media training at Ohio State or with the Celtics. Perhaps that’s because he already does well with the media, but I was under the impression that most professional athletes go through some sort of media training. I also thought it was interesting to hear that Jared actually watches himself do interviews in order to improve his interview skills. It’s good to see an athlete at such a young age aspiring to work well with the media and improve off the court.

I may have posted this article after a previous seminar, but it probably applies more to this last one. It’s important for us to realize that there are athletes who are trained to deal with the media. Here is how the Yankees do it.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704433904576212810376772214.html

“The media training has evolved from a short video to a multi-day effort that involves guest speakers, role playing, mock interviews and a printed media training guide. Pitchers and catchers undergo two full sessions, and catchers then have another specialized training session. All players with less than three years of major league service time sit for their own special training.”

So be aware, athletes are being trained to deal with us.

I found Jared to be very insightful and helped the class in what to say and not to say to athletes. It’s amazing to me he came out of college so grounded and so normal, for someone who’s been dealing with media since the start of high school and probably even earlier. It’s also amazing to me that he took the time to listen to himself in interviews, make sure “he wasn’t saying um all the time,” and just trying to make himself sound like a professional athlete. If only all professional athletes could take it upon themselves or at least try to teach themselves how to deal with the media, I think it’d be very helpful in the long run.

I completely agree that it doesn’t have to be us vs. them, but in some cases, that’s what the athletes (or journalists) want.
That being said, it’s obvious that Molly is going to be Jared’s favorite reporter. She doesn’t have to ask difficult questions, she works for the team and most importantly, Jared is already very familiar with her. Sure Jared doesn’t like some of the questions the guys from the Herald ask him, but does that make them bad journalists? No. Of course you want to treat a player with respect and hope that he’ll answer your questions, but you can’t compromise your journalistic morals to be all buddy-buddy with the players, as Molly is.

One of the big takeaways I got from this seminar is that Molly claims she doesn’t want to do this job much longer and that she’d rather be tougher journalistic work, reporting stories, etc. It’s amazing to me that a 23-year-old who has a job with the Celtics would want to move away from it that quickly. Although, after reading “The Irrelevance of the Sideline Reporter” on blackboard, you can see why Molly wants to move away from that job. There isn’t much journalistic value behind sideline reporting anymore, especially on national broadcasts where guys like Bill Belichick aren’t going to tell you anything. I think the longer one-on-one sitdowns she does are much more journalistic and informative than talking to Doc Rivers for 30 seconds before the second quarter starts.

All in all, I think this was one of the more essential sports seminars. Sure, one wasn’t a journalist and the other doesn’t do hard hitting journalism, but it was helpful to see the two of them together and get an athlete’s point of view. Too often as journalists, we focus on ourselves, trying to get the story, do our job, without realizing that the athletes are people too, just trying to do their job. Athletes don’t need sports journalists, but sports journalists need athletes. Journalists need to find that line of treating athletes like human beings, but also not trying to be their best friend. As Jared said, just saying hello and shooting the breeze every time you see him in the locker room can go a long way.

I found the discussion with Sullinger a bit a discouraging, but helpful nonetheless.

Be fair, ethical, and respectful. Other than that, you can’t worry about making friends with every player or getting everyone to trust you. You are there to cover the team. Not to be a cheerleader, not to be a drinking buddy, and not to be a problem starter.

Knowing you were honest and as accurate as you could be should help you sleep well at night, regardless of whether a player is upset about something you wrote.

To me, Sullinger’s view of the media was remarkably adversarial. When I asked him about distinguishing between writers who misrepresent quotes or try to instigate drama between players and writers who may be critical but fair, he said no reporters were fair. This was a bit discouraging to hear, as I think there are plenty of reporters who, putting philosophical explorations of the concept of fairness aside, do honest, ethical and “fair” work. That some athletes lump these reporters in with those who have justifiably earned a reputation for being unfair got me thinking.

Sullinger came across as a bright kid with a good head on his shoulders so I’m sure he’s well aware of the fact that reporters from independent outlets (i.e. Not Celtics.com) must present interesting, accurate accounts of the team, and in so doing, there will inevitably be negative coverage. As an athlete, however, his attitude seems to be: ‘not my problem’. And he’s right. It’s not his job to concern himself about the journalistic integrity of the coverage he and his teammates receive. If all of the reporters ignored the fact that the team was struggling and wrote nothing but glowing stories about all of them, are we to assume he is going to be wringing his hands over the fact that the coverage is biased? Of course not. He has a job to do, and if there are people like Molly whom he knows will portray him positively, that is helpful for him. But if another reporter does a critical story of his performance, it matters little to him whether the story was totally fair and accurate.

Which brings me back to my initial point. For all the talk about approaching guys with the right tone, chatting with them about a shared interest, developing a relationship, etc., if all it takes to lose a player’s trust is writing something critical, then being fair, ethical, and respectful are really the only things that should matter to a reporter.

There are at least two sides to every story, and in last week’s seminar we heard one that hadn’t been presented in the first nine weeks of class. Jared Sullinger shared his thoughts on what the athlete-reporter relationship should look like from the perspective of the athlete.

Rules for interviewing athletes according to Sullinger:

• Wait until the athlete is ready to be interviewed. Don’t “bum rush” him or her.

• When you want to do a story, don’t just walk up and start asking questions. Tell the athlete your name first and let him or her know about the project you’re working on.

And so on and so forth.

The reason I think we had this seminar, though, was not simply to get the opinions of an athlete, but to learn what athletes think about some of our practices as reporters. It seems like there are at least some journalists who don’t know how to give to athletes the respect they deserve as members of the human race. Consider the article “Death of the Interview” by Tim Keown, where he puts the reader into the role of an NFL quarterback at a press conference. One of the things he says is that reporters don’t treat athletes as people in these situations. “You, Mr. Quarterback, are treated as a machine,” he writes. “They push a button—talk about—and your mouth clicks on to spew words that will fuel this little corner of the vast steno pool of American sports letters.”

At last week’s seminar, Sullinger let us know that he doesn’t want it that way, and I’d guess that other athletes have similar feelings. Go back to Sullinger’s idea that it’s best to have some type of preamble to an interview. What’s your name? What’s the story you’re working on about? If you just walk up to an athlete and start asking questions, he or she might not have any idea who you are, let alone what you’re planning on using the interview for. Show them the common courtesy of providing a brief introduction before you start to pepper them with questions as if they were a Magic 8-ball.

Sullinger also noted that he’d like it if reporters talked to athletes to become more familiar with them on a personal level, outside the interaction of an interview that is strictly for information-gathering purposes.

I find Sullinger’s opinions rather intriguing for the simple fact that he really does agree with at least some of the general practices journalists are supposed to follow. Whenever I’ve learned about journalism, I’ve heard that you should build up to more difficult questions as you go through the interview, and really get to know the people you’re covering by building up some sort of human relationship with them. This fits in to what Sullinger was saying in that he thinks reporters should speak with athletes outside the interaction of an interview and that, just as you don’t jump right in to the most difficult or thought-provoking questions in an interview, you don’t walk up to an athlete and start asking questions. You have to tell them who you are first.

So as it stands, journalists really can have good relationships with the people they cover, provided they follow the basic tenets they’re supposed to learn in journalism school.

Coming out of last week’s discussion with Jared Sullinger and Molly McGrath, it was easy to understand what it takes to get ahead when trying to gain a leg up on the journalism competition. All you have to do is treat the athlete like a fellow person, and not an athlete. According to Sullinger, it’s not difficult for the athletes to determine whether or not you’re fishing for a good quote. If you treat an athlete simply like an athlete in post-game scrum by asking him questions mostly about what went wrong, he will lose respect for you.

This however, could create a problem for the journalist. If you’re never fishing for the quote, you might be left behind other news outlets in terms of the shock factor of a story. Even if you’re not the journalist asking the question, but you still use it in your story, the athlete can see that and degrade his opinion of you.

In the end though this should hopefully be beneficial for you as a journalist. You may not get the sensationalist quotes, but you’re much more likely to get a one-on-one or a great answer from an athlete on a question that isn’t meant to stir up controversy. As Sullinger stated, the veterans in the league know who is on the athletes’ side and who is on the other side. This information gets passed down through the team and there might be guys that already have it out for you before meeting them. This must be the number one thing to avoid because you will never get the information that you want.

Then there is the question of the “journalist” that is a team employee like McGrath. Can you define her as a journalist in the same manner you can for a write for the Boston Globe or Boston Herald? Her job seems to be to protect the players. To me, that makes her seem more like someone with PR responsibilities than a journalist. If she is not allowed to produce a newsworthy piece just to protect the players’ images, then that seems very anti-journalist.

Sports journalists who cover high-profile professional teams have a unique reporting challenge shared by few other beats. Virtually every athlete, coach or public relations specialist (obviously) has extensive experience handling the media. These people have all been in the public eye for years, and are even counseled on how to deal with the beat writer from the Boston Globe. What worries me, as an aspiring sports journalist, is the perception these star athletes have of journalism. It may come from team personnel, other players or personal experiences with the media, but the athletes have a healthy distrust of people like us. That distrust is sensible. Plenty of athletes and coaches have felt wronged by the press before. And sometimes with good reason.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xokthY5zuPU

This was the first example that popped into my head where a reporter (or whatever Ken Krayeske considers himself these days) asks a damaging question he has no business asking. Calhoun is a coach and not a player, but the point still stands. Not only is the context all wrong (after a game), but the question is phrased to incite and shouldn’t even be asked to Jim Calhoun in the first place (go to the athletic director, or someone who can actually answer your question). Calhoun lets Krayeske have it for asking a “gotcha” journalism sort of question.

The real problem is reporters like that ruin the rest of our chances to do our jobs. The press has mishandled plenty of interviews, so we’re partially to blame for the athlete’s misconceptions. But they should realize (or be taught) that our obligation is to tell the truth, or what we think the public deserves to know. We shouldn’t be there to make an athlete look bad. It is our job to be as thorough and objective as humanly possible. Jared and Molly said we should do a better job of humanizing and understanding athletes. In turn, they should do the same for the press. The athlete/media relationship could stand a better fundamental understanding of each other’s jobs and responsibilities. We should shoot for less skepticism and more empathy.

Some professional athletes think dealing with the press is such a big part of their job that they teach aspiring pros how to do it.

http://www.the4thquarteragency.com/upload/The%202012%20Mississippi%20Drills%20and%20Skills%20Academy%20Overview%20and%20Tentative%20Schedule.pdf

The brochure is a little lengthy, but it outlines the Mississippi Drills and Skills Academy, founded by Utah Jazz Point Guard and Mississippi native Mo Williams. It’s a three-day program designed to help highly touted players in the state learn to adjust to life in college and, potentially, the NBA. The “Academy Overview” lists a section on “Media Relations/Interview Skills,” which claims to know “what interviewers are really looking for.” Hopefully Williams brings a journalist to the camp to talk to the kids, but if not this worries me. What do players think we really want to know? Does it line up with the truth? I know it’s idealistic, but the press and the athletes should be working together. The “us vs. them” mentality will only create more tension and cause more incidents like the one with Jim Calhoun.

Additionally, I agree with most everyone else who posted about Molly. She’s not exactly “fair and balanced.” She’s more of a safety net for the players. It’s tough to call her a journalist, since she can only provide certain sides of stories. She reminds me of the antithesis of Greg Bedard: Bedard prides himself on being tough but fair, and gains the respect of the athletes that way. Molly lets the athletes know she’s their friend to gain access. The difference is Greg has the choice to report everything he sees. He may keep some things under wraps for ethical reasons, legal reasons or to avoid the risk of burning sources, but he can report on his full field of vision. Molly cannot. If the Boston Celtics deem one of her stories unfit for their image, they can fire her. Molly’s job prevents her from being like Greg.

Here are my two immediate takeaways from last Thursday’s seminar: First, although I like Darren Haynes, there appears to be an obvious disconnect between his style and what the players prefer. Secondly, reporting on teams with highly skilled media relations departments can become meaningless.

Darren Haynes was explicit; he urged our class to constantly approach players and not to take our time in developing a relationship. I was stunned when he mentioned that he just approaches players and/or coaches asking for their contact information. Given the ambition of journalists and the 24 hour news cycle, I found it hard to believe that any prominent athletic figure would willing give out their information to any media member, let alone a relative newcomer. In this instance, I tend to side with Jared: “never ask for a phone number.”

This may be a fairly obviously statement, but for a young player to understand the intricacies of the media game at such a high level illustrates just how hyper-aware organizations, from top to bottom, are any internal information being revealed. This understanding also displays how much the media game has changed.

Sports media in itself is a booming industry with an abundance of competition. Every sports reporter is searching for a new angle, a new piece of information, to generate views. More and more players and organizations are noticing this and answers have become more and more generic.

That’s where Molly McGrath comes into play. She is good at her job and has the credentials, but she was hired for one purpose: frame things in a more positive light for the Celtics. She is there to protect the players because she is instructed not to ask “tough” questions. If it becomes a necessity, the “tough” question will be framed in a way as not to prompt controversy.

Opening night in Miami was a perfect example. As a reporter, one wants to give the audience more of what they want (a.k.a. Ray Allen talk). Questions regarding Ray were not unfair, perhaps overblown, but not unwarranted. The Celtics however, like the Patriots, understand that once any shred of controversy leaks out of a locker room, it becomes a media frenzy and promptly snowballs.

Because of the growth and expansion of media, I believe athletes have become more reserved as ever when dealing with the press. Any boneheaded or controversial comment made by a player or coach will immediately grab headlines, as word spreads extremely quickly on media outlets like Twitter. Athletes must exercise caution at all times, both on and off the court, as the press will always look to create storylines to gain attention and viewership. As a result, I believe athletes have never been under more scrutiny than they currently are today, and they must quickly mature in order to avoid getting into trouble.

Thus, I believe it is essential for all rookies to go through an extensive media training program to prepare for the intricacies in dealing with the media. Anyone can post pictures (Michael Phelps’s photo of marijuana bong following Beijing Olympics) of athletes at any given time, which can seriously damage the reputation of these athletes. As Sullinger mentioned in the lecture, many young high-profile athletes, like Darius Miles, do not know how to conduct themselves with the media. They are not adequately trained to maintain professionalism in dealing with the press, and this can certainly affect a player’s performance on the court.

Because of the intense scrutiny placed on players, I believe it is more important than ever for the media to have a trusted relationship with athletes. Otherwise, athletes would likely reject interviews from the press, or they would provide brief, short answers to avoid saying anything that would get them in trouble. While I do not agree with Molly McGrath’s “I will defend you until death” approach when dealing with the players, the entire Celtics roster is comfortable speaking to her at all times because she is a trusted ally of the team. I believe, more than anything, if any media member exhibits professionalism with dealing with athletes, they will certainly receive more coherent responses from players. The players do not personally know a lot of the press, so media members need to treat them with respect in order for the players to respect them back.

Ultimately, athletes need to exercise extreme caution when dealing with the media, and the press needs to exhibit professionalism when dealing with the athletes. If both sides can show this, there will be more of a respected athlete-media relationship.