fshorr's blog

Crime reporting has become synonymous with sports reporting. It’s no wonder that sites like The Huffington Post have whole sections devoted to the topic (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/sports-crime/). That being said, I don’t believe sports figures are necessarily getting arrested more often. Instead, I believe that athletes are getting arrested as frequently as in the past, but our 24/7 news cycle needs more to report on so these stories come to the surface more frequently. Posing another possibility, athletes may be getting arrested at similar rates but we hear about the news more frequently thanks to the rise of internet news. No matter the reason, sports media professionals should know a little about crime reporting because having to cover an athlete in trouble with the law seems inevitable – whether you’re a beat reporter asking questions after an arrest or a television producer figuring out how to frame a developing athlete’s arrest story.

Even if athletes aren’t getting arrested more frequently, it is obvious that viewers and readers are interested in hearing about sports figures falling from grace. Aaron Hernandez, for example, was on the news more than other athlete this summer. As a result, it’s important that anyone interested in covering sports professionally possesses at least some background in crime reporting. Lisa raises a good point when she compares sports crime news to celebrity/public figure crime news. The appeal is similar. Scandalous stories about those in the public eye are not only interesting because of who the story is about like Lisa said; they’re also profitable since they draw more readers to a website/publication than a story about that same person giving back through charity. Crime sells papers (and indirectly, advertising).

During our class discussion, Professor Michael McCann joked a bit about the use of the word “allegedly” but he was alluding to a bigger point in crime reporting – it is so important to make sure a story is accurate. Careers and reputations are on the line and reporting false information can damage an athlete’s reputation indefinitely. Currently, so many reporters try to be first on a story even if they aren’t accurate. On The Daily Show recently, Jon Stewart had a scathing attack of these journalists, mocking their speculative, sloppy reporting (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-daily-show-cnn-coverage-washington-navy-yard-shooting-20130918,0,3225293.story). In this case, no athlete’s reputation was harmed, but the point is the same. Reporting inaccurate information just to be first is not only bad journalism but also damages the reporter’s – or news channel’s – reputation. Bringing this back to class, reporting that an athlete committed a crime when it hasn’t been proven is a poor practice to get into. Not only is it bad for the athlete; it’s also bad for the reporter who could be sued for defamation. It’s important to take the time to do the research and make sure your final story doesn’t include inaccuracies.

Though much harm can be done by a reporter who makes a mistake, much good can be done by a reporter who gets the story right. This summer, The Boston Globe’s Bob Hohler broke the story about Bob Hewitt raping those he taught to play tennis in South Africa. I imagine reporting on any crime is a tough job. An awful story like Hewitt’s might be true, but reporting on it causes pain to his family and friends. On the other hand, exposing a criminal like Hewitt can give his victims the courage to come out and tell their stories – both in newspapers and criminal proceedings. I suspect it might be a challenge to stay positive as a crime reporter since so much of what you’re reporting on is negative, but the payoff comes in those stories that make a difference. In that sense, crime reporting might be one of the most difficult sides of sports journalism but it could also result in one of the most rewarding sports careers as well.

For me the major takeaway from this seminar wasn’t only pertinent to crime reporting, it expanded on what a major theme throughout all of our seminars has been: be accurate. It’s something that seems so obvious, but it’s a major point that every single one of our speakers and everyone on this thread has touched upon.

Whether it’s tweeting a rumor to break a story like we talked about in our first seminar or falsely accusing someone of a crime as discussed this week, the outcome is the same…you lose all credibility. Obviously some mistakes are greater than others. Like Lisa said, a missed stat makes you inaccurate and damages your credibility, but a false accusation personally affects the accused in conjunction with your reputation as a reporter.

“Whenever you have a weakness, you have to work twice as hard to compensate.” This was Professor Michael McCann’s response when someone asked him if he ever hedges on his journalistic confidence when his primary focus is law. I think this is extremely relevant when talking about the theme of accuracy.

I think one thing reporters need to do when they step into the field is leave their ego at the door. Especially in this day in age I think more and more people have an “I know everything” attitude. Reality check: you don’t. I think that’s something that more people need to acknowledge and use it to make you a better journalist. If you think you know everything, it leaves more room for error; you might not fact check or do further research because you think you have the whole story.

My grandpa used to always tell us, “the more you know, the more you realize you don’t know.” I think journalists with that attitude are far more successful. They are the ones that will go the extra mile and do the extra research to uncover an angle of a particular story that might be hidden away in some corder. Realizing that you aren’t all-knowing will make you work harder to be accurate and credible.

While the importance of research we talked about this week was tied to crime reporting, I think it should be extended to all forms of journalism, sports or not.

“Crime reporting isn’t taught anywhere, but if you’re in the business of sports, perhaps it should be…”

While I agree with Professor Shorr’s statement, I think it needs to go further. Crime reporting, both within sports and in regular journalism, needs to be taught in the classroom. Furthermore, students need to learn about crime reporting when they’re being introduced to other basics of journalism, not toward the end of their college careers.

As Rachel already pointed out, the Huffington Post has an entire section dedicated to covering Sports Crime. You don’t need to look at a national media outlet to know, however, that crime is a hot topic in today’s sports industry.

In our sports seminar class alone, there are multiple students who, as sophomores, were covering sexual assault cases. At that point in our academic careers, most of us had yet to take a structured journalism course. Nonetheless, student journalists became the go-to source for information during that time because they had the most access to the men’s hockey team. This seems like a lot of power for 19 and 20 year olds who had yet to learn that when writing a crime story the word “allegedly” is crucial.

What might be even more important than learning the correct lingo to use when writing a crime story, though, is the reason behind that word choice. Professor McCann pointed out that using “allegedly” isn’t just to make sure that the newspaper or media outlet isn’t sued; it’s also about being ethical and fair to those you cover. This goes not just for using the word “allegedly,” but also for verifying all of the facts in a story.

It seems as though in the rush to get a story out, especially in student journalism, some facts can fall to the wayside. Especially in the instance of a crime story, however, the words that are published will have an impact on the reputation of a person, and getting the details correct is essential.

Whether or not the increase in crime stories within sports is caused by an actual increase in crime by athletes or a 24-hour news cycle, student journalists still need to learn about how to cover such events. Chances are that even if they don’t cover a crime in college, they will when they cover professional sports. Since these individuals generally don’t have legal training, knowing the appropriate way to converse with witnesses, victims and officials as well as how to present the alleged criminal in a fair right are crucial.

This seminar was important because we haven’t received this training yet, and even though it was only for a couple hours, it shed light on the correct way to handle such a situation. Furthermore, the lesson came from two men who have not just studied law, or had experience in sports journalism, but have actually found themselves in the middle of covering these events. Thus, they had more than just facts to tell us about reporting on crime, but personal experiences that divulged some of the bigger struggles of covering the topic.

Crime reporting is becoming much more prevalent in today’s media, especially for sports writers. Reporters are always looking for breakthrough or career making stories, and crime is becoming one of the best angles to do that.

Just this past summer we saw Oscar Pistorius, the Olympic runner, be arrested for the murder of his girlfriend. We saw Aaron Hernandez be arrested for what may end up being three murders. These were some of the biggest sports stories of the past year, besides what teams won championships in their respective sports.

Clearly, the reward for reporting on crime in sports is huge. If you could break a story like the Aaron Hernandez one, you will probably get whatever job you could choose. With such great reward there’s clearly a big risk, being accurate.

With every story, whether it be crime or not, accuracy is possibly the most important aspect. At small-town papers when they get someone’s name wrong people think they don’t know anything or just don’t care. With sports, if you were to use the wrong name for who scored the winning run in a baseball game, that player will probably call you out or get frustrated with you. These penalties for being wrong are minor, you might just lose respect from some of the players.

When it comes to crime reporting, the penalties for inaccuracy are significantly worse. You can change a person’s life. With each statement you type you are accusing someone, and with each accusation you better be right. The balance of a players life rides on each word you type. Even just saying things can ruin somebody’s reputation even if they aren’t true.

During the Penn State sex scandal everyone was reporting on it, from the New York Times to CNN. There were many different amounts of victims who had come forward and about who at Penn State actually knew about it. But the big headline was that Joe Paterno was reported dead an hour before he actually died. While an hour may not seem like much now, back then he could have stayed alive for months afterwards. Websites like CBS Sports and the Huffington Post were amongst the many who reported his early death, and many reporters lost their jobs. The Penn State scandal shows that even by reporting the story, before any facts are presented, the story can tarnish someone’s reputation and it also shows that accuracy is so important even if you’re off by an hour. On the flip side, Sara Ganim, who wrote for the Centre Daily Times in State College, Pennsylvania won a Pulitzer Prize at the age of 24 because of her reporting of the Penn State sex scandal. Ganim was known as the most accurate and news breaking reporter covering the story.

Clearly, crime reporting even in sports has a great risk vs reward payout that hinges on one thing; accuracy.

Crimes and other social evils are a part of our lives. As a social norm, we’ve either been victims to them or exposed to them in some capacity, so much so that we’ve almost become immune to them. But when the sports field is infiltrated by criminals and athletes doing wrong, the fans have a right to know and these ‘thugs’ should be brought to justice.

Sports crimes, remarkably, take up a considerable amount of space in our daily newspapers and news websites today. While the number of crimes has not risen, Bob Hohler believes, perhaps more coverage is taking place. “These are high-profile people, who can’t be ignored“ he said. Whether it is due to the NFL recruitment of immature boys fresh from college, their inexperience or the education level, the fact of the matter is there are criminals on the loose which makes the role of investigative reporters like Bob Hohler and Michael McCann all the more relevant.

Unlike beat writing or other forms of sports writing, crime reporting in sports brings with it a new dimension of sensitivity, where it’s not about the game or the match score anymore but a person’s life could be, potentially, on the line. It’s a serious job because you are accusing someone of a crime. Michael talked about the technicalities that go into this kind of reporting and how ‘allegedly’ is such a key word from both a legal standpoint and an ethical view. More so, it is a challenge to present a boring, legal issue in simplified, interesting terms for the average sports fan.

In pursuit of ratting out the bad guys, crime reporters face a lot of obstacles on the way. To get to the truth, time and time again, they put themselves in difficult situations where there is risk involved for the accused and themselves. There is the extra responsibility to be extremely accurate for the story to be credible, as Michael very aptly pointed out, “I can’t get the law wrong, as a lawyer.” The time element is another issue. These investigations take a lot of time and the process is extremely long. And while trying to not get a reputation for looking for dirt, the end result makes it all worthwhile and, in the case of Bob Hohler, a reason for a good night’s sleep.

Even though the nature of the work is controversial, with celebrity athletes defamed and exposed, investigative reporters perform an important public service. They unveil social evils and stamp the premise that no one is above the law.

Clearly reporting on stories that involve crime is something that most of us are going to have to do in our journalism careers. I really enjoyed having these two great minds in the class room to explain to us some of the lessons they have learned along the way, so we can apply them to our path.

I took two major points away from what Mr. McCann and Mr. Hohler had to say. First, be accurate. In 2013 there a number of competing factors in telling a story: speed, impact, newsworthiness, and somewhere down the line falls accuracy. But what both Hohler and McCann said is that when reporting such sensitive topics as legal matters, accuracy must be first. While I contend that accuracy should always be first, we have seen its importance be overtaken by speed and impact in many cases. But when you are dealing with someone’s freedom, you can’t be too cautious.

This reminds of something that Andrea Kremer told us during her interviewing course last semester, when you are dealing with a serious story. “This is your story, but it is their life.” Those words ring so true when applied to what we heard last Wednesday. We are the ones out there reporting the news and trying to tell the story, but in that process you can’t forget that you are digging up facts about people’s lives. This is why accuracy is so vital. Revealing uncomfortable information may be difficult for the person you are covering, but if it is true and newsworthy then you have done your job. Going to print, or air, or social media with rumors, especially if they turn out to be false, is a good way to make sure no one ever trusts you again.

The second point I really enjoyed from Mr. McCann and Mr. Hohler, is something that we have heard from all of our speakers in one way or another. That is to go the extra mile. Do that little something more, that maybe your competitor isn’t doing, to try to make your story really hit home. Whether it’s writing a seemingly innocuous academic essay on a football player, or making that “one more call” after a day of investigating, working harder pays off. Especially in this day and age, where everything is saved. Michael McCann ended up where he is today in large part because of a law school archive system that his name and article appeared on years after he wrote the piece. Bob Hohler has made his mark by being so thorough and factual that, as we heard in an earlier seminar, when he’s walking up your driveway you might as well put on handcuffs.

This seminar was a different spin on sports journalism. Certainly covering crimes is not something that the majority of us are hoping to do for our careers. At the same time, if we want to make a life in sports, there is a high likelihood that we will be faced with some legal stories along the way. What is helpful is that similar levels of professionalism and standards seem to hold true across all platforms of sports media. Work hard. Be thorough. Be quick, but don’t place that ahead of being correct, because it’s only your story, it’s not your life.

Crime is everywhere in sports and athletes are always getting in trouble. The article from deadspin with the list of all the MLB players linked to the Mitchell Report is a good example of this. And it’s not just the uneducated that are getting in trouble. According to a study performed by Professor Michael McCann, “College education does not appear to diminish the probability of a player getting in trouble with the law.” And if you go to the Huffington Post crime website, you’ll find that almost half of the stories have to do with violence from fans. So not only do we have violence from both uneducated and educated athletes, but we also get it from the fans. Why is this important? Because violence is everywhere. Neither of our two guests pictured themselves working in sports crime. It just sort of happened that way. Why did it happen to them? Because as I said, violence is all around us and isn’t going away anytime soon. That’s why this seminar was important.

Here are my important takeaways from the seminar:

– Even when you think you have everything, make that one more call
– leave no question unanswered
– this is a field that you may just get thrown into, so learning on the job is important
– get noticed- perhaps through a blog
– learn to accept rejection
– where stories happen is crucial
– you have to be careful in this field, your opinion can be wrong but the law has to be right
– it’s very hard to engage readers about the law when you write, so try and make it interesting

Why are these takeaways important?

Bob Hohler mentioned that numerous times his success came from making that one extra call. As up-and-coming journalists we are taught how to properly get information and interview people over the phone, but sometimes the most helpful advice is the simple stuff. Even if you think you have everything, keep looking, keep digging. That last call may seem like overkill, but it could make your career.

Leaving no question unanswered ties in to the previous paragraph. It’s all about being thorough and doing proper investigative reporting. As sports journalists, if we ever get thrown into this field unexpectedly, little helpful hints like these can certainly go a long way when learning on the job.

Which ties me into my next point. Neither of our two guests thought they would end up in sports crime. As a result, they both had to learn on the job, but both had to learn different things. Hohler had the journalism experience, but had to learn about the legal side of the sports news. Professor McCann had the law degree but needed to learn the journalism side of things. Professor McCann even admitted in the seminar that he still acts too much like a lawyer when he interviews people. Basically, learning on the job is something we need to prepare for and these guys made a career out of it.

Getting noticed is always important in the field of journalism. Professor McCann got noticed simply by writing and contributing on his friend’s blog. Write a lot, develop a niche, as Frank pointed out in his comment, and that could lead to job opportunities you wouldn’t think you’d ever get in the future.

One of the biggest things our guests stressed was the ability to accept rejection. As new sports journalists, we certainly have dealt with rejection but crime is different and it’s an important distinction. In many cases, rejection in sports comes from players and coaches and media outlets who just don’t want to be bothered by reporters. In crime, it could be because they are hiding something. And that’s why we need to remember to just keep digging and leave no stone unturned. You will get a lot of no’s, but that just makes the one yes you get that much more sweeter.

Where the stories happen is very important. As Professor McCann brought up, state laws can be tricky. It’s important that we are aware of these differences in law. McCann gave the example of Aaron Hernandez because of how spread out his crimes allegedly seem to be (allegedly is also an important word to learn when doing crime reporting). He may have committed a crime in Massachusetts, but he also may have committed a separate crime in Connecticut, etc. All of that matters.

Just as you need to be careful when writing and reporting on high profile athletes, you must be cautious when dealing with crime. There are certain unwritten rules. Hohler mentioned one: giving the target an opportunity to respond. If you are going to go after someone, don’t bombard them. Make accusations but then it’s their turn. Give them the chance to defend themselves. They may respect you for that and you may get more information out of it in general. All very important points. You’re allowed to express your opinion, and since it’s just your opinion, it’s allowed to be wrong. But the facts and the law need to be right. So the message here is to dot your I’s and cross your T’s.

Writing about the law side of sports can be very boring for the readers. Professor McCann constantly struggles with engaging the reader about legal matters that they probably don’t find nearly as interesting as he does. So how do you write for an audience like that? According to McCann, you have to keep trying to reference the subject in every paragraph. If you take a paragraph off to simply talk about all the legal jargon, readers will lose interest. But if you incorporate something as simple as repeating the name of the person involved, the subject that the reader clearly wants to read about, it keeps their interest enough to explain the legal issues at hand as well as the sports side of the story as well. This is certainly a helpful hint for new journalists like ourselves who have probably never even written a sports crime story yet. Keeping the reader engaged could be key.

All of these takeaways are important and made the seminar extremely informative giving all of us sports journalists a taste of a field we really aren’t too familiar with. Why is that important? Our two guests were the perfect reason. Any one of us could end up in a field we are slightly unfamiliar with, like sports crime, and we need to be ready to do whatever it takes to adjust properly and reduce the learning curve as much as possible. This seminar did just that.

A statement that sums up last week’s presentation about crime reporting in sports journalism can be summed up by this: “Crime reporting isn’t taught anywhere, but if you’re in the business of sports, perhaps it should be…”

As we have repeatedly talked about, the landscape of sports journalism is continuously changing. It is becoming more prominent, more dynamic, and more demanding. For instance, a huge publication, The Huffington Post, has an entire portion of their website dedicated to crime in sports. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/sports-crime/) If crime didn’t hold a prominent position in the sports realm, that part of their site would not exist. The extent of which we cover professional athletes is intense. Therefore, their actions become our interests; their lives become a part of ours.

Whether it is the murder allegations surrounding Aaron Hernandez or the doping drama with Lance Armstrong, journalists are forced to cover crime in their reporting. Therefore crime completely becomes a part of sports journalism. If there is a demand for that information, then we have to be readily equipped to provide that information. That is where a seminar on crime reporting in sports journalism becomes important.

As previously stated, crime reporting is indeed a part of sports journalism. It has become very prominent in recent times and it isn’t going to go anywhere in the future. Therefore, it is a topic that needs to be covered, taught, and challenged. Journalism students should be introduced to it in academia so that they are prepared when they see it in the field. As it is not yet a course at Boston University, the seminar from last week was very helpful, but only surfaces some of the issues about crime within sports reporting.

I think the most interesting example of this phenomenon was McCann’s story behind his “Dance with Lance.” McCann is a lawyer and teacher who had never formally been taught the practice of journalism. Armstrong is one of the most famous athletes in the world and was involved in the largest drug bust in sports history. He refused all interviews with anyone besides Oprah. However, he approached McCann over Twitter and set up a formal interview with him.

Without any academic history with journalism, McCann was walking into an extremely intimidating situation. However, this is where the most important lesson we learned comes in to play. Preparation. Both Hohler and McCann swore that being prepared is by far the most important thing when it comes to crime reporting. It is absolutely true to say that you need to thoroughly know what you are interviewing about. Nine times out of ten, your interview subject will know the topic better than you do. Whether it is Lance Armstrong, or a concerned mother of a youth football player dealing with concussions, they are not going to respect you or provide you with any information if they do not trust you or respect you. That trust and respect is completely built off of how well you prepared yourself. My favorite quote from the seminar was something McCann said: “You must know the universe of information.” You have to be able to prove yourself to your subject and hold your own, especially when you are dealing with “touchy” subjects, such as crime within sports.

This goes back to my previous example regarding Lance Armstrong. Why did Armstrong ask McCann to do an interview over Twitter? Why did he invite him into the house? Why did he do it, when the only other interview he did was with Oprah? Why did he allow McCann to interview him for three hours about the most secretive and revealing details of the largest doping scandal in cycling history? Because McCann had proved himself through preparation. He had earned the respect and trust of Lance Armstrong through the way he carried himself as a journalist. This type of behavior is something that every journalism student should walk away from graduation with.

Another important thing that the speakers taught us is how to handle your sources. You have to be extremely patient because getting the best information will take a lot of time. Speaking of crime specifically, a lot of the information they have to give you will not be something they are willing to do easily. Every journalist needs to be patient and careful with the way they handle their sources. Also, Hohler emphasized how you must treat each source with a certain level of morale and ethics. If you burn your sources or give up your sources, you are willing to bet that you will no longer be able to use them. The boundary of what is right and wrong while handling people in a fragile personal situation is something journalists must pay great attention to.

All together, the seminar about crime reporting in sports is integral in our development as sports journalists. If we plan on entering our field and covering “big-time” sports, we will be dealing with crime and it is important that we prepare ourselves properly.