The truth is, you just never know what you’re going to get when you interview an athlete…Whether it be in the locker room or from the podium, you always need to be on your toes…With all due respect to Dionne Warwick, making eye contact is never dull….
As a journalist, the way you get along with the athletes you cover is the measure of your success… You never know what kind and just how much access you’ll have when you cover a team and if you can’t manage the relationship, you’ll get beat on stories and never have their trust…
Sean Mcadam of ComcastSportsnet New England joined us at the Boston University sports journalism seminar series along with Boston Celtics players R.J. Hunter and Jordan Mickey as well as Providence Bruins forward Austin Czarnik and it was clear that they have spent time defining their brand(s)…
Between the three of them, Mickey, Czarnik and Hunter have only two and a half seasons of pro experience…They’re still learning but saying the right things as they learn to deal with the New England Media….They’ve been through league media training and in Mickey’s case, extensive training at L-S-U, a high profile collegiate program…”Put the team before yourself, says Mickey, never mention the “I”. Always praise your school, your coaches, whatever organization you’re under at that time.”…Austin is in his second year with the Baby B’s and while the team doesn’t have the tradition post game locker room access he’s up front about agreeing with Mickey…”You throw out your linemates names, like “they’re a huge part of my success, dishing it out” you’re not just taking the credit.”
But let’s be clear, much of this can lead to pretty boring stuff, making your job, of entertaining as well as informing your audience even harder…Unless of, course your coach happens to be someone like John Tortarella….Having a media savvy person on the team you cover can be a godsend…Even in a negative way…Just ask Larry Brooks of the New York Post…
McAdam understands that all too well, having dealt with any number of players and coaches while covering the Boston Red Sox…Accepted almost universally as the hardest athletes to deal with, McAdam says it’s complicated…”A lot of it depends on how the team is doing. My experience is that , not surprisingly, the better the team is performing, the happier the athletes usually are and more likely to open up a bit.”…And as a whole the landscape has changed, says McAdam, “Players are less accessible, everything is a little more managed now. There’s less opportunity to talk to athletes on a one on one basis.”
And that doesn’t even take into account player’s own websites, sites like The Players’ Tribune…We’ll deal with that as the semester goes along…
It’s a unique experience going into any locker room for the first time…Being star struck is very common but besides learning the proper etiquette young reporters may literally come face to face with uncomfortable experiences…Hunter said, “You might walk in and see like 4 or 5 naked people so you kind of have to brace for that but other than that it’s (the Celtics locker room) pretty relaxing…Indeed…
Hunter gave us one of 2015’s memorable media moments…Not only did his three pointer beat Baylor last year in the first round of the N-C-A-A tournament but it set up a dramatic podium post game speech by his coach and father Ron Hunter… If you were lucky enough to be covering that game, he pretty much did your job for you…And that not often the case…
Go slowly, tread lightly, learn the rules and remember, they are people too, talented athletically yes, but they were once rookies too…
21 Comments
Timmy Lagos posted on February 1, 2016 at 3:36 pm
I believe the central theme of this first seminar and answer to the question, “why are we studying this issue” is summed up in the first sentence here, and that is you never know what you are going to get when you interview an athlete.
For the majority of us, when we get that first job out of college in a couple of months, we will be going into unchartered waters in terms of who we are covering and how we have to cover them. We need to expect the unexpected. For example, Sean spoke briefly about the situation with Marshawn Lynch last season, where he would continually refuse to answer reporters questions, most of the time responding with a simple “I’m just here so I won’t get fined.” As a reporter, you may go into that situation with a great story in mind on Lynch or the Seahawks and have all your questions lined up to get you that story. But then Lynch doesn’t answer any of those questions and you need to be able to improvise quickly and come up with something else with what you have. On the flip side, you can go into a situation with no story idea in mind and you don’t know what to do, and then you end up seeing the game mentioned here, where R.J. Hunter’s father fell out of his chair after his son hits a big shot and then delivers an incredible post game speech. There’s your story. In either case, you need to be ready to expect the unexpected, whether that unexpected is good or bad, and be ready to improvise quickly in order to come up with an entertaining and informative story.
One other big theme I took out of this was that it’s not enough to just have good questions or a compelling game to get a good story, but you need to also have a respect and professionalism around the athletes and in the locker room in order to get those questions answered. As Austin pointed out, if you respect the athletes, they will respect you and answer your questions. You need to be professional in the locker room of the team you are covering, regardless of who you are covering. If you are rude and act disrespectful to the athletes and other media members, you’ll get a bad reputation and you’ll be less likely to get that quote you need the next time you need it. As it is in any profession, use common sense and treat people how you’d want to be treated, because as pointed out above, while they are very talented, athletes are regular people too, and reporters may sometimes lose sight of that.
Going out into that first job can be a scary experience. You’re on your own now and it’s up to you to create your own image of yourself through the stories you write and the way you conduct yourself in the locker room and around the team you are covering. If we take what we learned here, to expect the unexpected and show respect and professionalism in everything we do, then we should be able to avoid any awkward situations or gaining the reputation as that reporter that no one wants to talk to, because no one wants that.
Julie Aiello posted on February 2, 2016 at 11:14 am
The most telling portions of the sit down talk we had with Sean McAdam and the athletes–RJ Hunter, Jordan Mickey, and Austin Czarnik– were the different perspectives each panelist had of the media. As a journalist, you are expected to ask the questions you feel the public deserves and wants to know. As an athlete, however, you are trained to answer those questions, but say very little. The clash between these two motives can create a real challenge for a sports journalist.
In regard to the athletes and their relationships with the media, Jordan Mickey said he feels the relationship is more along the lines of “what not to say”. Austin Czarnik said he tries to just give the media “what they want” and RJ Hunter says he feels he now has to watch what he says. From the athletes’ perspective, it seems they view the media as somewhat of a burden, a force around which they must be very careful.
Sean McAdam pointed out that athletes are less accessible and there are less opportunities for one-on-one chats. He also spoke about how difficult it can be to cover a team who is having a tough stretch or even season in general.
In Tim Keown’s ESPN article “Death of the Interview”, he writes that “the death of the interview has spawned a generation raised on generalities and clichés”. If we look at how Jordan Mickey was trained to respond to media, even back at LSU, we can see very clearly that Keown’s proclamation has some validity. Mickey, himself, said during our panel that he has been trained to always bring the answer to a question back to praising his teammates, coaches, and organization. With this formula for answering certain questions, it makes it tough for a sports journalist to make that player come to life in his or her articles. What makes this player different from the others if each one might respond to questions in a very similar fashion? Keown also noted that “the death of the interview has increased the distance between athletes and the people who watch games and buy tickets and read magazines”, which speaks to this barrier that is placed between the athletes and the people when the athletes are trained to answer questions in a uniform fashion. The athletes are becoming more and more mythical to the public as this barrier is continually raised.
Between the two different media perspectives discussed by our panelists, there is a take away: at times it will be a challenge to do our jobs as sports journalists, with many factors contributing to that environment.
There is one shared belief, though, between Sean McAdam and the athletes.
Each panelist discussed–in some manner–that mutual respect is required in order for a relationship to be fostered. RJ Hunter noted that he would like talk to a journalist off the record in order to build a foundation for a relationship, that he’d prefer more of a casual chat here and there rather than the journalist only showing up at his locker or in a press conference. This idea, one of building a relationship based on respect and overall back and forth information sharing, is one I believe will be crucial when we look at where sports journalism has gone and what it will look like in the future.
Dakota Randall posted on February 2, 2016 at 3:08 pm
I think this seminar really tied into a theme that I’ve seen come up a lot in sports journalism classes- remaining objective.
As journalists, it’s our responsibility to remain as fair and objective in our reporting as possible, even though the idea of true objectivity really may be a fantasy. Unless the piece is a clear opinion / editorial, it’s imperative that the reporting is fair, accurate, and void of bias.
If some of us are lucky enough to get jobs that put ourselves in positions where we may have to interact with professional athletes, the relationships we build with them will be crucial for the advancement of our careers and the quality of our stories. While it’s important to foster a positive relationship with the athletes being covered, it cannot come at the expense of fair reporting. Though some news outlets influence the content produced by beat reporters, I believe it’s poor practice to continually pump out puff piece after puff piece in an effort to please the athletes you will encounter on a daily basis.
Of course, publishing negative criticisms of athletes can lead to uncomfortable situations, as Sean McAdam alluded to with his Carl Everett story. As he explained, though the situation after his altercation with Everett wasn’t comfortable, and the material he got from Everett rarely useful, McAdam had to remain professional and committed to the job he has to do.
I spoke about this a lot with Boston Globe senior writer Kevin Paul Dupont. He explained that he’s had plenty of situations over the years where an athlete approached him and wasn’t happy about what had been written. Dupont said that all you really need to say is: “Was I wrong?” If the information you reported is correct, than the player, however unhappy as they may be, really can’t say too much. And if the player can’t recognize that you did your job correctly and show respect for that, than there isn’t much you can do.
As young reporters, these situations will be very difficult for us at first. Try as we may, the element of being “star-struck” by the athletes we’ve grown up idolizing may make it difficult for us to 1. Approach them and begin forging a legitimate relationship, and 2. Writing about them in a negative, critical manner.
But too bad. We will be getting paid to produce the most authentic, interesting, and accurate stories that we are capable of, and dealing with uncomfortable situations and encounters is just part of the deal.
Vanessa de Beaumont posted on February 2, 2016 at 4:08 pm
“I like that you guys are out of the equation,” R.J. Hunter said emphatically. Jordan Mickey nodded in solidarity. That was it.
Without hesitation or contemplation, the Boston Celtics’ 2015 first-round selection decried his preference for “not too much exposure,” even stating that he had trimmed his social media presence.
But why? One could argue that, by carefully and deliberately cultivating everything they say, athletes, now exposed on virtually every front (a fact corroborated by Hunter attesting to being regularly ogled and photographed by fans everywhere), create their ideal brand. I disagree.
What negative thing could anyone say about NBA All-Star Kawhi Leonard? Much like his head coach Greg Popovich, he never speaks out of turn, is rarely seen celebrating, on or off the court, and generally appears to be a “model” athlete.
Here’s the catch: his brand is at a sum total of nothing. Bland. Boring. Dutiful.
The 24-year-old is simultaneously the NBA’s best defender, capable of effectively take one of the association’s top players out of a championship game, and also one of its least memorable. He’s just so inoffensive! Sanitary!
Which is not to say that acting with poise won’t do a thing. Houston’s J.J. Watt has cultivated an image almost exclusively from benevolence. But unlike players such as Marshawn Lynch, infamous for his aversion to journalists, he speaks at press conferences, often candidly. And more importantly, he lets reporters convey his message as well.
Back to Hunter’s original statement. As a fan, I relish the opportunity to hear directly from my favorite athletes. It’s fun; it almost feels exclusive. But despite the fact that sites such as The Players’ Tribune and SportsBlog have gained serious notoriety, Matt McCue of Fast Company and Comcast Sportsnet’s Sean McAdam made convincing headway into proving that they, for now at least, won’t be replacing reporters any time soon.
For one, as McCue mentioned, “a quick scan of the latest posts,” on these sites, “reveal some editorial challenges”; a reporter’s filter has all the negative connotations in the world, but a trained writer will undoubtedly convey a clearer, more interesting message.
Secondly, as McAdam pointed out, by virtue of being written by the athletes themselves, the notion that the words being posted are “unfiltered” is simply false. What’s more is, reporters will be quick to recognize this, changing their focus rather than leaving the trail.
All athletes present, including the Providence Bruins’ Austin Czarnik, particularly Mickey, acknowledged this fact. So why even attempt to cut reporters out at all? A good reporter can articulate a story with greater clarity. A good reporter can better build an athlete’s brand (yes, including the positive and negative aspect of his game).
The fundamentally most enlightening aspect of the entire discussion was that the athletes before us were exemplifying precisely the qualities we were identifying – right in the midst of a conversation about athlete’s reluctance to speak to the media.
“I wanted to answer that one, but he [VP of Media Services, Jeffrey Twiss] was giving me that look,” Hunter joked about almost taking the bait on a controversial inquiry: ‘Did LeBron James get David Blatt fired?’
So what am I really getting at? I suppose, as a young professional, I partially resent this sort of athlete-reporter PTSD that has strained the relationship between the two parties– making athletes mistrustful and reporters disgruntled.
As a journalist, I worry about the splintering. As a fan, I’m terrified. It’s my sincerest hope that, rather than continuing to work at odds, athletes and reporters will recognize the equal, mutual benefit they serve to one another.
Get the story. Build the brand.
At the end of the day, Leonard got the trophy, but James wears the crown. To athletes everywhere I ask: What was it all for if you won’t be remembered?
Rachel Blauner posted on February 2, 2016 at 7:23 pm
I think another great take-away lesson from this seminar is that reporters/journalists cannot forget to look at the situation from the athlete’s perspective, and vice versa.
When Doyle brought up the question to Sean McAdam about what crosses the line when asking athlete’s questions, referring to BU’s Beanpot loss last year and Matt O’Connor, it really made me start to think. Being a collegiate athlete and having been asked tough questions in interviews, I am somewhat careful about asking athlete’s questions that might hurt their feelings/bring up a tough loss/play that might have caused the loss.
To contradict that, I think McAdam made a great point. The level of the sport matters.
If it’s a collegiate sport, a reporter might ask a question differently than if it was a professional sport because, to put it simply, professionals are getting paid.
I liked what Julie said about how they did all agree on one thing: mutual respect for the communication to work. This point hits all things discussed in the seminar.
Reporters must respect the athlete’s space (the locker room) and the athletes must be willing to answer questions, while keeping their composure.
RJ made a great point that he is much more apt to give good answers if the reporter has a conversation with him. I loved that he wanted reporters just to ask him “how is your day” or “how are you” at the beginning of an interview. This makes it more conversational, more friendly.
But, be mindful, you might be up against an athlete like Marshawn Lynch, as McAdam pointed out, who treats it as a game and won’t answer questions.
Another big point that stuck out to me was that reporters’ time with athletes is getting limited and more controlled, so make sure your question is to the point.
McAdam was talking about how in baseball, you may only get an hour, if that, to ask the questions you need answered. Do your research beforehand. Ask about past match ups. Ask about specific plays. RJ was trying to be polite when he talked to a reporter who didn’t know much about basketball, but some athletes won’t be that sympathetic.
Do not go into a locker room or a press conference stumbling over your words, seeming uneducated about the sport. DO NOT eat the food for the players.
With all the things we learned you shouldn’t do, we also learned things we can do. As a reporter, you never want to build a reputation of being lazy or ignorant about the sport you are covering. It’s simple: be prepared and be confident in your knowledge of the game.
RJ offered great insight on how to ask questions as a reporter and McAdam’s experiences shed some light on the challenges and positives of being a sports reporter.
At the end of the day, we have to remember that each party, the media and the athlete, are people, not just a business or object. Show mutual respect.
Gabbie Chartier posted on February 2, 2016 at 9:59 pm
The panel with Sean McAdam, Austin Czarnick, Jordan Mickey and R.J. Hunter really opened my eyes to the different perspectives the athletes and journalists have regarding themselves and each other. I think the most important take away I got from this panel was gaining a new understanding for how the athletes view the media and hopefully the athletes were able to also gain a new understanding for what the media does. At the end of the day, we’re all just there to do our jobs, and realizing that on both ends is crucial in making the interview and reporting process go as smoothly and effectively as possible.
Athletes go through training to learn to better articulate appropriate responses to the media when asked difficult questions. Additionally, the media goes through training and are taught to ask those hard questions that will elicit interesting answers. One quote that really stuck with me at the panel was when RJ Hunter (I believe it was him that said it) said that a cardinal rule with the media is “don’t stand out.” There are prepped to not say or do anything different or eye-catching that the media will pick up on. Yet, the media is always on the lookout for something that makes an athlete stand out and that will make a good story. I thought it was interesting how disconnected the two professions are in that sense.
Athlete media training also covers bases regarding how to attribute success to the team as a whole and not individuals. Czarnick said sometimes he would be asked a question about his success and he’d always attribute part of it to his linemates. Mickey said that at LSU he was always taught to never say “I” but to include the entire team. I’ve always hated this approach to answering questions. If a player truly thinks they are a major reason for the success during a game, they should be able to say, “yeah honestly I played great tonight.” If they think one teammate really under-delivered, they should be able to express that in a way that doesn’t necessarily throw that teammate under the bus completely, but gets the message across. Distorting answers to flatter the team as a whole does not make for a genuine response. The player may not even believe what they’re saying to be true. Reporters are always seeking the truth, yet the media training that teaches athletes to sugarcoat or manipulate answers to better flatter the team as a whole seems untruthful. Not only that, but it makes for bland, expected answers. As a member of the media I wish athletes were able to more accurately express how they really feel with out repercussions from the head of team media relations.
A major turning point of the panel I think was when McAdam was asked when and if reporters know when to stop interviewing a player when that player is overwhelmingly upset. I’ll admit, it does seem insensitive for reporters to constantly hound a player for answers to their questions when they are upset about the results of the game. McAdam brought up a good point though when he said that it’s part of the athletes job and they have a responsibility to the media. These athletes get paid millions of dollars a year and are adored by fans in their cities, but part of that job is giving the media what they need to do their jobs effectively. His overall message seemed to be that the athletes need to suck it up for 10 minutes, finish their jobs and responsibilities to the media, and then they can be left alone. After all, the media is there trying to do their job too and having to tell your editor you couldn’t get a story because the athlete was too emotional to speak to the media is unfair.
The discussion took another interesting turn when we began to discuss the Players Tribune as an outlet for players and potentially the future of journalism. The players all seemed to agree that it was a cool outlet for athletes to express themselves without the media involved. I definitely see the value in that. I read one piece from the Players Tribune by John Scott and the whole drama surrounding the NHL All-Star Game and I definitely saw a value to having the story come from the player and not a middleman. You gain a degree of emotion and realness knowing it’s coming from the player (for the most part) and not what the media told the player to say. I also don’t think this medium will overpower the media because it is completely different. If anything, this outlet helps the media to find story ideas, better get to know a player, and ask questions that stem directly from what they wrote on the Players Tribune. It will be interesting to see how the media capitalizes on this outlet in the future.
This panel was important I think for gaining a better mutual understanding and respect between athletes and reporters. Both of our jobs are challenging and both of our jobs are rewarding, but at the end of the day they’re still our jobs and we need to execute them fairly and responsibly.
Natalie Robson posted on February 2, 2016 at 10:28 pm
Sports journalists don’t get enough credit plain and simple. During the sit down conversation this past week, some moments became down right painful when RJ Hunter spoke candidly about how coached athletes are toward the members of the media. The entire time I kept thinking about the uphill battle Sean McAdam and other sports journalists go through every single day to give their audience what they want. What I learned is that these uphill battles can only be won through personal connections made outside the locker room.
Although McAdam and the athletes had a lot of contradicting beliefs about their respective rolls, one thing they could agree on was how important it is to build relationships with one another. These are where the stories beyond the box scores get discovered.
Beyond the romantic idea that these relationships are the foundation of great articles, I think this holds journalists to a higher standard of finding stories that are worthy of their audience’s attention. However, this isn’t a one-way street. There has to be some kind of compromise on the end of the athletes—which by the sound of our conversation with RJ Hunter, Jordan Mickey, and Austin Czarnik, is easier said than done.
I say this because it’s clear how much these athletes are coached. Even in our classroom conversation, if RJ said anything slightly off script, his eyes would dart directly to Jeff Twiss. He even joked about Twiss showing up to his door at the thought of RJ mentioning something slightly off color. Situations like this make it virtually impossible for journalists to get close to personal with these players. Before the ink even dries on their contracts, PR is coaching them on bullet proof blanket statements to get them through locker room interviews.
At the end of the day, I felt a lot more optimistic walking into the conversation then I did walking out of it. You want to be able to do your job as a journalist and write good stories, but how can you do that when the person your story is on doesn’t even want to talk to you, someone who is inherently been told not to trust you, and to give you the most basic vanilla answers they can come up with so they don’t get in trouble with the organization?
It breaks down to good journalism, if you can be proactive “fair and honest” as Sean McAdam said, who can fault you for writing what is true? I think it would garner a lot more respect from athletes if we start writing more about fact than just “verified source” hear say—however that would require compromise on the end of the athletes with the journalists. What a vicious cycle, at some point someone has got to give. Once journalists and athletes start to have a mutual respect for each other, that’s when relationships can form and that is when stories can be told.
Alex Greenberg/Alex Smith/Zach Halperin posted on February 2, 2016 at 10:54 pm
Our response is in podcast form!
Listen to Episode 1 of The Shorr Report here:
https://soundcloud.com/user-872962998/the-shorr-report-episode-1
Sarah Kirkpatrick posted on February 2, 2016 at 11:43 pm
It was great to reflect on my past experiences and interactions with athletes, comparing the perspective of each of the athletes on the panel — RJ Hunter’s comments especially resonated with me — and a guy who’s been around many different athletes and many different personalities in Sean McAdam.
I gathered as an overarching theme — and to no real surprise — that these athletes wanted to be treated as human, with just an ounce of decency. RJ mentioned his godfather’s “fuck the media” mentality. And though RJ was one of the more pro-media types (he was the only one of those three who’s given out his number), he also said something to the extent that “everybody in the media has an agenda.”
And I can’t say, frankly, I can blame him for that mentality. So what I’ve always tried to do in my own reporting is put an effort into genuinely caring about them as a person, which the three athletes on the panel seemed to appreciate. It was nice to get some validation from RJ about the fact that he wishes more reporters just asked “how’s your day going?” I usually try and make an effort to ask how they’re doing, so it’s reassuring to know that the athletes (or RJ, at least) appreciate the gesture and it doesn’t come across as trying too hard to be nice.
But there were just some common courtesies that reporters lack that still astound me. Rarely, if ever, would you approach an average human while they’re changing their clothes or eating their dinner alone. I was relieved to hear that the Celtics have put a system in place where they have a waiting area. I don’t view this as increasingly restricted access necessarily, as Sean sort of mentioned — as long as you can talk to everyone you need, there shouldn’t be a problem.
There’s also the concept of knowing what you’re talking about before asking a question — if someone is giving you their time, you shouldn’t be wasting it. I liked how RJ offered suggestions about ways to ask straightforward questions: for Jordan Mickey, ask about his footwork on his blocks, rather than just what makes him so good at blocks. I’m not sure I agree with the players about the fact that dropping stats in questions doesn’t make someone come across as a know-it-all, but maybe that’s just me being self-conscious.
On a similar note — you should always consider how you word your questions and how those questions might make them feel. That’s a pretty good rule in life, really, but even more so in sports media. It’s not always your job to make them feel bad or guilty. Mistakes happen, and a lot of reporters tend to get high and mighty about their duty to “expose the truth” without taking human emotion into consideration. On that end, I’m really glad Doyle asked about how you recognize when it’s time to back off from an athlete who’s visibly upset or crying. That was something I struggled with covering the national championship game last year – but it comes down to really watching your wording, and also being being gentle in your tone.
That’s also where the element of trust comes in — which Sean mentioned is obviously stronger with the traveling media. For the most part, since Judy, Andrew and I go to every game and some practices, the BU players recognize us and respect us (or at least do a good job of pretending!). I grew close enough with Evan Rodrigues and Cason Hohmann over the course of the season last year that I was okay with sitting next to them while they were clearly upset after the championship game, and I didn’t sense they were terribly uncomfortable with me. As for the random Boston media folks who were only there covering the Frozen Four and had never probably watched a college hockey game before, Cason and Evan’s answers were a lot more straightforward toward them. Part of that was the barking tone from the reporters, part of that their previous knowledge, but I’d imagine the bigger part of that was trust and respect.
As one final random point: I’m sad David Lee told RJ not to wear his yellow shoes. I’m all about fashion statements and pops of color. That would have been fantastic to see.
Andrew Battifarano posted on February 3, 2016 at 12:20 am
As a member of the media — at the least at the collegiate level — it’s not an easy task to develop relationships with players. The media-athlete dynamic can be a complicated one. But if there’s one thing that stands out from this panel, and Rachel and Timmy touched upon this in their comments, it’s the fact that there needs to be a mutual respect between the athlete and the journalist.
Both are there to do a job, and to do it well, at least one would hope. If you’re walking into a locker room, you should understand that you’re venturing into an athlete’s workspace, as Sean McAdam discussed in his part of the panel. And if you’re walking into their area, you should be ready to do your own work. Like R.J. Hunter said, showing you have knowledge, like knowing a certain statistic, not only shows that you’re doing your homework, but it also says that you’ve been actually paying attention at games.
Too many times at press conferences I’ve seen reporters ask obvious questions about the game that if they paid attention they would not have needed to ask, or they have not actually done their research about the team and made a wild claim before asking a question to a coach or athlete. The lesson here: do your homework.
After hearing R.J., Jordan Mickey and Austin Czarnik converse about their feelings toward the media and how they try to respond to questions, I started to think about something that happened in a baseball game I watched this summer. Wilmer Flores, shortstop for the New York Mets, started crying on the field when he learned he was traded (the move never materialized, but that’s neither here nor there). That moment, though, relates very much to our discussion of athletes. A lot of the time, I think a lot of us think these people are robots with superhuman qualities. Yet, that’s far from the truth.
They’re humans like the rest of us that have emotions, and they show them from time to time. It’s easy to forget this fact, but it’s important to remember this when you’re trying to interview a player, particularly after a rough game.
This lesson never hit home more than when I covered last year’s men’s hockey national championship game, a game that we talked about in class. I was in that scrum where goalie Matt O’Connor was grilled with question after question about his costly misplay. Some reporters did in fact go too far in what they asked. Like McAdam said, it’s important to remember what level the athlete is performing at. After a professional game, it’s more than fair to question a player for a poor game. At the college level, though, I think there needs to come a point in time where you have to understand that they’re still kids, probably younger than 21 years old. They’re not getting paid to be there, they’re (technically) amateurs. Although we’ve always been taught to be “disinterested observers” or unbiased, I think it’s OK to show some compassion, or at least understanding, like in O’Connor’s case.
But jumping off of that, I can see why some journalists might not feel as sympathetic toward the athlete. As R.J. said, his godfather told him to “fuck the media.” Austin mentioned how he likes to tell reporters what they like to hear. Jordan said he was taught in his media training at LSU that he always brings it back his statements back his teammates. A common theme here, and McAdam brought it up from his point of view, is the fact that the personal connections between the media and the athlete are not the same as they once were because of these formulaic answers and the limitations journalists have when it comes to talking to players before and after games. At times, like when you’re trying to write a feature, it can be incredibly frustrating.
Most notably in baseball, there are only a few precious minutes during batting practice for reporters to get to talk players. There is almost no time for one-on-one interviews. Time is precious, and there always seems to be other reporters around. I know the players expressed that one way to get closer with them is to talk about things outside of their sport. While I think that is a great thing to do, and I think it definitely works, it becomes more of a difficult task when you have five minutes to talk to a person.
More time would be such a lovely thing to have, but we’re reporters, and so is the life. Our job in the media isn’t easy, but the athletes don’t have a cakewalk either. It’s always important to keep this in mind when we’re working.
Judy Cohen posted on February 3, 2016 at 2:53 am
One of the most interesting points of our athlete-media seminar this past week was when Jeff Twiss spoke about the players being I guess what amounts to less available to journalists and how that affects relationships.
R.J. Hunter said you build relationships with journalists when you’re not in the middle of an interview, but with player availability becoming more and more limited (like the Celtics’ method of having players brought over to media members when they need them), that becomes increasingly difficult. If you’re asking for a player to be made available to get quotes from, your primary focus is getting quotes from them. There’s very little time to just talk, and so it becomes even harder to develop a relationship and harder to develop trust.
It’s the nature of the business nowadays, as many sports journalists have said, to have less and less access to players. And when you do get them, as Jordan Mickey and R.J. mentioned, the athletes have been taught what to say and are coached to follow the same guidelines: emphasize the team, never say I, always bring it back to the fact that you never could have done it if it weren’t for your teammates. It’s nice that that’s the message being stressed, but it gives the journalist a tough time trying to get maybe a more candid and honest answer from a certain player.
My favorite interviews are ones in which the person I’m talking to shows some personality or gives an answer I couldn’t have gotten anywhere else. Sarah, Andrew and I like to joke that sometimes we know the answers we’re going to get before we even ask a question, which I think is due a lot to media training or team-wide ideals that have been stressed. Obviously if a team is trying to control the information it puts out, it makes perfect sense to try and keep everyone on the same page. It just gets a little boring sometimes.
Now, that’s not to say the ones who don’t follow the “rules” don’t become tedious at times (Marshawn Lynch was mentioned regarding this). But at least for me, personally, and I assume most human beings who appreciate stories that aren’t just fill-in-the-blanks awaiting the appropriate quote from the most recent game, original thoughts are much more memorable and oftentimes more telling.
But I guess athletes don’t necessarily owe journalists much of anything in that realm either. It’s not really their problem if someone’s story doesn’t get read, so why should they feel inclined to step outside the team-mandated comfort zone and maybe go a few inches off the beaten path? That’s where I think the mutual respect that everyone is talking about starts to come into play.
Both journalists and athletes are there to do a job. It has been said again and again. The athlete’s job is to play the game he or she is there to play, the journalist’s job is to write about it and both have somewhat of an obligation to a larger audience. For the athletes, it’s to perform, and for journalists and media members, it’s to relay the information back and provide new information as well. In order for that to happen in a cohesive manner, there has to be, at the very least, a mutual understanding of what the other party is trying to do.
In general, I think the goal of sports journalism is not to necessarily nitpick and criticize (though it certainly happens and sometimes to a wholly unnecessary degree), but to tell stories and, like I said earlier, relay information. The environment in which that occurs most readily is one, I think, where journalists are aware that athletes are human beings who aren’t perfect and who have emotions along with good days and bad days. There’s no sense in intentionally trying to upset someone, and I think when you approach an athlete with a tough question, doing so in a rational and reasonable manner is going to generate a better result than just bluntly asking someone why they played so poorly or why they lost a game. Be aware, be knowledgeable and be respectful. I think that’s how you get the best outcome.
Jake De Vries posted on February 3, 2016 at 9:44 am
Since many of us may see our first job in the likes of Portland, Maine or Erie, Ohio, where minor league teams operate, I think we learned one extremely valuable lesson in this seminar: do NOT ask an athlete how he feels about being sent down to the D-League (or AHL or AAA or whatever it may be). To be honest, it had never fazed me before that this may be an inappropriate or intolerable question for a reporter to ask. It seems perfectly normal to wonder how an athlete feels after being “demoted,” but as the guys pointed out, it happens a lot and it’s part of being a professional athlete at their level. According to RJ, the answer is usually a simple one: something along the lines of “I had a good time in Portland, and I’m doing my best to improve every day.” A media-savvy athlete won’t give a reporter much if he/she asks a question like this.
I think RJ taught us another very valuable lesson as well. He said, “Your brand is 50% how you are on social media.” In saying this, he may have been speaking more for the athlete, but there is no doubt that this advice can be applied to the reporter as well. Twitter has become absolutely necessary for media members to supplement their brand in order to dish out content, send live news, and be their own person. Many reporters are more followed on Twitter than the athletes themselves! This being said, it is vital that reporters take steps to be mindful that their readers are watching their every move on social media, but it is also important for a reporter to let his/her own voice shine through social media.
When it comes to reporters asking tough questions to athletes after a hard loss, I think Sean said it well when he advised us to simply be fair and professional. If a reporter is fair and professional, the athlete will usually and hopefully not take exception to the times when the reporter must ask the tough questions. As a college athlete and student-journalist, I think I’m very fortunate to see both sides of the picture. I agree with Rachel that sometimes we may shy away from certain questions because we know how that question would make us feel in the situation. I think that this can be an important asset for us because it may help athletes trust that we understand their situation and that we will ask the right questions. If an athlete has just endured a tough defeat, I think we would be more likely to acknowledge what happened and then find a way to push the story forward and look for what will come next.
Ashley Boitz posted on February 3, 2016 at 9:52 am
During this seminar the panel included, Sean Macadam, Austin Czarnick, Jordan Mickey and R.J. Hunter, this mix of people on the panel created the effect of seeing athlete’s and the media’s perspective in one setting. The central theme of this seminar was the question, “why do we study sports journalism” and when we do decide to pursue it, “ how does one appropriately so about sports reporting. “
I think a major take away from this seminar is understanding, as a journalist, how to communicate with an athlete to not only get the story, but having the athlete feel comfortable enough to trust you. One theme I saw up come up a lot was “ building a relationship.” When a student asked Boston Celtics, R.J. Hunter, “ what is the right way to ask you a question? And how would you like to start off,” R.J. responded, “ I would really appreciate a simple, ‘ Hey how is your day gong.’” This stuck out to me, because that is seen as a very basic greeting in our culture and when R.J. suggested that is what would put him in a good mood it seemed very simple. To me, this statement from R.J. reminded the audience that he too, is a just a person. No one wants to enter the office or place of work everyday and not have one employee ask how he’s doing. At the end of the day, both the athlete and the journalist are here to do their job, but having an idea of how the other person’s job may be on a daily basis can help create a mutual respect for each other.
As students studying jocularism and hoping to have a career in sports it is important to understand the emotional attachment and hard work athletes put into their sports. However, if a game does not go well or a player has an off night, it is still the journalist job to ask the hard questions. Journalists are always looks for something or someone to stand out to make their story a little different from other reporters covering the same event. This is what makes them different in their profession and if you are a up and comer in the business having the ability to find an angel that no one else has can set you apart. However, I found the mentality for the athletes when the media comes in is the complete opposite. For example, I thought it was very interesting how Jordan Mickey spoke how his media training at L-S-U. Jordan said they were trained to always “ put the team first” and to never put the “I“ into the question or to “always give credit to the team and bring it back to the team.” R.J. even told a story that on his first media day with the Celtics he, not knowing better, wanted to stand out. So, he decided to wear his bright yellow shoes. As he was taking them out of his locker a senior player, (David Lee), told him that in front of the media was not the place to stick out. Even Astuin Czarnick mentioned that when asked about his success, he did not want to put an “I” into his answer, so he modestly credits his teammates.
As students studying journalism we want to prepare best we can for when we are put out in the field or get our first job. One thing everyone on the panel seemed to agree with is that when in a locker room, it is very important to understand the rules, and respect the rituals of the locker room. Sean Macadam gave the example of getting what they call their locker right, based on different sports. Now some teams have what is a “cooling off” period, which means that after the game, the players have some time to cool off and then when they can talked to the media. This stuck me as a very fair way of going about things, although the journalists are excited to ask questions, they players are also filled with emotion after a big game, to me this seems like a fair middle ground.
The overall message of this panel was to show students, that both the journalist and the athletes have very challenging jobs. They both are in the market of entertaining audiences, which can put high pressure on both of them. At the end of the day if both jobs can be done correctly if they are executed with a mutual respect and fairness towards each other.
Emily Tillo posted on February 3, 2016 at 10:15 am
Embracing the “delicate dance”
“It’s complicated,” beat reporter Sean McAdam of Comcast Sports New England said when asked about his relationships with professional athletes during last week’s first installment of the Sports Journalism Seminar Series.
““$#@& the media,” 5-time NBA champion Ron Harper told his godson, Celtics rookie R.J. Hunter.
The title of Professor Shorr’s blog says it all, “Why can’t we all just get along?” Well, last week’s guest panel proved it’s just not that easy. Journalist Sean McAdam and three rookies in their respective sports—R.J. Hunter and Jordan Mickey from the Boston Celtics and Austin Czarnik from the Providence Bruins–implied throughout last week’s discussion that there will always be a love-hate relationship between athletes and the media. However, the truly skilled sports journalists are those who choose to join in on the “delicate dance” (words McAdam used when discussing the athlete-media relationship) and aren’t afraid to show up, ask questions, and dig deeper.
Sports journalists must be willing to not just crack the surface of athletes’ and coaches’ personalities, but get to know them on a one-on-one basis. But how is this familiarity possible in a world where most athletes have, as ESPN senior writer Tim Keown puts it, become “machines,” perfectly programmed to spit out words that rarely make headlines? (source: “Death of the Interview,” ESPN). Case in point: Jordan Mickey, who led the nation in block shots as sophomore at LSU, stressed how he received media training from the first time he stepped on campus until the day he graduated. And don’t forget the NBA rookie media training, too. Regardless, Mickey said, “They all say the same thing. Put the team before yourself. Always praise your coaches, your school, whatever organization you’re under at that time.”
Granted, there will always be the occasional slip-up or off-script moment during a pre- or post-game press conference or interview, but I like to think of these moments as opportunities where truly good journalists shine. The most memorable one that comes to mind is the post-tournament press conference at the 2014 Ryder Cup—team USA had just lost to team Europe on European soil, so tensions were high. Phil Mickelson didn’t hold back when it came to criticizing Captain Tom Watson’s leadership tactics: “Unfortunately, we have strayed from a winning formula in 2008 for the last three Ryder Cups, and we need to consider maybe getting back to that formula that helped us play our best.” Personally, I liked the back-and-forth banter that ensued between Watson and Mickelson. It truly shed light on their personalities and provided journalists with unique content.
But press-conference situations like that which transpired at the Ryder Cup are rare. It’s becoming increasingly more difficult to truly get to know players. “Players are less accessible with pro teams than when I started 25 years ago,” McAdam said. “It’s one of the sports where it is important to build relationships.”
Add to the press conference problem (which Keown relates to “fast-food”—“the same nutrient free offering every time”) the negative impact social media has had on sports reporting. “Your brand now is 50% on social media,” R.J. Hunter says before admitting that he deleted his accounts to “eliminate any distractions or anything bad I could say.”
Social media channels have effectively eliminated the huge wall between athletes and their fans, all while giving athletes more of a voice to say how they really feel. Beat reporters like McAdam had, in the past, been fans’ only sources of information. That’s not the case anymore.
“Without an audience driven by breaking news, it becomes increasingly hard for news sources to justify the “access apparatus,” ESPN’s Mike Gleason writes in a 2009 article titled “Bill Belichick and the Obsolescence of Sports-Media Access.”
McAdam’s and Gleason’s comments raise an important question, one that I thought was the biggest takeaway from last week’s discussion: How do sports journalists not only survive in this changing media landscape but avoid getting sucked into the ‘fast-food’ press conference?
The answer is simple: Do your homework. Leverage data, statistics, and analysis to ask questions and evoke good answers.
“The more institutional knowledge you have the more equipped you are to get something unique,” McAdam said. “It send a signal to players that you’re doing your homework.”
One lesson I’ll take with me as I enter the world of sports media in 4 months is that there’s no substitute for preparation. There’s also no substitute for simply showing up and learning by doing. Embracing the “delicate dance” is part of what makes a sports journalists job so unique.
Haley King posted on February 3, 2016 at 10:29 am
Being a former collegiate athlete, a Red Sox employee, and an aspiring media/public relations professional, I found it refreshing to hear from three current athletes in addition to Comcast SportsNet’s Sean McAdam last week.
The idea and process of media training has always captivated my interest, and while talking to Aaron Salkin from the New England Patriots last semester, I really got a sense of how seriously professional teams take media training, especially pertaining to rookie athletes.
Take Bill Belichick for example. Belichick is notorious for giving cut-and-dry, information-free press conferences, ensuring his players do likewise. Where big names like Belichick can get away with avoiding the press and dodging questions, rookies like Jordan Mickey and RJ Hunter don’t seem to have that power. Rather it seems as though reporters turn to rookies to answer their questions when the big name players turn down post-game camera time, which makes media training even more vital to an organizations image.
On a similar note, it seems as though media training should also extend into personal branding/social media training. The increased use of social media platforms across not only the media landscape, but the athlete landscape as well, are changing the perceptions we have on certain players and teams. Platforms such as Instagram and Twitter have increased the visibility of athletes, allowing them to better cultivate their own brands and tailor their messages specific to their OWN audiences as opposed to getting messages out through a reporter who is tailoring their quotes to a different audience. Social media is also making it more difficult to break stories, for a number of athletes are trying to take control of their own news by tweeting out their own announcements—whether those announcements be retirements, contract extensions, etc.
Another thing that seems to be fraternizing with sports journalism as we know it, is some players’ ability to choose what media they would like to talk to. And cases like this don’t just pertain to sports—you recall that The Donald refused to partake in the final Republican presidential debate due to Fox News reporter, Megyn Kelly moderating the debate. And guess what? He can do that and get away with it.
We read about the case where LeBron James and Jim Gray put together a show in cahoots, resulting in the interview being dry, rehearsed and quote frankly, boring. When celebrities or athletes have the option to speak to a reporter of their liking, the nature and sense of journalism itself gets lost. The journalist chosen doesn’t prod, doesn’t try to steer the conversation, and ultimately doesn’t learn anything new—and in the end, walks away from the experience with a diminished reputation and credibility.
The key takeaway I had from the Athlete and the Media seminar is that the media landscape is drastically changing, making it harder and harder to interview, gain access, and get the quotes your story needs to thrive. The answer to how to be successful in a static landscape seems to be common sense: journalists need to find a way to gain an athlete’s trust, make a connection, and build a relationship rather than just demanding immediate post-game answers. Like anything in life, people don’t just do you favors; you have to work for them. Not all of us can be so lucky to speak fluid Japanese and capture Daisuke Matsuaka’s undivided attention capturing the interview of our careers thus far.
Justin Akiva posted on February 3, 2016 at 10:55 am
This seminar on the media and the athlete made me realize that the athletes aren’t only playing a game on the ice or court but they are also playing one in the media room as well. They come into a game every night planning all day what they have to do to beat their opponent and then right after they find their next opponent, the media. And this opponent is someone they are training to beat on the first day they walk in the door. Jordan Mickey explained that on the first day of practice at LSU there was media training. He went on to say that they taught him what not to say and how to say things. Mickey would explain that they had taught him to never praise himself but to always contribute his praise to his teammates and his organization.
Unlike Mickey, R.J. and Austin did not have the same exposure to the media as they both explained they were lucky enough to have three or four reporters a night. However, Austin did say playing for team USA at the age of sixteen he learned the hard way on working with the media. “You throw words out that you don’t mean to say but it was part of the process and it helped me.” Even playing with the providence Bruins he explains that there is not much media but he agrees with Mickey that you must always praise and give credit to your teammates even if you are the star player. Even R.J. said that when he made his dad fall out of his seat with the craziest shot in his career he had to acknowledge the rest of the team for their success rather then his own. This was the biggest shot of career and he had to sit back like it did not mean much to him. In an interview with Fox 5 he even went as far as to say, “I am happy for Georgia State,” without giving himself a word of credit. It was amazing to see that they all had to beat the reporters by never letting themselves have the praise.
The three athletes all talked about how they would love to praise themselves but you just can’t. And to me it sucked to hear this because it makes me feel that most of the time the “game” of the reporter against the player is not real. It is more like they are actors who are just reading a script given to them by their respective organizations. The player can’t say what they want unless they are willing to suffer a loss in the game between them and the reporter. As the reader or viewer I want to hear the actual players opinion so I can understand what kind of person they are and see them get the self praise they deserve. There are so many players that dream about hitting that game winning shot or scoring that game-winning goal and to hear these players discuss that they can never brag about it is absurd to me.
The reporters and the athlete discussed the importance of building a relationship. Although, Rj was the only one who said he had given his phone number to a reporter, the other athletes did explain that there is such thing as a good relationship with the media. This was surprising to me because I feel like today on social media and in press conferences their have been so many battles between the media and the athlete. Sean downplayed this notion by explaining “we as the media are not out their to catch the athlete doing something wrong, the athletes have a right to live their lives but with all the social media today the fans can follow their every move.” He then went onto explain how a good relationship can be built through being fair and professional. “The whole building a relationship is finding something some topic outside of the sport is kind of an ice breaker to chat and keep the notepad in back pocket; it breaks down the barrier.” The athletes agreed with this and said that it makes them feel so much more comfortable. Rj had even explained that he wished a reported would sometimes ask him how his day was. They understand that they both have a job to do so they do have respect for each other and the players were even willing to admit that they will do the interview if you just give them a second to breathe after the game. Jeff even went as far to say that the pros always ask “why do the reporters crowd my locker when I am eating or changing? The pros say they will go to them if they are just given some time to eat and change. And it actually becomes a win win situation.” Sean explained that the ten-minute cooling off period in baseball has helped the athletes a lot with this and it is looking like it will continue in that direction.
The athletes and reporter explained that the game between one another is all about respect. You need to respect everyone if you want to get the story and you want the player to like you. Everyone in that locker room is a person and deserves respect no matter who they are. If that mutual respect is given the reporter and player will understand one another so much better and have a much better relationship.
Anna Padilla posted on February 3, 2016 at 11:23 am
The statements of mutual respect between seasoned sports reporter Sean Mcadam and the young pro’s Jordan Mickey, R.J Hunter, and Austin Czarnik were many. From athlete to media and media to athlete, both parties agreed that the working relationship they have is based on the respect that each is just doing their job.
So with the proclaimed respect why does there remain a disconnect, a distrust, between the athletes and the reporters covering their sport? Both R.J Hunter and Jordan Mickey expressed a wariness and almost annoyance of the part the media plays in their profession.
Sean Mcadam acknowledged teams and individual athletes have become less accessible to reporters. And the growing tendency of short, regulated, group setting interviews have limited the one on one time between athlete and interviewer. These factors are then magnified by the accessibility of social media and the ability for athletes to create their own media, to skip over the journalist. ESPN contributor Mike Gleason describes this downgrade of sports journalism to merely sports analysis.
Sports journalism of the past was the connection between fan and athlete. The profession could tell the humanizing story of an untouchable star or bring the spotlight onto an up and coming play maker. Sports journalism was the go between for fans to otherwise rather inaccessible but celebrity athletes. Their stories, triumphs or failures, are only recorded because of sports journalism.
So up till recently the relationship was symbiotic. But if the athlete feels no reason to continue this marriage of professions will we not all suffer?
The fan can follow their favorite athlete on Instagram and Twitter. But how will they ever find out the stories that make an athlete or a team? A challenging upbringing to now play on the pro level or the grueling comeback from a destructive injury, these need to be reported for a fan to ever hear about them.
The athlete will lose the attention, the focus, and the one person who will mark down their story. While media attention may be a hindrance to the athlete at a high college level or a pro level, if no one is paying attention to your game winning touchdown who will care? Who will know?
The reporter and the athlete need to have a sit down and talk. They need to understand that each helps the other and each helps the fan.
If the athlete has the respect they say they have for a sports journalist, the sports journalist must tread lightly. Not with their words or their opinions, but with their professionalism. Austin Czarnik characterized his good relationship with the media as based on respect and the job the reporter does.
If, as a reporter, doing your job well and being respectful to your subject is what keeps the connection between the athlete and the media, then the connection should not falter because that is what you should be doing anyway.
Stephanie Tran posted on February 3, 2016 at 11:34 am
Let’s face it, in the world of sports journalism athletes and reporters need to find some way to work together; reporters need a story, while athletes may need airtime to define their brand(s). It’s not always easy as athletes are becoming less and less accessible, but ultimately to be considered a strong and serious sports journalist you must build a relationship with the players you cover. In some ways an athlete’s response to questions defines your story and ultimately your success as a sports journalist.
At the seminar we were joined by Sean McAdam of ComcastSportsnet New England along with Boston Celtics players R.J. Hunter and Jordan Mickey as well as Providence Bruins player Austin Czarnik. They spoke openly and candidly about their roll when it comes to the athlete and media relationship.
Based on the conversation, it is becoming more difficult for reporters to get the responses out of athletes because it may depend on the result of the game or the player’s personality. Then there’s the Player’s Tribune where athletes can post their own “unedited” material, essentially bypassing the media. R.J. Hunter expressed that he likes when the media is out of the equation. I think platforms like the Player’s Tribune or Twitter are great outlets for athletes who want to express their own opinions without risking the media obscuring their words. However, platforms like these don’t bring in the same type of sports stories you see day-to-day.
I think that sometimes athletes are coached too heavily on what not to say, causing dull and mundane answers to reporters’ questions. In the article Death of an Interview, it mentions how the post-interview “has created a generation of athletes who are over covered but underreported. “ We as journalists need to ask better questions to gain more depth into stories. To do this, athletes and the media must find a way to work together. But how can athletes and reporters trust each other? How can we get athletes to open up a little more?
To be honest, I don’t think there will ever be a full trust between athletes and the media because time and time again there have been reporters who over step their boundaries. Hunter and Mickey both agreed that when reporters ask poor questions, they shut down and don’t want to continue with the interview. When one reporter breaks some sort of trust with a player, the rest of the media suffers.
McAdam said he’s run into situations where he’s been challenged by athletes about what he wrote, but as long as you write about the facts no one can fault you at that. One athlete’s unhappiness shouldn’t define you as a journalist. I agree. Journalists shouldn’t have to worry about what a player may think as long as the journalists are trained to write about the facts objectively.
The panel all agreed that there has to be a mutual respect for one another. Although they may run into a plethora of good and bad reporters or athletes, they all know it’s just part of the job.
Reporters, especially up and coming ones will encounter uncomfortable situations. To handle it comes with experience, but also just a basic form of professionalism. Be polite. Players are smart enough to know whether or not someone is trying to ask an underlying question.
It just comes down to professionalism on both sides. Start building relationships and work for that trust. Reporters and athletes are all human, just on different sides of the microphone.
Taylor DiChello posted on February 3, 2016 at 11:44 am
The first seminar about the media’s relationship with athletes reminded me of this article in the Boston Globe written by Bob Ryan called “Why do media need to talk to athletes?”. The lede is, “Does it have to be Us vs. Them?”. I believe that’s a central theme we talked about in class with all three of the athletes as well as Sean McAdam. The biggest take away for me from this is that we are people and athletes are people and as people we demand respect.
The leg up that a lot of people in this class have is being an athlete, according to RJ Hunter, because he feels that athletes have a better understanding of what other athletes go through every day and it can provide comfort as an athlete knowing that a journalist was once in their shoes and they aren’t out to get them. But, in a lot of ways, journalists and athletes are one in the same. We’re both trying to show the world our skills and when we make mistakes, they’re broadcasted, ridiculed, and often blown out of proportion. We all know what it’s like to be in those positions and in that regard it makes it easier to empathize with a player when they’ve made a mistake because as journalists we make them too. This mutual understanding should work vice versa with the athletes as well. If a journalist comes off as too harsh against an athlete, we better be able to explain our thought process and we better make sure we praise the athlete when doing something well the next game to show our unbiased reporting, as Jordan Mickey noted. Athletes must be able to do the same thing. If they make a mistake, they better be able to admit it and then be sure they don’t do it again the next time around.
We also have a mutual understanding when it comes to praising themselves for a job well done. If we got an athlete to answer a tough question and walk out with a perfect quote, we’ve done our jobs, but it’s not only our reporting that got that quote. It’s the collaboration of journalists in the room that made the athlete comfortable enough to answer the tough question you asked that made the quote really perfect. The athletes reiterated over and over again that not everything they do right is all thanks to themselves and that in interviews they always try to say they couldn’t have done it without their teammates.
Now, this makes for a boring article when every single time you ask an athlete who they can pin their successes on, they say their teammates and coaches were right there supporting them. I would have liked to hear a little more about this from McAdam in terms of different ways to ask the same question and how he’s been able to elicit different responses from athletes on the same subject in order to keep the quotes more interesting.
One quote that interested me the most was when McAdam said there was less accessibility to players now than there used to be when he started in journalism 25-30 years ago because everything is more managed. He also mentioned what I already discussed above about how a lot of athletes respond through “group think and not one-on-one”. Going into this seminar, I thought that players were more accessible to journalists because of their social media presences and websites like The Player’s Tribune. Yes, RJ Hunter said the limits his presence on social media because he doesn’t want to portray himself in a negative light. One of the biggest changes an amateur athlete becoming a professional athlete has to adjust to is the attention they gain. That’s why their media training is so important to them and that’s why it’s important for the media to gain their trust while they’re transitioning so that they don’t start off on the wrong foot. RJ mentioned that he has given his number out to reporters before and that he likes to build relationships with reporters who take the time to get to know him as a person and not just doing their job and getting the quotes they need to go home.
The second biggest lesson I learned as a reporter is do know what you’re talking about before going asking a question and before covering a game. The players know when you don’t know what you’re talking about and it shows the players that you aren’t actually serious about your job and you aren’t actually interested in what they have to say other than just doing your job. Not only will it make you look better, but you’ll be able to ask more in depth questions that bring out better quotes if you’re able to draw on prior knowledge.
Austin Czarnik of the Providence Bruins seemed to have the most relaxed opinions about the media, having dealt with them for most of his life as part of USA Hockey in Michigan. He says that he “just [gives] them what they want” and recognizes that a lot of reasons athletes shy away from the media is because the athlete doesn’t want to “sound stupid”. And this brings me back to the point that journalists feel the same way. They don’t want to sound stupid in front of the athletes and I believe that the first step to being more comfortable around each other and improving our relationship with each other is to first recognize that we are all just people and that our jobs happen to collide with one another in many different ways.
Dakota Woodworth posted on February 4, 2016 at 1:06 pm
Everyone knows that the media and athlete relationship has historically been generalized as strained, but at the end of the day both groups are really just trying to do their job. Professional athletes deal with media the most, but if you want to make it to that level, dealing with the media is part of the job; it’s part of what you signed up for. As a journalist that wants to cover those top athletes, you have to be prepared to run into athletes that may not respond well to questions or that might be a flat out pain in the ass sometimes (Marshawn Lynch at the Super Bowl).
It seems that both sides do have a mutual respect for one another, which is inherently important in order for both the athlete and the journalist to get through and finish interviews without a hitch. One of things that stuck with me the most was when RJ said he wanted reporters to just ask how his day was going. It seemed so simple at the time, but to an athlete it probably shows that the reporter doesn’t see them as just a story that needs to meet deadline, they see the athletes as real people. These athletes are letting the media into their safe space – the locker room – which the reporters must respect, but the athlete must also understand that they are there to do a job, exactly like they do on the court, on the field or on the ice.
I think that the relationship between the reporter and the athlete is extremely important, and everyone on the panel seemed to as well. I think it was RJ again who said that the best way to foster that relationship is to talk about almost anything other than the game. Talking away from a microphone or a tape-recorder about the snowstorm or almost anything else can help humanize both sides. But… it has to be genuine. I’ve gone for interviews after games before and was once caught pretty off guard when I was asked how my day was. I mean what was I supposed to say, my day was great, I went to class, took a nap and then had a hockey game? In hindsight I know the interviewer was trying to make me feel comfortable at first, but launching into a string of questions immediately afterwards made it feel very staged and forced.
That brings me to another interesting point that McAdam pointed out after Doyle’s question – the level of the game can make a huge difference. Professional athletes, especially veteran ones, have much more experience in handling tough questions or handling media after bad losses. Collegiate athletes are a very different story. Coming into BU my freshman year, I think we maybe had one or two meetings on how to handle social media. It was similar to what Jordan and RJ said about their media introduction meetings, but obviously on a much smaller scale. I’m sure teams like the men’s hockey team get more training because they’re playing on a much larger stage and garner much more media attention, but at the end of the day, collegiate athletes simply aren’t as coached as professional athletes in handling the media. As a reporter you can’t really treat a 20 year old who just lost in a national championship game the same as a 23 year old who lost in the Stanley Cup playoffs. As a reporter it’s about knowing the type of player you’re talking to, as an athlete it’s about knowing that these reporters have a job to do, but respect and a general understanding has to come from both sides.
Doyle Somerby posted on February 4, 2016 at 1:55 pm
The personal connections between reporters and athletes seem to be dwindling away as the days go by. This was put on display by Sean Mcadam and the young pro’s Jordan Mickey, R.J Hunter, and Austin Czarnik. While the athletes all shared the mutual respect that both themselves and the media were there to do a job, they felt that they had to protect their images by the way answered an interview.
The story that really struck me was when Jordan Mickey talked about his time at LSU. He recalled facing a big opponent and before the game one of his teammates was asked a tricky question by the other teams media member. This ended up evolving into a situation that was blown out of proportion and created a media scrum. This is something that caught my attention especially because it allows perspective on why kids coming up through the college ranks and into the pros are so paranoid and cautious around the media members. They do not want to be the center of attention or be the ones to create the headlines going into a game. There are a lot of reporters out there that are not interested in creating a relationship which unfortunately scars a player from getting close to other reporters that are passionate about being there and are interested in developing relationships.
With saying that, the media is already behind the 8 ball because with the younger athletes being coached and cautious around the media, reporters are now they are facing limited interview times. For example, the Celtics are limiting the availability of the players after games. They started to stage interviews based of off the players going to the reporters in a certain area at a certain time. This allows for the emotions of the game to lower a little so players are not as hyped up, so you don’t see something like Richard Sherman after they beat the 49ers in a playoff game screaming in an interview that the wide receiver (Michael Crabtree) was mediocre and solidifying himself as the best corner in the game. It allows for players to settle down and gain composure and have a better idea on how to answer questions.
While many athletes are strict and smart with how they approach interviews, I liked what Sean Mcadam had to say, when he said it varies based upon the sport and level. I feel like that is completely true because all sports have a different level of a media following. For example, basketball, football, and baseball grab the major headlines normally over the likes of hockey, and soccer. Therefore, some athletes are going to be more open to the media than others. Another thing that plays a large part in an athletes personality with the media is their role on the team. For example, last year at BU, having Jack Eichel, he was always in the headlines and constantly doing interviews, so for him he was very short and to the point with most reports as opposed to the rest of the guys on the team, they were just excited for the attention and chance to do interviews.
The final statement that stuck out to me was RJ Hunter saying that his godfather’s advice about the media to him was; “Fuck the media.” This is something that he contradicts himself later on when he said that “50% of your brand is through the media”. Listening to him talk it gave me the idea that you should not bite the hand that feeds you mentality. As an athlete i completely understand that he might get overwhelmed sometimes and not like the line of questioning but, at the end of the day the reporters are there because they are passionate about what they are doing as well. While some of the reporters are not the most knowledgable about the sport they are covering, there are a lot of reporters that have a great knowledge of the game. Therefore, athletes need to understand and loosen up a little bit when giving an interview. There should be more of a mutual respect than there is now.