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At what point should you as a reporter point out the wrong call was made?

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Spartan Squad, Mar 25, 2014.

  1. 93Devil

    93Devil Well-Known Member

    I would also have a coach go on the record that the call was blown before writing about it.
     
  2. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    I am an old guy with no know credentials and I can tell you that if you put in a story that a player cheated on a call or an ump blew an obvious call, etc., you are in for a world of trouble.

    The red flags in high school stories most likely to generate a heated response are when you say someone made an error (maybe he did but the official book doesn't agree) or you say that a call was blown, someone started a fight, cheated, etc.

    It may seem black and white to you, but it certainly won't to others.

    If a freelance writer turned in a story on a tennis match that said a kid won because he called a ball out that was clearly in with no backup from the opponent, coach or official, he would never work for me again.

    You may be right. Probably are. But when the kid's mom calls to say that her son didn't cheat and his reputation is ruined and he might not get that tennis scholarship, what am I gonna say? Our guy was there and in his opinion the ball was out?

    Put it this way, say you saw a school athletic director come out of a bar and swerve down the road. You gonna write a story and say that he is a drunk driver if he isn't arrested because it's obvious to you?
     
  3. micropolitan guy

    micropolitan guy Well-Known Member

    Many years ago at at NCAA gymnastics meet upon writing our stories I and several others in the press room noticed the score for one woman had been miscalculated and she had incorrectly been awarded an NCAA individual championship. However, since the award ceremony immediately followed each event, she had already received her first-place award.

    We pointed this out, stories were written, etc. We certainly did not say she cheated, but did write she should not have been the champion because she wasn't.

    Instead of correcting a clear error after the fact, the NCAA gave a duplicate first-place award to the true champion, and let the "bogus" (through no fault of her own, obviously) champ keep her award as well. They are listed as co-champions in the NCAA record book, even though one clearly was not.

    Of course, the woman who received the title in error could have returned it to the NCAA and asked her name be stricken from the list of champions because she wasn't really a champion. Of course she didn't. It's gymnastics.

    Coincidentally at the same venue several years later, UCLA's WBB basketball team was cheated out of an NCAA victory when the clock operator didn't start the clock properly on an in-bounds play with three or four seconds to go. The home team scored to win the game; at that time there was no official review, the referees ran off the court and called it good. he review showed that about 8 seconds had elapsed from the time the in-bounds pass was touched until the winning shot was taken.

    Of course, the NCAA bailed on that one too.
     
  4. RickStain

    RickStain Well-Known Member

    The "observe and report" line is what sports reporters go to when they're too lazy to line up sources the way real reporters do.
     
  5. boundforboston

    boundforboston Well-Known Member

    Wouldn't those sources have an agenda and say the umpire/official/referee got the call right in fear of umpires/officials/referees making calls against them in the future, especially at the high school level?
     
  6. Morris816

    Morris816 Member

    First of all, the Armando Galarraga game isn't analogous to the original post. The umpire admitted to blowing the call that ended the perfect game shortly after the game ended. Therefore, every reporter is free to say so.

    The tennis example is where a reporter observes it, but the kid says nothing. If the kid says nothing or won't comment on it, then you can't write that the ball was clearly out. All you can do is report that it appeared to go out and the kid wouldn't object.

    It's like a court case in which you, as the observer, draw conclusions based on what you've reported that the accused is guilty. But if the accused is found innocent in a jury trial, you don't ever write how obvious the evidence was that the accused was really guilty but the jury thought otherwise. You talk to the jury foreman and ask what led to the decision. If the foreman won't talk, you say the foreman wouldn't comment. You can talk about evidence the prosecution brought up, but you don't get to declare at any point in your story how obvious the accused's guilt was, no matter what you observe.
     
  7. SnarkShark

    SnarkShark Well-Known Member

    Sources are valuable. Of course. In these cases, however, sources are all their own biases and motivations.

    With the basketball example, the opposing coach smugly said he "didn't see it." Even though it was dripping with sarcasm and he had a shit-eating grin when he said it. He was obviously lying. I'm not going to write that he's a liar, but I'm going to report that the ball didn't go through the net, because not reporting that would be misrepresenting the truth.

    But, in reporting a trial, you almost surely weren't a witness to the law-breaking action being discussed. Of course you wouldn't assume guilt, because you weren't there. Writing a game story, you are a witness.
     
  8. SnarkShark

    SnarkShark Well-Known Member

    Obviously, you shouldn't have reported that unless a coach or competitor handed you the information.
     
  9. SnarkShark

    SnarkShark Well-Known Member

    So if Jim Joyce didn't admit he got the call wrong, you wouldn't have reported it? That's hilarious.
     
  10. Spartan Squad

    Spartan Squad Well-Known Member

    When it comes to games with officials, I rarely if ever point out a mistake unless it causes something weird to happen or if I can absolutely prove it. The example that comes to mind happened during football this last sports season when officials got the down wrong twice in the same game and it directly led to a shift in the game (one team is forced to punt on third down after the officials called it fourth down and it led to a really flukey play that allowed one team or the other to score).

    A lot of times, I'm talking parents off the ledge when they ask me if the ref blew the call. I'd say about two-thirds of the time parents are groaning at a call that was actually correct. And the other third I just remind myself that they are high school officials and there is going to be some borderline to bad calls.

    Here, when I had one of the kid's teammates telling me the call was wrong and the home team's coach going ballistic after the match, it got me wondering what others would do. I think I'm in the camp that you describe what you saw (the ball landed near the line and was called out) and get comments from others and note the impact on the match.
     
  11. MisterCreosote

    MisterCreosote Well-Known Member

    This whole comparison is what doesn't hold up.

    There is "due process" of law involved in criminal actions that determine guilt. Witnesses can impact that process, but cannot decide its outcome.

    I, for all intents and purposes, witnessed a homicide when I was a crime reporter. I got there before the cops did, to see a woman was shot repeatedly, and the shooter was sitting a few yards away with a pre-written note professing his guilt.

    But I didn't return to the office and declare the shooter guilty of murder. I waited until the cops got there, and reported on their investigation while adding some descriptions of the aftermath.

    Sports is different - if you witnessed it, I'd say go ahead and write it, but be ready for lots of people to argue with you. However, if you want to properly defend yourself, you better have some sort of proof other than "I witnessed it and that's my job."
     
  12. Roscablo

    Roscablo Well-Known Member

    I covered a state semifinal soccer game a week after I graduated college. There were some calls that the team I was covering was very upset about, especially an offside that took away a potential game-tying goal but there were a few others as well. I got very caught up in that and I wrote what I thought was a hot shit story pretty much focusing on the officiating. I got coaches and players to say how they felt about it and maybe in that regard what is being discussed here is covered simply by that. Still, that's one of the two or three stories from my early days, stories I think we all have when we are inexperienced, that I look back on and regret. A mention of it was probably OK, especially since the team was fired up about it, but I shouldn't have focused the whole story on it.

    Officiating, even self officiating, is part of the game on any level. There are good calls and bad calls in every contest and who knows if they had been reversed what the impact would be. Hopefully the officials call it like it should be called and maintain order, but to say one play impacts the whole out come is usually ridiculous. The player that may have been slighted in this case has to figure out a way to power past it. It's all a part of the game.
     
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