Nashville media: sickening

The reality of this logic is largely self-evident, except to those who are primarily useful
conduits of the company/league line.

 

Reporting this would have been cutting of your nose to spite your face. When you get access to practice on background you are at least able to ask the coach and players informed questions about what's going on and get comments on less sensitive situations that would not be volunteered without a direct question. And hey, they might divulge something on the record about the other stuff if you ask them an intelligent question. As has been said earlier, if something happens that is worth losing your access, then report it by all means. I don't know if Vince Young starting rises to that level or not.

Otherwise, the reporter is standing around with his thumb up his ass going, "aahhhh, duhhh, coach, how was practice?"

"Oh, it was good."

 

espnguy, more than 25 years and you still don't understand journalism? no wonder you're an espnguy.

 

The significance of Young starting is not earth-shattering on a cosmic level, but the value should be clear. The guy is a top draft pick coming off a national championship and regarded the future face of the franchise. Bud Adams alienated his coach and his general manager to get his ass there. So you owe it to your fucking fans, season ticket holders and sponsors to tell the consuming public that he's going to make his debut. This should have been a nice thing for a backwater franchise. What on Earth else is this team going to get excited about this season.

 

This Vince Young story is a very borderline case since it is a very big deal for the folks in Tennessee and NFL fans at large, but the people who say there is absolutely no room for having agreements/understandings with the coach on the beat they cover is being way too idealistic.

Going to practice and learning background for future stories is valuable even if you can't report every tidbit the second after it happened.

 

Watching practice is an overrated waste of fucking time, and a bore. It takes a huge two and a half hour chunk out of an afternoon better spent chasing stories, working sources and doing something that doesn't involve you sitting on your king-sized ass. You might even be done writing before dinner time, also. You can always catch players coming in after practice for follow-up work after you've done interviews in the locker room that late morning. There are plenty of ways around it. Anything you miss during practice you can fill in through sourcework.

 

So when Fisher is fired -- during a Titans practice, what day will the media be allowed to report it?

 

All I can say after reading this thread is, wow. What exactly do NFL reporters and columnists do in the week between games if they can't cover what's going on at practice? Holy shit. During the NHL playoffs this year, when there's maybe one day's worth of practices between games, the media in a place like Edmonton would have 10 different stories coming out of that one practice day, and zero team-imposed restrictions on what they can or cannot write about.

 

well, of course. nhl teams will do anything to get newspaper space.

this entire discussion is a terrific topic. the issue -- open practices at what cost? -- is a great subject. the reality is many nfl teams close practice to the media to keep some info sealed. when teams like the titans have open practices, they reserve the right to STRONGLY REQUEST some info be withheld to the public.

reporters can opt to break the trust, of course, risking the ire of the team, which will surely close practices thereafter. but teams dictating what can be reported and what can't be happens in all media markets, including the biggest ones, so let's not make this a nashville thing.

once an embargo is in effect, any good, trustworthy beat man's hands are tied. and you can't be a good beat guy without trust. if the tradeoff is too much for the purists, the only solution would be to insist all practices be closed. then it's every reporter for himself.

that said, reporters covering the titans conducted themselves properly. enbargoed is embargoed. vince young getting his first start is NOT info worth breaking a trust over, in my opinion.

the only solution is closed practices. then no one is beholden to anyone. in this situation, though, there was no way out.

 

Shockey,

you obviously know what you are talking about. but consider this: isn't trust a two-way street? the coach must trust you to act responsibly, but you also must trust him not to abuse your relationship. and i think this comes pretty close to violating that trust.

news comes along so infrequently on NFL beats because of the restrictive nature of the access that when actual news does happen, you have to report it. by not reporting this story, your entire week of coverage becomes a giant lie. wednesday the story is young taking reps with the first team and apparently destined to start, adn from there on out the news is young: what challenges will he face? what skills does he bring that collins doesn't? is this the right time to make the switch? what is dallas doing to prepare?

you say it's not a nashville thing, but think about it: in most legitimate media markets, if a desperate coach of a winless team shuts the door and asks the entire pool not to report something of this value, not only does the news get reported, the coach gets ripped/embarassed in public.

What if Coughlin had done this with the NY Media when Eli Manning took over?

The question: if your "trust" with Fisher forces you to sit on a story like this, what is the use of even having trust with him?

 

Daemon, I agree with you about the last part.

But if you're in a situation in which you have already agreed to restrictive conditions for covering practice, IMO you cannot violate that condition just because you happen to see something somewhat important. I just don't think that's ethical.

 

Good thing Jeff Fisher was able to keep this a secret. That really helped them against the Cowboys!