Why don't people like to call reporters back?

One thing I've learned: If a young kid answers the phone and takes down the message, you will not get a call back.

 

True dat. My kids delete the messages on the home machine without taking a note. They also delete shows on the DVR as soon as they watch them.

 

ducky...yep, me, too..i actually was doing that very thing today for a story.
as i had mentioned in an earlier story, have come to find the email a better route sometimes than phones.

 

Coaches don't call you back because a) they're busy b) they don't like to be quoted in the paper or c) they don't like/trust you or d) 4,000 other reasons. Nothing you can do about it but keep after it.

 

My experience has been that it's seldom personal. Almost every time I'm in this situation, when I finally reach the person, they are actually pretty apologetic about not getting back. I think they're just waiting for that moment when they have a little bit of free time to make the call. But as we all know, life has a funny way of getting in the way.

 

in all the years i've dealt with prep coaches, i can name no more than three who were absolutely uncooperative or wouldn't call back. one just didn't like any media because he had come from a small town where a media luncheon was considered something from another planet, another was about as personable as a giant grab and the other simply didn't feel like the press should make a big deal over teens playing a sport.
now, every prep coach i deal with, i can truly say, is cooperative and willing to help out. and the vast majority are good about calling back.

 

One way to approach this is to do some reverse networking, as in, you say to Source A, who knows the unavailable Source B: "I'm trying to get ahold of Source B. Could you let him know I'm trying to talk to him about this story?"

If the interview went well, Source A will probably make that call, especially if he thinks you're a good guy/gal. Sometimes even veteran coaches are skittish about talking to people they don't know.

A coach I know who regularly talked at length on any subject, win or lose, was leery of talking to a guy from GQ about one of his former players because he didn't know the guy.

As it turned out, his daughter finally convinced him to call him back, not because she knew anything about the reporter, but because, in her world "GQ is a major magazine, Dad." It worked, even though I'm sure the GQ guy never found out why.

 

Is this a former standout two-sport athlete, who had a prep reporter ask him for an autograph in a now-closed baseball stadium?

 

No outing, now.

And the details of that story are simply amazing.

 

what's a giant grab?

 

I've often wondered which magazines actually have any cachet with sources. We slobber on The New Yorker, but a typical MLB or NBA player probably has never heard of it. They've probably heard of GQ, but more as a synonym for men's style than as a highbrow glossy.

 

The keys to the kingdom right there. Thanks to those overzealous TV sweeps specials, people have been conditioned to assume a reporter call is an ambush.

Don't call a coach to inquire about his record, though. More than likely he'll say "I didn't know she was thoiteen."