Is it your business?

[Sea Bass]

But the original question was whether the public has a right to know. Isn't that a completely different issue from whether a reporter can/should ask the question?

 

[Drip]

Really trying to understand how anyone in the media can wonder whether it's our business to ask about salaries.

It's our job to ask all sorts of things that aren't our business. How's your drug problem? Why did you hit that guy? Are you retiring after the season? What happened with the girl in the nightclub? Could that knee injury end your career? What did the coach say in the behind-closed-doors meeting? Is it true you were abused as a child?

We have no 'right' to know any of that stuff, but we ask. They can say no comment. Or they can answer, and you report it.

Seems pretty simple.

It's not that simple 21. I've got a few decades in and it's still a question that I have a problem with.

I'm sure you are not the only one here with a few decades in. I just don't know how you differentiate salary questions from all the other personal questions we ask in the course of doing our jobs.

Reporters ask countless things they wouldn't want to answer. But athletes know going in they're going to get asked, it's part of the job. They can answer, or they can decline. You can look elsewhere for the answer, or you can let it go.

How is this not Basic Reporting 101?

21, there comes a point in doing this job where you reach a line in the sand. Basic reporting has nothing to do with it. The question, as Sea Bass points out, is whether the public has a right to know.

 

[Ace]

Really trying to understand how anyone in the media can wonder whether it's our business to ask about salaries.

It's our job to ask all sorts of things that aren't our business. How's your drug problem? Why did you hit that guy? Are you retiring after the season? What happened with the girl in the nightclub? Could that knee injury end your career? What did the coach say in the behind-closed-doors meeting? Is it true you were abused as a child?

We have no 'right' to know any of that stuff, but we ask. They can say no comment. Or they can answer, and you report it.

Seems pretty simple.

It's not that simple 21. I've got a few decades in and it's still a question that I have a problem with.

I'm sure you are not the only one here with a few decades in. I just don't know how you differentiate salary questions from all the other personal questions we ask in the course of doing our jobs.

Reporters ask countless things they wouldn't want to answer. But athletes know going in they're going to get asked, it's part of the job. They can answer, or they can decline. You can look elsewhere for the answer, or you can let it go.

How is this not Basic Reporting 101?

21, there comes a point in doing this job where you reach a line in the sand. Basic reporting has nothing to do with it. The question, as Sea Bass points out, is whether the public has a right to know.

Drippy, you started this whole topic. Why pawn it off on Sea Bass?

And if asking an athlete how much he makes is the most intrusive, uncomfortable, inappropriate question you ever have to ask someone, you are damn lucky.

 

[Drip]

Really trying to understand how anyone in the media can wonder whether it's our business to ask about salaries.

It's our job to ask all sorts of things that aren't our business. How's your drug problem? Why did you hit that guy? Are you retiring after the season? What happened with the girl in the nightclub? Could that knee injury end your career? What did the coach say in the behind-closed-doors meeting? Is it true you were abused as a child?

We have no 'right' to know any of that stuff, but we ask. They can say no comment. Or they can answer, and you report it.

Seems pretty simple.

It's not that simple 21. I've got a few decades in and it's still a question that I have a problem with.

I'm sure you are not the only one here with a few decades in. I just don't know how you differentiate salary questions from all the other personal questions we ask in the course of doing our jobs.

Reporters ask countless things they wouldn't want to answer. But athletes know going in they're going to get asked, it's part of the job. They can answer, or they can decline. You can look elsewhere for the answer, or you can let it go.

How is this not Basic Reporting 101?

21, there comes a point in doing this job where you reach a line in the sand. Basic reporting has nothing to do with it. The question, as Sea Bass points out, is whether the public has a right to know.

Drippy, you started this whole topic. Why pawn it off on Sea Bass?

And if asking an athlete how much he makes is the most intrusive, uncomfortable, inappropriate question you ever have to ask someone, you are damn lucky.

Naw, I wouldn't go that far Ace. And I'm not pawning anything off on Sea Bass. It's just a question that I've never been comfortable with asking. My friends (the few I have left LOL) always wondered why we put that type of personal information out there.

 

[JimmyOlson]

The "right to know" question is always a tricky one when you're not dealing with government issues or the spending of public, taxpayer dollars. It's a loaded one - I don't know if "right to know" is the correct phrase for anything to do with sports (again that's not related to taxpayer money).

I also think this is a completely moot point, since salary information is available to anyone with Google and 10 seconds.

http://content.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/salaries/default.aspx

Why do you need to ask someone what they make? Look it up in a publicly available data base. The information is out there, often from the players' own agents or union.

Is it right? That's in the eye of the beholder. But the players should take it up with their agents and union (the people leaking this info), not with the people who report it.

 

[tapintoamerica]

The point is that it's not my "right" as a fan or scribe to know what an athlete makes. I feel its an invasion of privacy. I think we, as a society, cross that line too often. It's like if you see your favorite player enjoying dinner with his family, is it your "right" to ask for an autograph?
[/quote]
So you're opposed to asking or learning what an athlete makes. Does this mean that you have never reported such info? Because if you're truly opposed, you shouldn't enable it. And if you have never reported it, I've got to wonder how effective you can be in covering a pro team.
The salary cap is everything in NBA player movement. Everything. It explains, for example, whether the Miami Heat can have a viable bench while paying three players more than $50 million per year between them.

 

[Drip]

The point is that it's not my "right" as a fan or scribe to know what an athlete makes. I feel its an invasion of privacy. I think we, as a society, cross that line too often. It's like if you see your favorite player enjoying dinner with his family, is it your "right" to ask for an autograph?

So you're opposed to asking or learning what an athlete makes. Does this mean that you have never reported such info? Because if you're truly opposed, you shouldn't enable it. And if you have never reported it, I've got to wonder how effective you can be in covering a pro team.
The salary cap is everything in NBA player movement. Everything. It explains, for example, whether the Miami Heat can have a viable bench while paying three players more than $50 million per year between them.
[/quote]
Tap, I've been covering pros for a long time. Hell, several of them I grew up with. Again, that's not the issue. I, for one, don't feel that the public has a right to know what an athlete makes. I've heard some of the reasons given here, and they're pretty good. I've had to run numbers and had to ask numbers many, many times. But as you can see by the thread, I'm not alone in feeling the way that I feel.