Press conferences as circus sideshows

[big green wahoo]

I cover a college sports beat. Maybe it's just the way of that world these days, but I'm irritated when the school I cover ushers in all sorts of random folk into the postgame press conference. I've seen retired administrators, coaches' wives, coaches' kids, boosters and others in there, crowding in behind the working press. In addition, they stream the press conference live online. This combination has me thinking I will save my questions for afterwards and try to catch coaches in the hall and players as they leave the complex. A pain, but at least I'll have original material and won't feel like I'm performing for the masses.

Thoughts?

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

I'm sure the coach will be happy to spend more time talking to you in the hallway after the press conference.

 

[DanOregon]

I hate those things. They feel like a performance and you are just playing a role. If they want to have the homer radio crew do one of those backscratchers for the fans after the game fine, but leave the audience at home when the press is trying to do their job. Talk to the SID.

 

[dkphxf]

What's the problem with working with an audience? Ask your questions, get your material, write your story. The only way I could see this being a problem is when the audience is allowed to interact by asking questions or clapping after answers. That's happened to me before while covering MMA. Quite disturbing.

 

[big green wahoo]

I have two problems with it. Neither is major, but still...

1) I'd like to have access to quotes that the whole internet doesn't.

2) I can't shake the feeling of being an animal in a zoo. Plus, we all know coaches and athletes play it closer to the vest the larger the crowd. It's human nature.

 

[dkphxf]

1) I could see this as a problem. Bloggers would have access to quotes for stories, something they haven't had. However, we do have the right to control the conversation by being there/asking question and I would like to think we'd be able to outwrite bloggers. Furthermore, not everything is presented as such over the internet, nor is everybody made available in these situations. Other than that, I don't see a problem with other people knowing what material I have.

2) Because we all know coaches will discuss their cocaine use and players their steroid use while with just reporters, but they wouldn't with a large audience around. This is where the follow-up question becomes so important. If you're trying to figure out why a coach pulled his pitcher early and he dodges the question, follow up. It's not that hard.

 

[big green wahoo]

I don't think I did anything to deserve a sarcastic and condescending reply.

 

[Journo13]

This may relate somewhat. I live in New England with the Patriots. For the first several minutes of a press conference, a local TV-station gets to ask questions exclusively, and the rest of the media only has a couple of minutes to get their questions in. The TV channel is a suck-up to the team (no surprise), and I can only imagine how the beat writers at local papers feel.

 

[WriteThinking]

I don't think I did anything to deserve a sarcastic and condescending reply.

You didn't.

Press conferences, by and large, are very controlled, and contrived. They're meant for public consumption, not one-on-one material, and that's really what you're lamenting.

As a beat writer, though, there isn't much you can do about it because you can't -- or, at least, you shouldn't -- skip out on them.

You can try to get additional stuff in a hallway or elsewhere that might be more private or exclusive, but you'd still have to attend the the press conferences.

You know that the one time you don't go and sit through the show is when something will happen or something will be said that is out-of-the-ordinary and not cliche or contrived.

 

[HanSenSE]

This may relate somewhat. I live in New England with the Patriots. For the first several minutes of a press conference, a local TV-station gets to ask questions exclusively, and the rest of the media only has a couple of minutes to get their questions in. The TV channel is a suck-up to the team (no surprise), and I can only imagine how the beat writers at local papers feel.

I had this happen at a college game once. A pack of us were interviewing the coach and some sports information-type screamed "OK, we're on back in Podunk," meaning, a local station was doing it's own postgame of a network broadcast. He left, to the groans of all.

The other problem with broadcasting the newsers is, unless all the reporters are mic'ed, it's terrible radio!

 

[Batman]

This may relate somewhat. I live in New England with the Patriots. For the first several minutes of a press conference, a local TV-station gets to ask questions exclusively, and the rest of the media only has a couple of minutes to get their questions in. The TV channel is a suck-up to the team (no surprise), and I can only imagine how the beat writers at local papers feel.

I think the cousin to this is when the coach gets hustled out of a postgame presser to do his radio show. Very annoying.

 

[DanOregon]

[/quote]
You know that the one time you don't go and sit through the show is when something will happen or something will be said that is out-of-the-ordinary and not cliche or contrived.
[/quote]
Like John Chaney showing up

 

[Crash]

When I was covering a big college football beat, the weekly presser was the worst place to get good material. I always found the availabilities after practice much more informative. The head coach was usually more candid, the assistant coaches and coordinators were all available, and more players were available for a longer period of time.

I never skipped the weekly presser. Usually there was some good stuff, and if nothing else, that's when the initial injury report for the week came out.

 

[goalmouth]

Streaming or televising a presser is designed to do nothing but 1) pump said subject's cash flow and 2) marginalize old media. Fans already are paying to watch. Now, they're paying to watch the home team carefully craft its promotional message. Soon, teams will cease to credential outside media.

But what the hell, it's only sports, right?

 

[Mizzougrad96]

I covered a NFL team where two of the local radio guys are former players and whenever there were controversial topics being discussed, one of them would interrupt with a gem like "Can you talk about the spectacular recent play of the inside linebackers?"

When I covered colleges, boosters were almost always in the postgame press conferences. They rarely asked questions, but would applaud when the coaches would come in and occasionally boo if they didn't like a question. They also took the first three rows of seats which went on until enough of us complained and they were told they had to sit in the back.

 

[SEC Guy]

About 10 years ago I was at SEC Media Days and David Cutcliffe was at the podium and the PR guy says, "OK, two more questions."
Someone asked him about a player who had either died or had been diagnosed with cancer and he starts talking about this kid and it's just great, great stuff. Writers who hadn't written a single word down the entire press conference start scribbling madly in their notebooks.

He starts tearing up and pauses as his voice cracks.

A longtime SEC hack who should know better yells down.

"COACH, CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR SCHEDULE?"

End of presser.

 

[Walter_Sobchak]

This may relate somewhat. I live in New England with the Patriots. For the first several minutes of a press conference, a local TV-station gets to ask questions exclusively, and the rest of the media only has a couple of minutes to get their questions in. The TV channel is a suck-up to the team (no surprise), and I can only imagine how the beat writers at local papers feel.

Not that Patriots press conferences are a wealth of information, but this is patently false.

 

[Moderator1]

The situations are a way of the modern world, sadly, and one of the reasons I'm glad I'm not covering on a daily basis anymore.

I've noted before that I had a very lucky career. Never covered a coach who was an asshole, never covered a coach who restricted access in any excessive way. Frank Beamer was almost excessive in his openness, though now it has gone the other way.

All VT practices used to be open with coaches and players available afterward save for the Friday walk-through. You could get Beamer on Friday, though, and watch the practice.

I wanted to do a story on the walk-on tryout for kickers and punters. Beamer sees me on the sidelines and yells, "You going to write the story from way over there or come out here so you can hear what we're doing?" Out I went.

He did close the final practice of the preseason every year for whatever reason. He apologized to me about that once and I told him, no, I should be thanking him. I had an excuse to leave town early.

Now?

Some practices have a very limited open window, like 15 minutes. Enough to see them stretch. They you come back later for interviews. Their weekly deal used to feature as many as 8-10 players sitting around the room. You could get as much as you wanted from any of them, often by yourself. Now? Four guys. At the podium. Group interviews only. I will say last year when I was around that some of the guys surprised me and there was decent stuff. But everyone got it together.

Post-game was the same around the room situation. Now Beamer is followed by four players at the podium and then a few more are available but the time they're available is shorter.

Of course, it is all streamed.

Beamer remains one of the good guys. You need him and call him, you'll get him. He's told me several times he's not a fan of modern media. The immediacy of blogs and twitter drives him nuts (there's a Web site with his name on it that does some of the same thing but he's involved in name only and has openly criticized some stuff they've had, too). "Can you wait until we call the parents before you put out there that the kid is hurt?" Message boards aren't a favorite, either. "When you call me an ass, at least I know it is you," he said. "Where's the accountability in what's put out there now?"

Valid points. Not that it makes our jobs easier.

In the "old" days, you felt like you got to know the people involved a little better and know a lot more about the team from observing full practices, even if you didn't write about any practice. It made for much better coverage.

When I covered last year for my own site (RIP), I never felt like I got to know anyone beyond those I knew from my previous days on the beat.

 

[writingump]

To back up what Moddy said: I was on the Tech beat with him from 2001-07 (and am back on it now for football after a brief hiatus not of my choosing).
Anyway, it was the spring of 2005 and I e-mailed sports info to let them know I was attending practice and would be bringing a photographer for a feature. As Frank walked out there for the start of practice, he greets us and tells the photog, "Shoot what you want."
As long as you were professional and stayed out of the way, you could walk around and watch every snap. Imagine doing that with Urban Meyer, Nick Saban, etc. Now you have no chance to talk one-on-one with anyone except for media day in August or -- if you get really lucky -- after a game before the rest of the scrum gets to him.
With access so tightly controlled at BCS schools, I've found that my other beat at the local website for which I write -- ETSU basketball -- is far more informal. For that matter, that whole league (A-Sun) is pretty easy to cover.
Last year, I tried to track down Stetson's Derek Waugh after they somehow won at ETSU but missed him. Luckily, I ran into an assistant coach who gave me his cell phone number. Waugh answered and it was a great 7-8 minutes.
Imagine missing Coach K or Calipari's postgame presser and trying to get their cell phone number to get some quotes. Two words: No chance.

 

[BillyT]

Streaming or televising a presser is designed to do nothing but 1) pump said subject's cash flow and 2) marginalize old media. Fans already are paying to watch. Now, they're paying to watch the home team carefully craft its promotional message. Soon, teams will cease to credential outside media.

But what the hell, it's only sports, right?

I do not think it has anything to do with "marginalizing old media."

Money is the only reason you need.