Audible in the Media Room

Every time football overlaps with the purpose of this blog, which is to point out journalism-related topics, it will be covered here.

This week is no different, especially since two similar situations popped up. However, how the media handled the different situations starkly contrasted each other.

Both stories come courtesy of Awful Announcing.We will start in Columbia, S.C., where for a short time, South Carolina Gamecocks football head coach Steve Spurrier took control of the sports department at The State, a daily newspaper in Columbia.

The whole story is at here, but this is a quick summary. Spurrier and State columnist Ron Morris have had a long running feud. Suddenly this week, Morris was removed from the Gamecocks beat and told never to report on the team again.

His replacement? Glenn "Superfan" Snyder. And one of Snyder's resume references was none other then Spurrier, who Snyder described as a "friend". Here's a passage from the story by Jim Romensko:

Spurrier told me that he helped “Superfan” Snyder get his job at The State.

“I did call The State newspaper and put in a good word for him, and they hired him,” the coach said.

The link above from Awful Announcing had some good reaction tweets from the always fantastic Richard Deitsch and Andy Staples.

The newspaper later backtracked and released this memo, which is seen on Romensko's site with some added commentary. Morris is now allowed to write about the Gamecocks again but you can't say it was a strong week for journalism in South Carolina.

As Staples' tweet above says, the Gamecocks have the right to complain if they don't like the coverage they're receiving. But for a newspaper to allow the program to have any influence on how they report and who reports it is so, so wrong on so many levels. It just goes to show how big of a stick college football swings in the south.

Well...not quite. After Southern University was upset with the coverage from The Advocate in Baton Rogue, the football program decided to limit access to its players for the newspaper. How did The Advocate respond? By dailing back coverage of their own.

The relationship between sports teams and the media that covers them is interesting. Some athletes and coaches loathe to give up time for the media because it takes time away from what they would rather be doing. And because sports reporting is becoming more and more agenda-driven, the words of those athletes and coaches are wrangled into whatever the reporter is trying to drum up that day.

However, beat reporters and observers are how fans are able to stay in day-to-day contact with the team. Sports teams and the media need to be respectful of each others jobs. In this case, both football programs have to realize the newspapers need to report fairly because it's their jobs, even if it wasn't favorably for them.