All newspapers are, of course, struggling these days, as the power and popularity of the Internet grows, but the sports pages are also battered on their other flank, because virtually everything that sports print reporters cover is paid for by television. More and more sports teams and leagues see newspapers as more of a nuisance than as a conduit to the fans.
Of course, being what?s called a team beat reporter for a newspaper has always been a tricky job, inasmuch as the beat man is so close to the subject he?s covering. Why, he even spends a part of the job interviewing players when they?re getting dressed … when they are even undressed. He ? and a few shes, too ? can quickly become a pariah. Consider: If a reporter covering city hall breaks a negative story about the mayor, some of the journalist?s friends and neighbors will be upset, but many others will be delighted that the rascal has gotten what he deserves. But just about everybody loves the home team. The poor sports reporter who writes something fair but negative is the skunk at the garden party. How could you be so mean to our beloved team?
Recommended Stories
Now, though, as more and more teams ? even whole leagues, like the NFL and the NBA ? control their own TV stations or networks, the print reporters find themselves not only as snoops, but alsoas virtual competitors to the team?s owned-and-operated house media.
Local TV stations are in the same boat as the newspapers, but since local TV seldom is as aggressive as newspaper coverage, it?s print journalism that is most hurt. The battle has been joined most prominently in Washington, where the Redskins, who have long had an adversarial relationship with the Washington Post, have taken to breaking stories on their own Web site. Even some players, most famously Barry Bonds, now largely communicate with the outside world through their Web sites. Who needs an independent press? Everybody in sport now wants to be their own personal Pravda.
This control of information is only increasing ? perhaps especially in the NFL, which has always been more about public relations than public disclosure. At least three teams ? Green Bay, Minnesota and Philadelphia ? have instituted a policy that if any player is injured in practice, no film, tape or still photography is allowed. Professional leagues keep TV crews on tighter and tighter leashes, thereby protecting their network partners. The Tennessee Titans have co-opted the press in another way. Reporters may watch practice, but then ? guess what? ? they cannot reveal anything of substance that they see. Loose lips sink quarterbacks.
It is true that sports reporters have long been criticized for being too cozy with the heroes they cover. There?s no question that the whole profession was chloroformed, or something, when steroids came into sports, particularly baseball. And that leads to the final irony. The two spectacular investigative reporters for the San Francisco Chronicle, Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, who restored a great deal of dignity to the whole profession by blowing open the BALCO drug scandal, now find themselves facing 18 months in jail unless they reveal their sources.
The way things are headed, we might just as well eliminate sports writers altogether and let the leagues, teams and players tell us who wins and loses on their own Web sites.
Frank Deford?s column also appears as commentary Wednesdays on National Public Radio?s Morning Edition. Deford is a Baltimore native and an award-winning author who has written 14 books. He can be reached at [email protected].
