SMUDC: SMU Must Improve Its Treatment of Sports Reporters

[mustangxc]

The Daily Carcass has been a joke since my time as a student some 25+ years ago. Some things do remain the same.

I has hoped they would get better since they were "forced" to be overseen by actual journalism minds at Meadows. But ultra liberal media...nahh. That's fake news.

And people wonder where all the peeps from CNN get started.

Thanks for making this political! I guess in Trump's America this BS happens all the time. Bummer!

[Ikus]

First Amendment suppression by SMU Athletics?

Hmm...when did we become the government? HIPPA issues, Kevin? The days of Edward R. Murrow are SO far gone...

The mind reels...

Pretty sure HIPPA doesn't apply when I watched Roberson leave the field on ESPN

[SMU_Alum11]

If snowflake Sam is offended then we must be doing something right!

[peruna81]

I don't know enough to really have an opinion in this case, but based on how Rhett Lashlee lambasted Sam Blum for saying that ECU was obliterating SMU at halftime, it is clear that Sonny Dykes and his staff members like to have full control of what is said about the team, how it is said, and when it is said. While they have a right to disseminate certain information to whoever they like, it is not a good idea to have a combative relationship with the media. Heck, Jankovich gets killed by our fans for not having social media. I think being combative with the media is much worse. The media is not meant to be our friend, they simply need to report news. If we create positive news, they have no choice other than to report positive news. I love Sonny Dykes, but hope this doesn't become problematic going forward.

mustangxc, I will have to disagree with you on this one...and try to do it in a non-combative way.

The media's "job" was to report the facts of a game/story or event. Long ago (think Uncle Walter's era), reporting drifted from that premise to reporting fact AND opinion, and not bothering with the editorializing disclaimer. See Cronkite's editorial on the Tet Offensive/Vietnam War for reference....to their credit, CBS at that time clearly noted it was his opinion rather than fact. We lack that integrity in journalism now, and the demise of print media and the difficulty of sources like the DMN to transition to electronic makes the "read me, notice me!" factor even more damaging to journalism at large.

Media now simply seeks to sell media, either by ad space or clicks. The wanton attempts to "sell" or "create" a story fits nicely into Warhol's "15 minutes of fame" model...gotta wonder if he was speaking of larger issues, or just a Daily Campus student who got his feelings hurt.

I'm off my bully pulpit...time to take a nap.

[HubbaHubba]

The DMN is more than fair to SMU. It's not the job of the media to be cheerleaders for any team. If a negative story is out there and newsworthy, write it. There was a time in the '90s when there was a 2-page SMU spread, because the school paid for it. Since Larry Brown and Sonny Dukes took over those programs there have been tons of positive stories.

If by fair you mean mostly ignore the local team and give preferential coverage to schools out of our area then I guess you got a point.

[Charleston Pony]

The DMN is more than fair to SMU. It's not the job of the media to be cheerleaders for any team. If a negative story is out there and newsworthy, write it. There was a time in the '90s when there was a 2-page SMU spread, because the school paid for it. Since Larry Brown and Sonny Dukes took over those programs there have been tons of positive stories.

If by fair you mean mostly ignore the local team and give preferential coverage to schools out of our area then I guess you got a point.

Reality is that there is far more interest in the larger public schools elsewhere in the state than there is for SMU. Every business caters to it's primary audience.

[geezerdonk]

It was 1966 when I last wasted time and brain cells reading the Daily Campus. It was then a fetid amalgam of ignorance and indolence, hubris and narcissism. Doesn't look like much has changed.

[Mexmustang]

Right on Hubba, Hubba. Don't we have enough so-called reporters expressing opinions instead of facts (that are permitted to be published)? The only thing we have more than an excess of attorneys are underpaid reporters that don't feel they are personally obligated to report the truth without personal responsibility, in a shrinking occupation with a chip on their shoulder! Maybe if he is lucky he can become a "runner" at the DMN just before it files for bankruptcy.
Then he can spend the next ten years, complaining that the tax payer needs to pay for the cost of his degree that can't provide him a living.

[HubbaHubba]

Right on Hubba, Hubba. Don't we have enough so-called reporters expressing opinions instead of facts (that are permitted to be published)? The only thing we have more than an excess of attorneys are underpaid reporters that don't feel they are personally obligated to report the truth without personal responsibility, in a shrinking occupation with a chip on their shoulder! Maybe if he is lucky he can become a "runner" at the DMN just before it files for bankruptcy.
Then he can spend the next ten years, complaining that the tax payer needs to pay for the cost of his degree that can't provide him a living.

I don't know the whole story behind the original post. I suspect there is an agreement that the press will not provide details about the health status of the players unless that information is officially released. On TV you'll hear the commentators saying "it looks bad but we don't want to speculate on the extent of the injury". That student reporter violated that agreement and was shown the door. If they want to whine about it they have the pulpit to do so. Where it hurts SMU is when reporters see themselves as a member of a group being attacked and they have to stick together to protect themselves from the "bullying".

For the most part I agree with P.T. Barnum in that there in no bad publicity. It appears, to the local media, to be financially expedient to kowtow to the big state schools with excessive coverage. I believe ignoring SMU fails to build a bigger fan base and everyone misses out on profiting from Dallas' team.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

It depends on what was reported. If the student didn't say anything more than was obvious on the TV then SMU ridiculously overreacted. Although, to be fair, if there is a blanket "do not report on injuries" request to the media covering the game then the student was certainly being stupid pushing those boundaries.

If the student reported what the trainers were doing on the sideline or the like then SMU certainly had the right to take some sort of action.

Making this incident a Constitutional issue is laughable, but then again it's a student newspaper and some writer is probably just trying to get noticed. People seem to like controversy these days...

[peruna81]

DFFH, High School Civics class is often an overlooked commodity...this particular writer/tweeter/erstwhile reporter wasn't paying attention way back when....

[BUS]

Does anyone remember the "Not the Daily Campus"?