Oklahoma student newspaper does basic reporting, gets media session canceled

How the student reporter got the story absolutely matters. Send a 40-year-old beat reporter into an academic building with a pair of binoculars and see what happens. And if the reporter doesn't get arrested, I am sure there would be a lot of discussion in the Tulsa World and Oklahoman newsrooms about whether that story even runs because of how the information was obtained. (I wonder if the story even runs if the Oklahoma student is an Oklahoman intern instead of a student reporter.) And that doesn't even get into the risk/reward argument of having your credentials and access pulled because of a stunt like that.

What the Oklahoma kids did was clever but it wasn't a grand innovation. There is a reason why NFL and NCAA reporters haven't been staked out in nearby buildings with binoculars for years.

Once again, good on the OU Daily for breaking this story. However, some of the posters on this board and the cheerleaders on Twitter are romanticizing a move that they known damn well they wouldn't pull and wouldn't be tolerated on their professional beats.

 

No, but only because neither they, nor their bosses, thought of it. I'd bet their bosses still asked them why they didn't think of it, though...

 

Oh my God, I don't know where to start with this. Blocking the major dailies from covering practice is only the FIRST ginormous red flag. Everything cascades from the first whistle. The only thing preventing full coverage is Hurricane Kelly at Notre Dame.

 

Accurate reporting. Also, bold. Also, creative. And of course in service of the readers. Kudos to these reporters.

Alma, this is not the hill to die on.

 

Tell me you don’t cover a major college football program without telling me that you don’t cover a major college football program.

 

What hill am I dying on? That you can only do this once? If they pull it off again, hell, I’ll send them a case of Stoops tequila.

 

They're young, they'll presumably work cheap, they're not easily fazed or intimidated and they've got some chops. If they want to do this (and again, they may be too smart to do something that dumb), my guess is they'll have pretty good gigs by the summer after graduation.

 

We can clearly debate whether or not this was something one should do.

But the payoff isn't up for debate. This is a massive story that has moved the needle and also served readers incredibly well. Thought the quotes from Rattler's dad gave great insight.

There should be more conversations about whether the access granted to cover major college football is actually worth it. This story clearly shows more is to be gained by breaking the rules. And that avenue might even be more profitable.

 

As has been said elsewhere on this thread, Lincoln Riley didn’t have to be an asshole.

Also, are you telling me there were zero interns/assistants in Riley’s office or the SID’s office who weren’t aware that there is a perfect perch from which to watch practice? These coaches know every item in the vending machines in the football dorms and you’re going to tell me they overlooked this significant detail?

Riley wanted this out there. Now he can blame the big bad “fake news” folks for the week and get the kids to buy into whatever game plan he has.

 

I actually agree with all of this. Great payoff for a college journalist.

Access may not be worth it when every interview is on some video outlet anyway. You play nice to some degree for the right to ask questions, to get the occasional extra access when you need it for a feature and to not be labeled an asshole. A lot of beat writers really want to be the person who buddies up to the coaches and athletes and functions as an “insider.” Mouthpieces go a long way.

 

supposedly they put some kind of coating or film on windows of buildings adjacent to the practice field last year so people couldn’t see out of them. So they knew-ish, maybe they should roof access wasn’t allowed or safe

Football coaches thinking they’re cold war era spies is so stupid

 

They'll get offers from every Gannett paper in the country.