Covering prep sports - with a child on the team

And to clarify.. The kids got all their skills from their mom.

 

Don't cover the team with your kids on it. It's a conflict of interest. PERIOD.

 

It's not ideal, obviously, but if you're going to do the games I would just avoid mentioning your daughter as much as possible. It sounds like she'll understand and it could save you a lot of aggravation.

Quasi-related: my Dad taught high school and was the yearbook adviser for years. He always made sure they used the absolute worst picture of him they had for the faculty section. That way he didn't take any shit from other teachers complaining about their own photos. Sort of the same principal, I think -- if you gloss over your own kid's contribution, it's harder for other parents to jump on you.

 

I've changed my stance now... No one reads the paper, so report on your kids as much as possible. Problem solved.

 

If you over-compensate and downplay your children's accomplishments, you might very well cost them a scholarship.

 

I won't have a choice if my boy plays sports in high school.
I'm the only sports writer for my weekly.
No part-timers, no stringers. Just me.

By the way, why are the responses in this thread so wide?

 

To answer a question, he wants to cover them because he wants to see his own children grow up and no other people's.

I'd like to see a breakdown of family status of the "no" vs. the "be careful" camps. I guarantee the majority of the anti crowd is 20-somethings with a fresh journalism degree in hand and no family (not all; most).

It's a part-time gig RacerExaminer is doing to help out a paper and enjoy himself. As long as he is professional, people will just have to deal with it. If he finds he can't be professional, then bow out. In a perfect world, you wouldn't do it. In the world we live in, sometimes shit happens. I can think of five papers within an hour of me that at one point or another had someone covering their kid. It ranged from unnoticeable to laughing stock homerism. The world kept turning.

 

You could say "the world kept turning" about so many things. That's such a throwaway cliche. Why should we discuss anything if the world is just going to keep on turning?

The guy came on here and asked for opinions and we gave them to him, even though it seems his intent was to get some sort of affirmation for his noble venture... It's for the kids, by the way...

He shouldn't be covering his kids. "Thou shall not have a conflict of interest" is one of the 10 commandments of journalism. From the SPJ code of ethics... "Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived." It's not a huge deal in the grand scheme of things, but that doesn't mean it should be happening.

I didn't notice this before, but the piece he posted was a preview of his sons' team. That could have easily been done in advance by one of the other part-timers with time to spare. It's not like it was a gamer that no one else was available for.

 

I dealt with this myself in late 1980s when I was just starting out. My brother was on the varsity bkb team. I had been working at the paper for a year or 2 on preps.

I can understand where everybody is coming from with conflict of interest, etc. If this was the New York Times or Chicago Tribune, I'd say yes this is a conflict of interest.

But this sounds like a smalltown paper where they probably struggle to get people who are qualified (like this person is) to even cover the games for the money they pay. The trade-off (much as it was in my case years ago) was they look the other way.

And my strategy then was to play it straight. I also shot the games as well. I made sure every kid got his photo in the paper (as well as my brother when it was his turn). I never really had any problems and I was devoted to giving the team the best coverage I could. I think all parties -- the coach, the kids and the parents -- appreciated the coverage.

For this reporter, people are asking "why don't you cover other teams" ... duh, because he'd miss HIS kid's games.

Long story short, the rules are just different in small towns. Maintain integrity and play it straight, show no favorites, call a spade a spade and you will not have a problem.

 

And there is your problem, newb, quoting SPJ. That's wonderful in a vacuum, but sometimes reality gets in the way.

 

The new journalism ethics...

Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived – unless you work at a small-town paper.

 

I can see both sides of the issue, but I'd have a hard time doing it, especially in a market with competing schools.

I was fortunate. None of my kids were athletic enough or interested enough in sports to compete at the varsity level. Even so, I still get accused of being biased in favor of the high school they attended.