Media Bowl Gifts

Tim Simmons doubled up this year and ran media ops for the Armed Forces Bowl (Dec. 30) and the TicketCity Bowl (Jan. 1). He had some help on both of course but he was essentially doing two games at once.

 

You know, this is interesting.

I'm not saying there's no debate here. I've got a tote or whatever in my past.

What is surprising me is the large number of people who are telling people who even QUESTION taking free things (some worth a reasonable sum of money) to get over themselves. And the fact that they seem to outnumber (at a glance, nothing scientific) the people who don't think you should take anything free from events you cover.

Taking free shit of any value IS an ethical question. Papers have those policies written out, and I'm pretty sure it doesn't say "except sportswriters." Food is one thing. I always thought a round of golf on a media day was in a gray area. Tangible items of value? Yeah, that's an ethical issue for writers. They're getting something of more than trivial value free for doing their job.

Is taking a book/computer bag going to influence anybody's coverage? No, probably not. So it's a discussion.

What's slightly distressing is the number of people here who don't think it's a question at all. I guess I need to get over myself, because that bothers me.

 

WFW

 

Despite the one sarcastic line in my post, I do acknowledge there is a gray area, a discussion to be had here. And I'm a reasonable fella, open to such discussions.
Hell, I've even stopped calling coaches "Coach" because of a thread that was on here not long ago, even though I never thought it was that big a deal. I still don't, but I at least get the argument, and because of that have since made a conscious effort to stop addressing coaches that way.
I guess I feel the same way about this. I get the argument the other way. I really do. I just don't think it's that big a deal.

But suburbs, be careful with the labels you throw around. You don't know me or my personal situation, and I'd appreciate not being called cheap.

 

I'm really not a hard liner on this. I can understand the feeling of -- hell, it's one of the few perks I get.

But if you accept swag, drinks, steaks, rides in Indy Cars, you have to go in with the idea that the entity is trying to curry favor with you or at least promote itself and certainly does hope you can be bought or at least rented.

But inthe's post -- with a dash of hyperbole perhaps -- is really dead on to some in our profession.

 

Any number of ethical frameworks can be applied to this scenario. Perhaps the one that seals the deal for me is the universalist perspective: Would I be OK with everyone else doing just as I do? Translated to a sportswriting perspective, as a customer of a newspaper (or an owner of a newspaper), would I be OK knowing that all sportswriters took the types of gifts we're talking about here? For me, the answer would be yes. Would I be OK with the news side doing so? Probably not so much.

 

Boy, Doc, that says more about public perception of sportswriters than it does anything else, and not in a good way.

 

You're kidding yourself if you don't think most other journalists get the same stuff on a regular basis. A cops reporter? Not so much. You should see the stuff entertainment writers get. You should see some of the banquets that political reporters get to go to under the guise of working.

It's not just the toy department.

 

Please don't misunderstand: I think highly of sportswriters. I enjoy their work and willingly pay for it. Hell, the old sportswriter in me still reads the sports section first thing in the morning. And knowing they'd all taken gifts just as described in this thread wouldn't change my opinion of them in the least.

 

Mizzou, you're right -- but that's the old "two wrongs don't make a write" argument. Sports and entertainment writers get a lot of free stuff. Others don't. Nobody is supposed to be taking much of it. Again, ethics policies at papers aren't written with "except for" clauses.

And Doc, understood, but again -- if you aren't surprised about a sportswriter taking free stuff, and don't think less of him/her because of it, but you would if it was a city hall reporter, that divide isn't necessarily a good thing.

 

+1

 

I worked with a golf writer who would be sent free clubs from Callaway every year. I worked with a racing writer who was routinely flown to an events by sponsors. Don't even get me started on the boxing writer I used to work with.

But that isn't what we're talking about here. We're talking about a tote bag or a T-shirt or a beach towel, a pen or a free dinner.