Tennessee bans Knoxville reporter

The messed up thing is, there are these rules in place at every BCS-conference university saying that all interview requests must be done through the SID office.

But if an athlete talks to a reporter without going through the SID office, the athlete isn't punished. The reporter is.

Case in point: All-American hoops player Joe Blow is interviewed at a campus activity by the local newspaper about a video game that resembles his likeness. He goes off saying its stealing to make money off my likeness, blah blah blah.

Player was never once talked to about the fact that HE broke athletic department rules. Instead, the spineless SIDs go after the newspaper.

 

So who would be the person who knows if he will ever play football again and can speak on that subject?

 

I think you at least ask the player that question. Even if he says "I don't know" or "I don't want to comment" or "I'm not thinking about that right now", it strikes me as the most relevant point, considering how the injury had been described consistently as career-threatening.

 

What Beer Baron said was pretty much what I also heard today from someone I trust on the beat too. Doesn't make what UT did right, but apparently this Hooker guy is not the perfect martyr, either.

 

that makes it even more outrageous -- if they're gonna get pissy and start banning people for puff pieces, imagine what it's going to be like when there's actually news.

so you're saying because the story didn't live up to your lofty journalistic standards, the dude should have his credentials yanked? that's quite a slippery slope

(and as a side note, did spell check and its suggestion for 'pissy' was 'pussy' which i thought was funny)

 

No, I'm saying that if you're going to break the rules--and possibly get disciplined or get your credentials revoked--that you should get the most bang for your buck.

 

Put me in with the “let’s not make Hooker a martyr yet” group.

I’m not talking specifically about this case, and I will not defend the UT SID — usually one of the best in the SEC — but simply siding with someone because they wear a press pass isn’t always right. There are right ways and wrong ways to go about doing our jobs.

 

See, Hoops ... I'd say that's exactly why UT felt like they could do this. Had it been an important story that placed the athletic department in a bad light, I don't think they do this because it would make them look bad in the court of public opinion. They'd look like they were just doing it because the KNS reporter wrote something negative about them.

In this situation, they feel safe in doing this. They know because it's an injured player, especially one who's been through a lot, they can suspend the reporter's credential while saying, "See, it's not because it was a negative story. We're just doing this in the best interests of our players." And the fans will support that.

From there, it plants the seed that the KNS shouldn't be snooping around where UT doesn't want them to. If they do, UT has laid down the law that these are the consequences. Not only that, but the KNS has basically said that's fine, that they'll quietly accept discipline for breaking one of UT's "rules," no matter how arbitrary. If there is some breaking news where they again break this or another rule, it seems like UT can cite this instance in suspending credentials or even escalating the discipline. Also, it sounds like they're telling their reporters to follow all of UT's rules, that they won't get their editors' backing if they don't.

 

Perhaps. Don't know the guy personally.

I do know that beat reporters can tend to be pack animals that herd together for their own protection and ones that aren't afraid to break out of the herd tend to get their tails bitten by their own.

 

It's sad but probably true. Yet, papers -- like, say, the Fresno Bee -- that haven't "played nice" manage to stay in business.