Oklahoma student newspaper does basic reporting, gets media session canceled

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

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

RUN!!!!!

 

[ChrisLong]

I don't get Alma and Paper Clip. The buzzword that sports editors like to throw around is "enterprise." Simply, I know it to mean go get your own stories, don't wait for what is given to you.

 

[Songbird]

The kids got the story. -30-

 

[Jesus_Muscatel]

We did the same thing when Tommy Maddox beat out Bret Johnson for UCLA's starting quarterback job. A reporter went to the top of the parking garage next to the UCLA practice field. He saw that Johnson wasn't there. We reached him by phone later that morning, said he didn't know what he was going to do. He then transferred to Michigan State.

When they were in Anaheim, the Rams barred the media from practice. The writers went onto a golf course next door and watched from the other side of the chain-link fence.

Pete Carroll at USC, as a motivational tool, dressed up a mannequin in a blue and gold UCLA sweatshirt. A student aid took it to the top of an adjacent parking structure. At Carroll's signal, the aid shouted, "Hey, what are you doing here?" As all the players looked up to see what was going on, the aid grabbed the mannequin and threw if off the roof.

I remember that stunt.

 

[daemon]

It was dumb of them to reveal how they got the initial information. Once you get the dad on the phone confirming, you've got what you need. Even if you don't, just cite a "source who watched practice."

 

[Alma]

I don't get Alma and Paper Clip. The buzzword that sports editors like to throw around is "enterprise." Simply, I know it to mean go get your own stories, don't wait for what is given to you.

What don't you get? I said you can do it once. They did.

And I'll concede if you don't care what any of these coaches or players think of you, and you don't care about access, then you can do all kinds of things, I suppose. Go ask any news org if that's what they want. "Yeah, go burn those bridges with binoculars and spend the next several months/years getting crapped on in pursuit of the larger truths."

Of course it's access journalism. What is it people think is practiced at every level of the business? Almost all Reporters, by their nature, are empathetic people who, if they err, do so on the side of working with and protecting sources. They often too readily see it from the coach's or mayor's or politician's perspective, because reporting needs the oxygen of sourcing.

you lose that oxygen…I'm not saying you can't do it the other way, because you can. But it's lonelier, and harder, and you get several years into these roles, and what you really want is to be "privy."

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

How many times do they need to do it?

 

[sgreenwell]

How many times do they need to do it?

but what if there was a murder, or worse, a war on christmas by the twitter cools

 

[wicked]

I can't believe we're arguing over this two days later.

Fact is, this is as much a forkup on the OU football program's end as anything.

 

[Alma]

This is pretty good. Apparently it wasn't Lincoln Riley's decision, for example, to cut off the beat media.

Guerin Emig: Let's try to learn something from the OU Daily's quarterbacks story, and how OU retaliated

Probably the one question it doesn't answer - is why none of the other news media outlets did what the OU Daily did, going into some public building and tracking QB snaps to a closed football practice. But the answer, of course, is what I've already written. Because it'll burn bridges.

 

[Alma]

I can't believe we're arguing over this two days later.

We're not arguing about anything.

The reporters told the truth, broke a story, and sparked the ire of the OU admin. All facts. My take is the binoculars thing can be done once. Is that in dispute? My second take is, heck yes, access journalism plays a role for a lot of these folks. If the coaches and players freeze out the media, it becomes very boring and quiet indeed. Is that in dispute?

 

[Oggiedoggie]

If you're taking what you're being spoon fed and making marshmallow sundaes everyday in as new and creative ways as possible, you're probably going to be a little irked when some young whippersnappers figure out how to get their hands on some meat and potatoes and those in charge of the kitchen react by locking the pantry down tight and you can no longer get any of the sweet stuff and have to think up some other recipes on your own.