Osaka on French Open interviews: No comment

[ChrisLong]

None of those topics have ever been broached with baseball, football, basketball, and hockey players.

No, I wasn't singling out tennis. Can happen anywhere. I've seen it in baseball clubhouses and other locker rooms. That was one of the stupid things about USA Today, ordering their writers to come up with athlete comments about nonsensical topics. A pitcher blows a save or an infielder boots a ball that lets in the winning run. And here comes a writer to ask him about the increase in stolen bases this season. Or some social media topic. If I was an athlete, I'd say sorry, that's not a question I want to answer at this time. However, I don't agree with Osaka announcing ahead of time she is stonewalling the media.

 

[Twirling Time]

Naomi may stonewall the media, but how many endorsement deals did Steve Carlton end up with?

 

[playthrough]

I think he is right on. ...

It's in the interest for leagues, teams, sports associations, players, etc. to cooperate with interviewers when those interviews feed interest in their sport and bring in fans and their money. But when the sport is doing well, and players feel fat and happy, they aren't as incentivized. And you can take it a step further the way he did. ... they start to feel emboldened to try to control whatever message they do want to get out.

That has nothing to do with anyone's opinion about whether it's chickenshirt to shelter yourself that way and not be accountable to people asking questions about your performance. I personally think it speaks poorly of her. Play to the best of your ability, stand up and acknowledge your performance the way you see it, etc. It shouldn't be that difficult.

But if she doesn't want to be that person, there is really nothing compelling her right now. Tennis does well enough, and there is enough interest, that for the time being at least, fans will keep watching and forking over money whether she does press or not. Maybe if this swings too far, or they try to control access too much, fans will start to lose interest and they'll have to rethink. But c'est la vie, either way.

When Nascar got fat and happy two decades ago, media access went south. Scrums outside team haulers passed for "access" and drivers' PR handlers existed just to say no to every request. Nascar's own PR team largely shrugged and had no interest in helping scribes, and there was no downside when tracks were adding grandstands and the sport was flying. Of course, Nascar got too fat and happy and things fell apart for a number of reasons including some out of their control (like the recession), and when the pendulum came around and they needed media, like now, there's hardly anyone left.

Would Nascar have avoided its downturn had the media been more respected and accommodated in the glory days? Surely not, but it didn't help. I'd like to think there's a small cautionary tale in there somewhere.

 

[Batman]

Naomi may stonewall the media, but how many endorsement deals did Steve Carlton end up with?

I remember he did one for a milk producer where they made fun of him not talking to the media. The setup was that he called a press conference and all the media were abuzz. Then he shilled for the milk.

 

[maumann]

When Nascar got fat and happy two decades ago, media access went south. Scrums outside team haulers passed for "access" and drivers' PR handlers existed just to say no to every request. Nascar's own PR team largely shrugged and had no interest in helping scribes, and there was no downside when tracks were adding grandstands and the sport was flying. Of course, Nascar got too fat and happy and things fell apart for a number of reasons including some out of their control (like the recession), and when the pendulum came around and they needed media, like now, there's hardly anyone left.

Would Nascar have avoided its downturn had the media been more respected and accommodated in the glory days? Surely not, but it didn't help. I'd like to think there's a small cautionary tale in there somewhere.

Under Ramsey Poston, who had a political background before getting hired by NASCAR, there was actually a contentious relationship between the media and what PR thought should be said in a positive light -- especially tromping on the line between journalistic integrity and infomercials. NASCAR bought column inches in USA Today -- and then gave Gannett exclusive content -- in an effort to push specific initiatives.

NASCAR would put a hard embargo even on its own website, which absolutely frustrated the crap out of us. Then they took the website back in 2012 in an effort to control even more of the content. That's backfired spectactularly as well.

At least when Jim Hunter was in charge, if you wrote something NASCAR didn't like, he'd pull you aside in the media center and explain actually what got under their skin and maybe give you some advice. But he wouldn't tell you how to do your job.

 

[stix]

When's the last time a pro athlete said something interesting, anyway?

This just saves the reporters from having to listen to that packaged drivel and go do something more interesting.

 

[Moderator1]

Under Ramsey Poston, who had a political background before getting hired by NASCAR, there was actually a contentious relationship between the media and what PR thought should be said in a positive light -- especially tromping on the line between journalistic integrity and infomercials. NASCAR bought column inches in USA Today -- and then gave Gannett exclusive content -- in an effort to push specific initiatives.

NASCAR would put a hard embargo even on its own website, which absolutely frustrated the crap out of us. Then they took the website back in 2012 in an effort to control even more of the content. That's backfired spectacularly as well.

At least when Jim Hunter was in charge, if you wrote something NASCAR didn't like, he'd pull you aside in the media center and explain actually what got under their skin and maybe give you some advice. But he wouldn't tell you how to do your job.

Jim Hunter, RIP. A pro.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

When Nascar got fat and happy two decades ago, media access went south. Scrums outside team haulers passed for "access" and drivers' PR handlers existed just to say no to every request. Nascar's own PR team largely shrugged and had no interest in helping scribes, and there was no downside when tracks were adding grandstands and the sport was flying. Of course, Nascar got too fat and happy and things fell apart for a number of reasons including some out of their control (like the recession), and when the pendulum came around and they needed media, like now, there's hardly anyone left.

Would Nascar have avoided its downturn had the media been more respected and accommodated in the glory days? Surely not, but it didn't help. I'd like to think there's a small cautionary tale in there somewhere.

NASCAR is far too arrogant and tone-deaf to realize that it did nothing to help itself.

 

[Mr. X]

I've seen it in baseball clubhouses and other locker rooms. That was one of the stupid things about USA Today, ordering their writers to come up with athlete comments about nonsensical topics. A pitcher blows a save or an infielder boots a ball that lets in the winning run. And here comes a writer to ask him about the increase in stolen bases this season. Or some social media topic. If I was an athlete, I'd say sorry, that's not a question I want to answer at this time. However, I don't agree with Osaka announcing ahead of time she is stonewalling the media.

Why couldn't those questions be asked before the game? Baseball players were available before games in 2019 and earlier.

 

[ChrisLong]

Why couldn't those questions be asked before the game? Baseball players were available before games in 2019 and earlier.

Because their dumbass editor gave them the assignment during the game.

 

[Cybersport2015]

If you're one of the premier athletes in your sport, you have an obligation to speak to the media, certainly after matches and certainly at major championships. Whatever blowback she gets for this stance is richly deserved. I've never covered tennis other than an occasional high-school match, but I would absolutely trash her. She's making herself bigger than the sport,

And as someone who has dealt with mental health issues myself, I am offended by her going down that road.

 

[Equalizer]

I've thought about this in the past and how it might be more prevalent in tennis because a high percentage of the media are feature writers from magazines. It just doesn't seem fair.
The athlete has finished a match or a game. They've given maximum effort. They are exhausted. Then they are confronted by media and anything can be asked. They get a couple of "What was your key to winning?" or "How do you think tomorrow's match might transpire?" Then they could be asked about the transgender issue, or a Russian player might be asked about the airspace controversy.
There might be topics they've never given one second of thought to, and they are asked their opinion as if the opinions of athletes are so important. And it's up to the writer to figure out how to deal with that.

Last November, I was covering a college football game on the day the election was called for Biden. On the post-game Zoom, someone asked one of the players if they had heard the news before the game and "what was the reaction in the locker room? Was there any celebrating?" The player got a "WTF?" look on his face, paused for a minute and said, "We had no idea what was going on. We're really not thinking about politics before a game."