From the OColly, Student Paper for Oklahoma State
Stuck in the middle: How OSU's handling of McCleskey's transfer started an avoidable media storm
Long story short. Senior WR Jalen McCleskey has announced his intention to transfer from Oklahoma St, much in the same manner that Jelly Bryant did from Clemson yesterday. Going into the press conference yesterday, reporters were told that they were prohibited from asking any question about his transfer, and any reporter who did would lose his credentials for the rest of the season. On top of that, should any reporter ask any student about the transfer, Oklahoma State would ban media availability to all athletes for the remainder of the season.
The press conference happened, and the reporters, basically threatened with their jobs, did not ask a single question regarding the transfer, but all agreed they would run a disclaimer in their articles saying they would explain that Oklahoma St threatened them and as such it wasn't going to be possible. Once Oklahoma St coaches found out, they then threatened all media saying if anyone even mentioned any of those mandates or any discussion that had happened regarding this, all the above (credential revocation, athlete media ban, etc) would apply. The Student paper ran it by their professors, who broke the story on their own, which was then corroborated by TulsaWorld this morning.
Yikes, ugly stuff there. What do you all think? It seems that this kind of strong arming the media is becoming a little commonplace throughout the sports world (see, Randy Edsall walking out of a press conference when asked about his defense) essentially preventing the media from being able to do their jobs. Does the athletic department and teams have a responsibility to answer to some of these questions, given that most represent public institutions, or does the fact they found the loophole that they claim to run off donations keeps them excluded. So far, I'm glad we don't have to deal with this at VT.
Comments
Guess Gundy is still mad about all that business 10 years ago.
He's fifty!
HE'S A MAN! THEY COME TO HIM!!
I think my first question is: is it even legal to mandate terms like that?
Pretty sure an organization has the right to give media credentials to whoever they want for whatever reason. Usually you don't hear of incidents like this because it erodes their credibility a bit, which is certainly going to happen here.
an all-out suppression of media by a state government entity (even quasi entities like public universities) would yield some arguments that it violates the First Amendment. This likely isn't a violation, however, as OSU isn't actually censoring press, they're simply withholding information.
you cant tell me what to do!
and because someones got to do it before wasknik gets to it and owns all the turkey legs in the land.
cant beat'em join'em
if only I could find a gif of the drayton flyer getting in the Philadelphia flyers costume.
Not completely unrelated-both teams have the same colors. Well done.
as was the case with Trevon Hill, coaches don't have to provide all the details. Why would Gundy not at least acknowledge it, just like Fuente did, and just like Dabo did? Now, you just look like a buffoon over a kid transferring. And no, i don't know how much of a backstory is involved, but at least acknowledge it.
This is all a bunch of crap. Let the reporters do,their jobs. You're not making nuclear weapons here.
Are you sure? I think they might be making miniature stealth nukes based on the meltdowns I've seen on message boards when things don't match the utopian view fans have of their programs.
Boards be like...
via GIPHY
via GIPHY
I would have definitely broken that story. This will get whatever media member who has the balls to do it so much more exposure than a couple of usable quotes throughout the year.
"I'm the person that finally came after Mike Gundy" (also... that's what he/she said)
via GIPHY
If they don't want to answer questions, just say 'No comment' and move on.
I don't get the prohibition of certain questions. Any coach worth their salt these days should be teaching his players to answer "no comment" or similar to any potential controversial question, or possibly have a canned answer to certain questions they know are coming. And a coach himself should be able to carry himself through an interview giving either "no comment"s or non-answers as he sees fit.
No reason at all to play these games.
The dark lord at Alabama handles these things very differently. He lets the press ask whatever question they want, then blasts the reporter so bad that it singes their eyebrows off and assures that they never ask a question like that again.
His birthday is 31 October....
That really pissed me off. Poor Maria Taylor. At least Belichick is so boringly grumpy that it's kind of funny.
Saban doesn't work for Belichick any more!
I am absolutely not a fan of Bama at all, I actually despise them, but Saban's pressers are fun to watch.
I agree. His general demeanor is entertaining, but he can get over the top.
Dumb to mandate this. Reporters seem to be pretty annoying in general. The proper response would have been. "We are not discussing the situation with X player at this time." Boom. Problem solved.
Pretty dumb of them to think this not going to get out. They should have just said that he is transferring and that is all they are going to say on that subject.
They have every right to not answer the questions being asked. They can even ignore the reporters if they want. However, in this case, with the coaches being state employees, I imagine there are rules against such things.
If it weren't for sports media, college football would not be such a colossal money maker. Ipso facto, coaches at places like OK State would not be making $5 million/year.
VT journalism grad here... yes it is dumb for the mandate. Just say "no comment, next question."
However, given how big of a joke the media is (local news and nationally) it is hard for someone in the media industry to complain about not being treated fairly.
That being said, the college student reporters at OSU probably haven't gotten a true taste of real world media life yet and want to do the right thing and as they are taught, so good for them for telling professors and helping the story get broken.
This kind of rhetoric is super dangerous, and it's the kind of public opinion people in high positions play into in order to avoid any kind of responsibilities for their actions. Especially coming from a journalism background, while the inner-workings of a college football team isn't such a big deal, the fact that a stunt like this could be tolerated is frightening.
While maybe "joke" isn't the best way to describe it, it's a fact that the vast majority of mainstream national and local news is partial to some interest group, either through their ownership structure or in the interest of turning a profit. Truly 100% fair and unbiased news sources are difficult to find.
It's not difficult at all. Google "Reuters." Read the results. AP is also quite neutral, as is the .co.uk version of BBC's news site (.com version is largely the same crap you'll see on CNN/FOX/MSNBC). There is objective, quality journalism out there, people just have to be willing to look.
people just have to be willing to look
Unfortunately, this shouldn't have to be the case. And most people certainly won't do it.
Call it rhetoric if you like, but it's true. News outlets today from nearly every angle are laughable, as we just saw with a lot of weather reporting during the hurricane. Of course, people in high positions use it to their advantage... why wouldn't they? It doesn't make it right, but if the media would do its job, not sensationalize or politicize every story and report legitimately, then this type of thing would be much less of an issue.
I totally agree it's frightening and really unfortunate. Certainly not surprising though.
Here, here. When I read Alum's post this was my first thought. The profs were the right people to help handle this situation, and now that the story is out, it'll be really really hard for OkSt to walk this back.
We'll see how everyone involved responds.
The weird thing is Gundy has already talked about the transfer elsewhere and he gave a reasonable, level-headed take about being disappointed but ultimately allowing the player to do what he feels is best for himself. I can't imagine the level of incompetence it takes to think you can bottle up news like this in the 21st century. Just answer no comment or repeat what you said earlier and move on.
Guaranteed that if it was to his benefit (player transferring to OKSU) he would welcome the questions.
Since the media helps drive exposure, and an 8th grader won't remember how OSU or whoever came across their screen, I think its silly to threaten the media. Schools need them just as much as the media needs the schools maybe with the exception of the school paper that will continue to exist and have the most personal and most undercover access to the team.