‘Balanced,’ fair sports coverage fundamental
November 6, 2007 by The Red and Black Archives
Filed under Sports
My job is to not be a fan of Georgia sports.
That may seem ridiculous coming from the sports editor of The Red & Black, but it’s the truth.
Journalism is a profession that prides itself on objectivity and fairness – even in sports coverage. Working at a paper that covers a University, I attend presents an interesting situation, but it doesn’t change the term “sports editor” into “number one cheerleader and president of the booster club.”
In a Nov. 1 column in The Red & Black, Marc McAfee suggested I give my tickets “to a true fan” after citing one of my previous columns that said there was doubt about the rest of the football season because of the team’s inexperience.
I’ve never claimed to be a true fan in print, and, once again, my job doesn’t make me one – it actually necessitates that I’m not, at least openly. The Red & Black focuses its attention on Georgia sports because that’s what our audience wants – just like any other newspaper, it’s our job to cater to the public’s right and need to know.
But our coverage is balanced. When the football team beats Florida, we put it in the paper because that’s what the public wants. When basketball players get suspended, we put it in the paper because the public deserves to know.
My job is not to be Georgia athletics’ widest-read fan, and I don’t work in public relations.
If I feel like Georgia will lose a game, I pick the opposing team in our “picks” section of First & Goal (see Oklahoma State). Anything else would be unethical. It’s absolutely ridiculous to expect a journalist, who is supposed to be unbiased to blindly support a team in print just because they attend the school. In his column, McAfee wrote “Let the Atlanta Journal-Constitution say things like Georgia’s defense ‘couldn’t stop a pingpong ball.’ Just don’t let words like that come from people who claim to be true fans.”
What difference does it make which newspaper is covering it? The Red & Black is an independent student-led paper. Note that. Independent. Not tied to the University, not a second public relations department.
Do you really want the people who reported to you on the pharmacy scandal and the recent white van incidents (things that really matter in the long run) sharing a newsroom with a sports staff that blindly reports what the Athletic Association says?
Granted, we’re students and we’re still learning, but we take our profession as seriously as anyone at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution or elsewhere else. Deep down, I am a Georgia fan, but that will never affect my work here or elsewhere.
You can continue sending hate mail, calling me and writing anti-Estep columns in The Red & Black, but it won’t turn our sports section into blind pro-Georgia propaganda.
My job is not, and will not ever be, to be a Georgia fan.
- Tyler Estep is the sports editor for The Red & Black
