It was very interesting hearing Jennifer Bullano, the director of communications for the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Lester Munson, a reporter for ESPN, talk about two sides of the sports world. Bullano helps keep sensitive information about the players and the team from spreading to the media, while Munson digs and tries to get that sensitive information out of people, in Bullano’s position. They both made some really good points in regards to ethics and in this blog I am going to talk about one ethical issue that each of them spoke of. Bullano discussed the problem of reporters jumping the gun and trying to be the first to a story instead of being the most accurate. While Munson discussed the use of the Redskins as an NFL team name, and how some sports journalists now refuse to use the term at all.
Bullano was talking about how (a few years back) the media heard a rumor that both the Penguins GM, as well as their head coach were going to be fired. When in reality, it was only the GM who was going to be tossed out. This is an example of reporters jumping the gun and reporting something that isn’t true, just in an attempt to be first. Reports of the head coach being fired stirred up panic in the Penguin’s fans, as well as in the head coach himself. A great example of reporters jumping the gun like this is when veteran reporter, Chris Mortensen, claimed in an article on ESPN.com that, “The NFL has found that 11 of the New England Patriots‘ 12 game balls were inflated significantly below the NFL’s requirements”. This was after the Patriots beat the Colts in the AFC playoff game. After further investigation, the NFL found that only one of the game balls was underinflated, but at the time this was a huge deal because the Patriots had received allegations of cheating in the past. And the fanbase felt as though they were being cheated out of a great AFC Championship game.
What Munson talked about was the fact that some reporters are now refusing to use the term “redskin” because it is a racist derogatory slur against Native Americans. Peter King who runs a sports website called Monday Morning Quarterback (mmqb.si.com) is one of those who won’t use the name. In an article on Pennlive.com, King is quoted as saying, “I’ve decided to stop using the Washington team nickname.” … “ I decided to stop entirely because it offends too many people, and I don’t want to add to the offensiveness.” I think this is the right thing to do. It is ethically wrong to have a team named after a racial slur. You wouldn’t have a team name called the Washington, N-words, so why would it be okay to have the Redskins be Washington’s team name. It is wrong and I hope that more journalists soon join King in abstaining from using the term “redskin” in their articles.
All in all, the seminar was a really good learning experience, and I was able to see what it is like on both sides of the coins of sports journalism. In conclusion, reporters should wait until they are 100% certain of a statistic before reporting on it, and racial slurs should not be used as team names in the NFL.