Editorial: Stop playing the NFL’s game

Steve Safran October 4th, 2006

Unsportsmanlike conduct. 15 yards. On the NFL. Unfortunately, journalism doesn’t get the first down. Instead, the NFL has made its latest control freak intentions clear by banning news websites from showing so much as a postgame interview. First they banned the game highlights, then the cameras from the sidelines, now the interviews. Enough. The web is an integral part of our mission of journalism - to tell a story. In no other case would we allow a subject to dictate the terms under which we tell a story. But for some reason we’re doing that in sports.

For years, there was a “scratch our back, we’ll scratch yours” deal between the local media and the pro sports franchises. We got access, they got PR. Pro football only goes back to the ’60s and was, in many ways, a made-for-TV sport. The genius of Pete Rozell was in his execution of a masterful national TV contract that financed the league. TV made the NFL possible.

Throughout the years and less-than-stellar crowds, we played the game. We showed the highlights, we kept them in the local spotlight, we slavishly attended their practices and listened to their postgame nonsense. We treated their players who recited cliches like they were Nobel Prize Winners in Literature.

Now they’re kicking us out.

Don’t for a second think they are done. TV is next. Look what happened this year with the NFL Network. If your attitude is that “As long as we can show the highlights on our local TV newscast, we’re fine” think again. They’ll ban those too. When your newscast is available online and on VOD - what do you do? Censor the highlights so people can’t see them there? And forget online - it’s only a matter of time before the NFL forbids TV highlights completely and only allows you to mention the score as long as you say “For the highlights, go to NFL.com or the NFL Network, available by subscription.” They are demanding our viewers pay them money.

We are now underwriting their efforts to undermine us.

And we have to stop. Now. Oh, I know we’re going to file a protest. Look how well that turned out with the sideline camera controversy. They came up with a lame “the sidelines are too crowded” excuse. There will be another lame excuse. They want control and money. That’s fine - it’s their right. We’re just not in the business of making the money for them. We’re in journalism. Our job isn’t making the money - it’s following the money.

So stop slavishly reporting on these chumps. Stop being local cheerleaders, unquestionably showing their every practice and every highlight. Don’t give them free PR. Only a third of your audience even cares, and they saw the highlights on ESPN hours before your newscast anyway. (Would you air any other segment you knew caused 70% of your audience to turn to another channel?)

Put your sports department to use finding and reporting on the great local sports stories in your communities. Highlight the true heroes. Find the stories - and there are so many out there they could fill a show every night - that sports fans and non-sports fans alike would love. Do investigative sports journalism like you see on “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.” After reading the book that blew open the use of steroids in baseball, many sports journalists came forward and admitted they knew it was going on and apologized they didn’t do a better job bringing it to light.

And on your website, have a big banner that says:

THE NFL PROHIBITS US FROM SHOWING YOU ANY VIDEO FROM THE GAME OR THE POSTGAME. IF YOU FIND THIS AS UNACCEPTABLE AS WE DO, EMAIL XXX@NFL.COM OR CALL 555-555-5555.

Let’s give them hell. That’s the power of the press. Not asking “pretty please with sugar on top can we show your tight end saying ‘we gave it 110%’ after the game.’ Throw the flags all over the field.