// you’re reading...

WBIR-TV stands up to school – and other journalists

By Steve Safran ⋅ January 20, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment

This is a wild one and well worth debating. At the press conference where the University of Tennessee Volunteers Coach Lane Kiffin stepped down, the school wanted to do a “pre-presser” that would be off-camera. Then, once the pre-presser was done, TV photographers could turn the cameras on.

WBIR-TV (Knoxville) News Director Bill Shory would have none of it. Shory insisted that the school (a public university in a public building) allow the entire session on camera. A debate ensued, with the school’s sports information director trying to dictate the rules. That might have been the end of it — a news director, dressed down by a public official, fighting back. But watch the video, because Shory does something remarkable — he stands up to fellow journalists in the room who are fine with the school dictating terms:


Writes RTDNA Chairman Stacey Woelfel:

Too often, we let the sources set the terms. Even as Bill states this obvious truth, the crowd of his peers nearly shouts him down, yelling “Yes, he does!” That’s absurd. This group of reporters in a major sports market is so cowed by the university media machine that it doesn’t even know it’s the victim here. Talk about Stockholm Syndrome. Perhaps the new term for sports reporter/hostages who’ve spent so much time under the thumb of sports information people they don’t even know they’re victims anymore should be “Knoxville Syndrome.”

It’s amazing to hear journalists not only agreeing to letting a public figure set the terms for an interview but also screeching at a journalist who won’t stand for it. They somehow believed “TV is spoiling for the rest of us!” What do you think?

No related posts.

Filed Under   Share

Discussion

Comments for “WBIR-TV stands up to school – and other journalists”

  • jbradyjim
    Imagine if the transcriptionists in the national media would actually stand up and not let interview terms be set, we would not have halfof the BS we get from these idiots in congress.
  • The Unknown Known
    Kifflin is pre-hasbeen, just behind the Seahacks. Sorry kids, I'm going to follow da Raiders and da Broncos and entire Central Divisions of da NFL for the long term.
  • jcreaves
    I've been part of such a scene...about twenty years ago. However, the shoe was on the other foot so to speak. A local TV station comandeered an interview and dictated to the other local media on who and how interviews with the subject would be conducted. But--they forgot one little thing. Setting up a radio feed is a lot quicker than trying to shoot a live shot. I not only had my story called in to my radio station in time for the 5-o'clock news, it was forwarded to one of our affiliated stations in Dallas as well,
  • Bob Priddy
    Bill Schorry and his crew just taught a room full of other reporters what a backbone is. Maybe some of them will eventually realize that the kind of cheap and silly manipulation the SID was trying to pull should never be tolerated, especially by those who seek the exposure the media can provide. It's true in sports. It's true in covering politicians. It's true in covering those with causes they want to espouse. Reporters are not their tools, not their pipelines, not their toys. In a time when manipulation of the press has become far too easy, it's good to see at least one person in the room with the courage to refuse to play a coach's game even when professional colleagues seem willing to do so. Thanks to the person who kept the camera going to record the event. I hope journalism and communication schools use it to teach the next generation some things about the need to show some guts at appropriate times. This was one of those times.
  • chris
    Dear Mr. Bill Shory... I'd love to work with a real journalist like you. Except I'm pretty sure MG hates me.

    Shame on those inkers.
  • kenvillines
    I personally think he should have recorded ALL the audio for voice over. The station could get an on-air graphics person to take an image of Lane Kiffin, add a lower thirds, and play a majority of the audio or portions of the audio along with on-screen quotes. The piece could then be salvaged by adding the video Kiffin allowed them to take. Kiffin was holding all the cards...take what you can get and work with it...Period, especially when time is a factor and he might just walk away.

    I see Bills point but it isn't a perfect world.
  • DeRushaJ
    Bill Shory used to be the EP for Special Projects with me at WCCO, so I'm biased here, as he's a good man. To me, this was a fairness issue. The coach wanted to talk to reporters, on the record. So the papers could quote him. The radio reporters could play audio. But the TV cameras can't roll? This doesn't make any sense. It is unfair to television.

    If I were a print person, I would have been ticked at Bill, because indeed, he did ruin it for everyone else. But I'm not sure there's anything wrong with the print person being ticked. To me, this isn't a grand issue of journalism or ethics or universities trying to control the message. It's about fairness. It's about competition. And I think Bill did exactly the right thing for his television station. But I wouldn't be so quick to paint the other journalists as doing the wrong thing.
blog comments powered by Disqus


Follow us

Lost Remote covers hyperlocal news, neighborhood blogs and local journalism startups.