By Megan Sanders, Oct. 15, 2024
Often in postgame press conferences, professional athletes are asked questions by journalists that are too personal and unrelated to the game just played. Questions about family life or relationships understandably annoys players, making them less engaged in answering other questions. Whether athletes talk to the media should be their choice to do so, and it all starts with a healthy connection to the media.
It’s not uncommon to see and hear athletes attend press conferences to avoid fines or breaking their contract.
According to a Bleacher Report article, WNBA rookie Angel Reese and her team, the Chicago Sky, were fined in June after Reese failed to make an appearance after a tough loss against the Indiana Fever. This was in violation of the WNBA’s media policy, which states players must be available to the media for at least 15 minutes during a set time. Because Reese did not comply with this rule, she received a $1,000 fine along with a team fine of $5,000.
To help fix the relationship between players and journalists, media appearances should be optional, and the questions asked should be less personal with a focus on performance. Optional media appearances are proven to work since college athletes still talk to the media without being forced.
Athletes are currently forced to talk to the media to provide connections to the athlete and their fans. This would be fine if the way the information being collected from players was done in an ethical manner.
According to an article by Yahoo Sports, the NFL allows journalists to go into teams’ locker rooms to conduct personal interviews multiple times during a practice week. This policy is a violation of athletes’ privacy. If the interviews had a change of location, the athletes would be more willing to comply with the media.
With the pressure before, during and after the game, it can add levels of stress on the athlete. A healthy relationship provided by both the journalist and athlete benefits both parties. Most athletes would have no problem providing information about practices and game days considering that they are treated with respect.
In a recent press conference with NHL star, Mitch Marner, he was quick to set boundaries with journalists, stating that he wasn’t willing to answer any questions about contracts and only talk about the upcoming season.This is what healthy communication looks like.
For college athletes, there is no requirement to make appearances in the media like professional athletes, but many of them still volunteer to be interviewed at practice or after games.
According to Chloe Alchin, a second-year student-athlete at Cal Poly Pomona for women’s cross-country, she hasn’t had much experience with doing interviews but feels like it could be too much at times.
“If I had to imagine doing it every single time, I feel like it would kind of take away from the moment when you are just trying to celebrate with your teammates,” Alchin said.
This might leave journalists wondering what is considered “crossing the line” or “going too far.” If a journalist wouldn’t feel comfortable answering the question themselves because the information is too personal, it probably shouldn’t be asked. It’s that simple.
In April 2024, a reporter at Caitlin Clark’s introductory news conference with the WNBA team formed a heart symbol with his hands and made strange and unprofessional comments.
It only takes one bad situation to change an athlete’s view of the press. In a 2023 postgame interview with NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo, his attitude immediately changed for the worse after being asked if the season was a failure, which was asked by the same reporter two years in a row.
With professional athletes being so available to the public eye, they are often viewed as a team’s product, and their personal emotions are overlooked. As a journalist, it is our job to inform the audience, but it becomes unethical when reporters are invading an athlete’s privacy and disregarding their feelings.
If the questions were less invasive, the overwhelming demand from fans would become more casual, leaving the love for the sport and team still there but lowering the amount of unnecessary stress on athletes.
Changing athletes’ contracts and setting boundaries with journalists would make the athletes feel more human, and it would allow for the media to get better quotes for their projects with the players being more engaged in conversations.
Changes need to be made around this issue, because the continuation of fining athletes and teams is only creating more hate toward the media.
Feature image courtesy of Joao Cruz
