After one of the biggest months in the history of sports journalism, four writers addressed professionalism, passion and accountability Thursday in a panel discussion as part of Medill’s Crain Lecture Series. The third installment of “Beyond the Box Score”, co-sponsored by Northwestern Athletics, packing the McCormick Tribune Center with nearly 70 students.
Moderated by Jonathan Eig (Medill ’86), the talk featured ESPN reporter Jeremy Schaap, ESPN columnist and CNN contributor LZ Granderson, Sports Illustrated’s George Dohrman and ESPNChicago.com columnist Melissa Isaacson. Eig opened up the discussion by asking the four panelists if sports journalism has been “blowing it” in light of major scandals, namely decorated cyclist Lance Armstrong’s fall from grace and Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o’s nonexistent deceased girlfriend.
While none of the panelists argued that sports journalism was losing general credibility, Granderson pointed to the Super Bowl as an example of journalistic failure.
“Sports journalists should be able to do more than follow Xs and Os,” Granderson said. “Someone should have been able to figure out what was going on during the blackout and tell the viewers.”
Isaacson acknowledged a few causes for sports journalism’s recent inability to uncover and report news stories accurately and efficiently. “Should we do more original reporting? Absolutely,” Isaacson said. “The lack of accountability doesn’t mean we’re blowing it.”
Schaap had a different take on the current status of sports journalism. “If you look at it as a continuum, we’re doing better than ever before,” he said in regards to reporting. “Back in 1947, Jackie Robinson breaking the color line was an aside in daily, mainstream papers.”
The panel also touched on the issue of former athletes becoming journalists and how this poses problems for an industry committed to remaining unbiased. Medill freshman Antonio José Vielma found the discussion to be provoking.
“Comparing older coaches and former players who became journalists with people who have actually gone through a journalism education really gave me a different perspective on what we’re learning here at Medill,” Vielma said.