Meet the Press Somewhere Else

[G-Fafif]

MLB among sports leagues shooing reporters from clubhouses, selectively citing health concerns.

The NBA, NHL, MLB and MLS are closing access to locker rooms and clubhouses to all non-essential personnel in response to the coronavirus crisis, the leagues announced in a joint statement Monday night. The leagues said they made the decision "after consultation with infectious disease and public health experts." The NBA, in a call with teams earlier Monday, stressed that the move is not to ban reporters but to ensure the safety of players and staff in those areas. The statement, in part, read: "Given the issues that can be associated with close contact in pre- and post-game settings, all team locker rooms and clubhouses will be open only to players and essential employees of teams and team facilities until further notice. Media access will be maintained in designated locations outside of the locker room and clubhouse setting." The changes, which the leagues say are temporary, will begin Tuesday, though some NHL teams began closing their locker rooms to the media over the weekend, with player availability at practices and after games held outside the room or, in many cases, at news conference podiums. The NBA said interviews with players would continue in settings other than the locker room, stressing a gap of 6-to-8 feet between reporters and interview subjects.

https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/28873409/nba-nhl-mlb-mls-close-locker-rooms-virus-concernshttps://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/28873409/nba-nhl-mlb-mls-close-locker-rooms-virus-concerns

Edited March 9, 2020 by Guest

[Frayed Knot]

In a related story, both Steve Carlton and Barry Bonds issued statements asking: 'Why wasn't this fucking virus around back when I was playing?'

[Guest 41Forever]

There are reporters covering MLS?



I read that the Nationals are telling players not to sign autographs, but can hand out pre-autographed cards to fans.

[Ceetar]

the press is LIVID about this. "I just want to stand at their locker, as them stock questions to fill lines in a column, and now I might have to ask them in a more setting!"

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

How'd I know Ceetar would take cornavirus's side vs. a free press

[Ceetar]

I fall more on the side of thinking it's somewhat excessive but I don't know. Either way, throwing a fit because MLB followed the trend and started trying to take precautions, while still providing access!, is a bad look.

[Guest 41Forever]

I can see restricting some access because there are a lot of people in clubhouses. But wiping down all the surfaces, keeping Costco-sized vats of hand sanitizer available and asking reporters keep hands clean would seem to work just fine.



The fear is that once you start eliminating some things on a "temporary" basis, they never come back.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

The fear is that once you start eliminating some things on a "temporary" basis, they never come back.

yup. Habits can change quick, and from the club's POV, there's likely very little in it for them to switch back and they'll of course use the "our employee safety comes first" approach to justify it going forward.



And Ceetar thinks media coverage sucks and is boring now, wait'll Trump and MLB team up to overturn the 1st amendment.

[Centerfield]

It always struck me as odd that reporters (and their cameras) were allowed in the clubhouse anyway.



Why not allow the players to dress, then come out to meet the media?

[Ceetar]

=Centerfield post_id=33097 time=1583853484 user_id=65]
It always struck me as odd that reporters (and their cameras) were allowed in the clubhouse anyway.



Why not allow the players to dress, then come out to meet the media?

[G-Fafif]

=Centerfield post_id=33097 time=1583853484 user_id=65]
It always struck me as odd that reporters (and their cameras) were allowed in the clubhouse anyway.



Why not allow the players to dress, then come out to meet the media?

[Centerfield]

Understood on that.



I'm speaking as an outsider to all of this, but I think it's well past time that the press be removed from the locker room. I think first of all, players deserve their privacy. And just because one is a professional athlete doesn't mean that you have to be comfortable with someone sticking a mic in front of you while you change. Also, it's time to take female reporters out of this situation. They shouldn't have to suffer the backlash from athletes who feel that women do not belong in the locker room.



It doesn't have to be a formal press conference. Provide a space. Players make themselves available either before or after they change. Reporters can mingle, get their stories, hang out. Serve cocktails and apps. Play some jazz. Order Insomnia cookies.



The time for old boys hanging out in the locker room together is past.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Who are you, Dave Kingman? Women have been in the locker room for 40 years now, prolly a few gay reporters too. As noted above it's been a customary way to get the day to day stories of a day-to-day season and the occasional, "Pardon me, Mr. McGwire, but what's in that giant pharmacy bottle?" scoop that we're all more informed for knowing.

[Centerfield]

I didn't say women don't belong in the locker room, I said interviews don't belong in the locker room.



The "customary way" is an antiquated tradition started by men. And if male sports reporters feel like they need to be able to hang out wearing towels with their junk hanging out to get a story, then they'll have to change with the times.



In a way, the locker room is a great analogy for how women reporters have been treated by sports in general. "You don't belong here. We'll let you in since you fought so hard for the right to be here, and we'll look like dicks if we don't, but understand that this place is for men, and a lot of guys in here are never going to be comfortable with this." This is what women have to put up with just so they can do their job on equal footing as their male counterparts.



It's such a simple fix. Create a "media" room. Players are obligated to report to the room before or after they dress. Answer questions, mingle. You can make it comfortable, with couches, food, drinks, etc. Once a player is finished, they can go. If a player fails to report, then reporters can trash him in the papers if they're so inclined.



It would be one of those things that once it happens, people will wonder why it was ever done any other way.

[Edgy MD]

I like the idea of a media room with every player and coach given a card table and a folding chair with his name on a folded tent card. He's required to be in that chair for 10 minutes before the game and 20 minutes after, even if he spends it playing with his phone or studying his Bible. Most of the time, you're ignored at your little table, but then there's the day when they suddenly they can't get enough of you.

[Ceetar]

Some of that requires seom reconfiguration, but it's overdue, surely.



Separate the clubhouse from the locker room. You've got lockers, clothes, etc. the weight, batting cages, trainers room and all that on one side, then you come out the door to the common area with reporters, and water and food and whatnot.



These guys are at the ballpark for hours and hours and hours before games. some of that's private prep time, but a lot of it's not. The rest of us (well, you office folk) mingle with coworkers while the keurig spits, you can too.

[batmagadanleadoff]

=Centerfield post_id=33112 time=1583862699 user_id=65]
I didn't say women don't belong in the locker room, I said interviews don't belong in the locker room.

[G-Fafif]

Bryan Curtis of the Ringer, as perceptive a media writer as there is, on the developing situation:



https://www.theringer.com/2020/3/10/21173499/coronavirus-locker-room-mlb-nba-nfl-sportswritinghttps://www.theringer.com/2020/3/10/21173499/coronavirus-locker-room-mlb-nba-nfl-sportswriting

When access is impinged on, fans often ask, What's the big deal? Since game stories do not typically include stage directions, it's worth spelling out what actually happens in locker rooms. Writers might ask a player a question for quotation. They might ask a question not for quotation but for information. They might yuk it up to build a relationship with a player, which may inform future articles. Sometimes, the writers just observe how the players act or how they hobble. As the Reds' Joey Votto told writer C. Trent Rosecrans: “How a player reacted can be told through facial expressions, getting to know that person, and tone.” Over the weekend, Sports Illustrated's Grant Wahl suggested such rituals could be replicated outside a locker room. They could be observed in a soccer-style “mixed zone”—basically, an area where reporters stand and hope a player stops to talk to them. This system—which we're gonna test-drive starting Tuesday—removes the single most important thing about American locker room access, which is the involuntary part. Now, the player will decide whether he or she will even stop to hear nosy questions. Ask a European soccer writer how often they do. Closed locker rooms have created a post-access hellscape in the U.K., where most writers barely know the players; where they barely fake-know the players; and where any sort of in-depth feature, even about a Clint Capela–level supporting actor, is bartered for with a product plug. There are a lot of dreary things about American sportswriting. This vision is way worse. In high-traffic situations like the NBA playoffs, postgame interviews are often moved from the locker room to a podium in another room. Even this, however well-intentioned, is generally bad. Podiums create theater rather than human conversation (the old White House briefing comes to mind). Plus, the reporters who thrive in those settings are the ones who've been in the locker room all year, gathering material they can use in the postseason.

[G-Fafif]

Votto quote expanded:

[Guest 41Forever]

While I was never a full-time sports reporter, I did a bunch of sports stories because sometimes you need a news guy and our sports guys didn't do a lot of features. This afforded me the opportunity to be in major and minor league clubhouses for interviews. It was much easier to talk to player and coaches in the clubhouse. The post-game stuff is pretty quick, but they hang out for a long time before the games. Hours.



Reporters are always going to want one-on-one time. They're going to avoid asking good questions, or something with an angle they have and no one else has, in a group setting.



I'm surprised MLB did this, and more surprised that the other leagues all are doing it, too, in a coordinated way. Wonder which league started that ball rolling.

[Centerfield]

I get that being allowed unfettered access to the locker room will foster relationships and allow some sports writers to get to know players on a different level. Whether I have actually seen the benefit of that in sportswriting I can't really say. I don't know what the quality of sportswriting would be without it. I'm not sure anyone knows.



But what I do know is that it's silly to pretend that interviewing athletes when they are in various stages of undress is in anyway ideal for a female sports reporter, and the idea that allowing them access to the locker room somehow evens this playing field is silly. Female reporters should be able to do their jobs without being forced to see the subjects of their reporting naked, or having to deal with the uncomfortable dynamic that creates. It's a hostile environment for them. I can't see how anyone can realistically argue this point.



If I sat in my office and insisted on working in my boxer shorts, there would be lawsuits within minutes.



If the relationship between reporter and athlete is critical, find a non-naked way to form this. Simple as that.



Men's sports could take a cue from the WNBA. The locker room is open to the media for a period of time. The athletes stay dressed, answer questions, tell jokes, form bonds whatever, then the locker room closes, and they go off and shower in private. It's such a simple system. It can be in place tomorrow. And as far as I know, there are no complaints that the coverage of the WNBA is inferior in any way to men's sports.

[dgwphotography]

I think this something MLB has wanted to do for some time, and I will be surprised if clubhouses allow the same access again.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

I get that being allowed unfettered access to the locker room will foster relationships and allow some sports writers to get to know players on a different level. Whether I have actually seen the benefit of that in sportswriting I can't really say. I don't know what the quality of sportswriting would be without it. I'm not sure anyone knows. But what I do know is that it's silly to pretend that interviewing athletes when they are in various stages of undress is in anyway ideal for a female sports reporter, and the idea that allowing them access to the locker room somehow evens this playing field is silly. Female reporters should be able to do their jobs without being forced to see the subjects of their reporting naked, or having to deal with the uncomfortable dynamic that creates. It's a hostile environment for them. I can't see how anyone can realistically argue this point. If I sat in my office and insisted on working in my boxer shorts, there would be lawsuits within minutes. If the relationship between reporter and athlete is critical, find a non-naked way to form this. Simple as that. Men's sports could take a cue from the WNBA. The locker room is open to the media for a period of time. The athletes stay dressed, answer questions, tell jokes, form bonds whatever, then the locker room closes, and they go off and shower in private. It's such a simple system. It can be in place tomorrow. And as far as I know, there are no complaints that the coverage of the WNBA is inferior in any way to men's sports.

All well and good but that's not even what's being discussed here. It's clubhouse vs. sterile interview table gaggles, not some combination, and it's not like the idea of building a separate interview room with tables and so forth is a realistic near-term idea. Finally they're all pros in there, scribes and sluggers alike, and much of the fretting over "wanna interview this?!" is long since over.

[Edgy MD]

Reporters are always going to want one-on-one time. They're going to avoid asking good questions, or something with an angle they have and no one else has, in a group setting.

Just two questions, both of more of a practical nature than a philosophical one, and sort of on both sides of the issue.

2. On the one hand, how is a theoretical media lounge allowing for less one-on-one time than a locker room? In theory, they're both openly filled with subjects and reporters criss-crossing and stepping on each other, with some media crowded around one blowhard big shot and others scrounging around the fringes to get a discrete quote from an overlooked source. In theory, Centerfield's version of such a space could even be about the same size, only more comfortable. The main difference would perhaps just be shlongs?



4. On the other hand, how is the theoretical lounge any less of a Petri dish of a contamination hot zone? Is the fear that flying beads of sweat, discarded towels and vapor coming off a recently showered naked torso is significantly worse than a fully clothed cocktail party format?

[Centerfield]

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: Finally they're all pros in there, scribes and sluggers alike, and much of the fretting over "wanna interview this?!" is long since over.

For real?



https://www.si.com/media/2017/11/27/female-sports-reporters-sexual-harassment-media-circushttps://www.si.com/media/2017/11/27/female-sports-reporters-sexual-harassment-media-circus

[Centerfield]

Edgy MD wrote: Reporters are always going to want one-on-one time. They're going to avoid asking good questions, or something with an angle they have and no one else has, in a group setting. Just two questions, both of more of a practical nature than a philosophical one, and sort of on both sides of the issue. On the one hand, how is a theoretical media lounge allowing for less one-on-one time than a locker room? In theory, they're both openly filled with subjects and reporters criss-crossing and stepping on each other, with some media crowded around one blowhard big shot and others scrounging around the fringes to get a discrete quote from an overlooked source. In theory, Centerfield's version of such a space could even be about the same size, only more comfortable. The main difference would perhaps just be shlongs? On the other hand, how is the theoretical lounge any less of a Petri dish of a contamination hot zone? Is the fear that flying beads of sweat, discarded towels and vapor coming off a recently showered naked torso is significantly worse than a fully clothed cocktail party format?

Being dressed makes a huge difference. No, it won't eliminate harrassment, but the venue change at least stops openly inviting it.



You get photographed fully clothed, speaking to a woman at a cocktail party. No issue.



You get photographed, half naked, schlong hanging out of your towel, speaking to a woman at a cocktail party. Big issue.

[Guest 41Forever]

Edgy MD wrote: Reporters are always going to want one-on-one time. They're going to avoid asking good questions, or something with an angle they have and no one else has, in a group setting. Just two questions, both of more of a practical nature than a philosophical one, and sort of on both sides of the issue. On the one hand, how is a theoretical media lounge allow for less one-on-one time than a locker room? In theory, they're both openly filled with subjects and reporters criss-crossing and stepping on each other, with some media crowded around one blowhard big shot and others scrounging around the fringes to get a discrete quote from an overlooked source. In theory, centerfield's version of such a space could even be about the same size, only more comfortable. The main difference would perhaps just be shlongs? On the other hand, how is the theoretical lounge any less of a Petri dish of a contamination hot zone? Is the fear that flying beads of sweat, discarded towels and vapor coming off a recently showered naked torso is significantly worse than a fully clothed format cocktail party?

Those are good questions. The post-game session isn't really all that long. It's like a scramble to get the guys you need before they run off -- and before you need to run off to post your stuff. And everyone is there. Radio guys, print/web, television -- sometimes it's tough to get your question in there.



It's the time before the game where there is a lot more time and a relaxed atmosphere. There's some down time. That's where you can really talk.



The players aren't going to come in and hang out in the media lounge for the hours before the game. Post game? Sure. But also consider there are 25 guys. Post game, you are going to have to decide who you want in there. Do the reporters decide that? And how? They're competing against each other. The team's communications guy? You're relying on him to pick three, four, five guys to interview? That's a tough position to put him or her in.



Not saying it's impossible. It's just very different. makes the media's job harder, which is why you're seeing the push back.



I never saw any harassment, though my experiences are by no means extensive. I worked at a paper with a woman sports editor and assistant sports editor and several woman reporters. I've never heard them talk about harassment. But I don't think I ever asked them about it, either. One goes to my church. I'll ask her about it if I see them on Sunday. It would be foolish to say it doesn't happen anywhere, but I don't know if it is common.



I think players these days are more professional than you give them credit for, and teams don't have a lot of tolerance for that kind of nonsense.

Edited March 10, 2020 by Guest

[Centerfield]

I mean, the gist of this seems to be:



I'm a male sports writer and I think locker room access is crucial. Sure, some women may get harassed a bit, but it's not bad and much better than it used to be. In the end, hanging out with naked dudes gives me insight, and that makes me a better writer.

Edited March 10, 2020 by Guest

[G-Fafif]

[batmagadanleadoff]

=Centerfield post_id=33147 time=1583875171 user_id=65]
I mean, the gist of this seems to be:



Male sports writers think locker room access is crucial. Sure, some women may get harassed a bit, but it's not bad and much better than it used to be. In the end, hanging out with naked dudes gives me insight, and that makes me a better writer.