Sports...where good news is still good.

I spent 25 years in radio broadcasting, much of it reporting news. We had a couple of simple guidelines for deciding if we should cover a story. Does our audience already know this news? Is it important to them? If our audience doesn’t know about it, it is news to them. If it clearly is not important to them... who cares about the story.

Today, good news doesn’t sell... or so the modern journalists tell us. It doesn’t matter if your audience is aware of that good news, or how important it may be to them. If it is good news... forget it, especially if it credits any government at any level.

I have wondered what would happen if there were a big football game scheduled but there were no sports people to do the broadcast? What if they had to pull some people from the regular "hard" news department to do the broadcast! And, what if, (horror of horrors) they had to enlist certain politicians to provide color?

As the home team takes the field. Imagine the newsman/sportscaster decrying the fact that they are not fielding enough players. That they are ill-trained and ill-equipped. Now the color man insists that this game is lost... irretrievably lost. It is foolish to spend the money to keep this team on the field... pull them out and let’s all go home.

The newsman/sportscaster endlessly covers some congestion in the parking lot, and decries the long lines of fans still waiting to get into the stadium. He provides a blow by blow description of a small fight that has broken out somewhere in the stands. He informs us all that there are not enough restrooms and the prices are too high at the concession stands.

The color man accuses the players of bad behavior but fails to substantiate his claims.

The newsman/sportscaster complains about the behavior of the coaches standing on the sidelines. When a sideline reporter interviews a coach, the booth insists that the coach is lying and misleading the public as to why his team is here, what it hopes to accomplish and what it is costing to keep the team on the field. We are never told about the actual playing on the field.

The color man insists that they support the players, but want this team off the field immediately.

No, that will never happen. In sports, alone, it is still okay to cheer for your side. It is still considered prudent to withhold criticism of the team and the coaches until after the game and we have learned the results of their efforts.

Wow. Can we put the sports department in charge of all news?