It was about this time back in 1998 when the first “News From The Top Of The Circle” was published on this site.
So much has changed in the nation, in the world, and in the world of sport in the last 26 years. But this week, we got a sizable perspective on one principle:
Integrity matters.
A couple of days ago, social media, especially Reddit and Twitter, were in an utter frenzy, climbing all over each other in the rush to post rumors of an accident in Salem County, N.J., one which saw a car hitting and killing a pair of bicyclists who just happened to be professional hockey players Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau.
The posts drew a lot of amateur sleuths overnight and users were making a lot of statements online without solid information and/or proof. That’s something trained journalists would never do.
The users, frankly, should have shown restraint, waiting for official word from Salem County and/or New Jersey state police. The reaction in the sporting world was measured as well as quite sorrowful. But here’s the thing: there wasn’t anything that users on social media would have been able to gain by being the first to say, “Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau have died.” At least not until official word of the deaths was released.
Now, there’s been another story in the world of pro ice hockey that speaks to integrity in sports journalism, or the lack thereof. Canadian broadcaster Jeff Marek, who had made his name in navigating the interview areas surrounding the NHL Entry Draft, was fired a few weeks ago by his employer for allegedly leaking information about the draft.
Given the fact that huge amounts of money hang on the players who come into the league and can improve a team, draft information is sacrosanct. And given the panoply of betting plays in the world today, there are people who place wagers on which team drafts which player — money changing hands even before these players have even taken part in an NHL game.
Your Founder has been privy to countless bits and bobs of information over the years. Some have involved highly personal accounts. Some have involved team news, others have involved coaching. Others have involved complex financial messes.
Some of these are news; others are not. And we treat them that way.
One that we did treat as news occurred 11 years ago this week, when it came out that Terry Walsh, former technical director of USA Field Hockey, had engaged in a complex financial scheme in which he is alleged to have personally profited from a sports technology company for which he worked before he was brought on in 2005.
I felt this story needed airing, and we did.
Another story, involving an inappropriate email written by former U.S. youth international coach Nick Conway, came out a year later. It is a story I didn’t want to break unless I got conformation — something that former Chicago Tribune journalist Philip Hersh was able to obtain.
I had the story 10 days before the story was published. I knew it was newsworthy, but I didn’t have confirmation and I didn’t want to go forward without some kind of proof that the email actually came from the respected coach. All I had was text that could have been produced in a word-processing software package rather than by an email client.
I felt it wasn’t right to go with it until I heard it from more than one source; it’s something I tend to do instead of coming right out and blurting out what could be disinformation. Or even wrong.
If you’ve met me on the sidelines of games, you know I love to tell field hockey and lacrosse stories. But i want to always make sure I have the facts right. What we do involves not just a game; it involves jobs, careers, and reputations. And we’ve seen so many reputations torpedoed in a two-minute video clip, a 144-character message, or a single flippant remark online.
That’s why I apply the older rules of integrity and sourcing to writing about field hockey and lacrosse. It’s why I do what I do.
