The Fort Worth Star-Telegram will now have to take in TCU football games and all other school sporting events the way most of us do — from the not-so-cheap cheap seats.
The newspaper has had its press credentials revoked by the university in response to a controversial story recently published in the Fort’s daily paper of record.
The Star-T, in a recent explanatory follow-up story, says its reporter was merely documenting the recent fallout of an alleged locker-room assault on a football player by a teammate, naming them both in ongoing coverage. The school says shoddy reporting has put a target on the alleged victim’s back and that protecting students is job No. 1.
Pulling press credentials is a pretty big move. Now, the city may become divided between its biggest, second-oldest university (TWU is older) and its biggest, oldest media outlet.
I wonder whose side Fort Worth is on: the super-conservative university’s or the super-conservative daily newspaper’s?
Each side has its points. The Star-T argues it was just doing its job: reporting the news, names included. Adopting TCU’s perspective, the story could have been written just as well and conveyed all the pertinent info without naming the alleged victim, who reportedly later revealed himself in a now-deleted Instagram video.
“Our primary focus is the health and wellbeing of our student-athlete,” said TCU Athletic Director Mike Buddie in a statement. “Unfortunately, an unnamed source without first-hand knowledge of the incident provided inaccurate information cited in initial reporting by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, which we strongly disputed. The inclusion of the misinformation advanced a narrative that endangered a student-athlete and resulted in threats to him and his family. These actions led to the decision to withhold the media credential until additional conversation can be held between athletics and the sports reporting team. We remain dedicated to restoring our student to health as well as focusing on the game that’s ahead.”
I tend to agree with the school — and not because I loathe the Star-T’s overall right-wing slant and have zero respect for soporific midsize daily-paper journalism. I just think that victims of alleged violent crimes, especially young students, should be afforded some privacy. Naming the victim added nothing to the story but is apparently disrupting his life. The alleged assailant has been dismissed from the team.
None of this appears to be a First Amendment issue. TCU is not telling the Star-Telegram what or what not to publish. The school is merely saying its personnel, press box, and all other facilities are off limits to the daily paper. Like the rest of us, Star-T staffers will just have to buy ticket$ to experience purple sporting events. Or maybe the paper, in protest, will refuse to cover TCU athletics, though that seems unlikely — sports sections are one of the only things keeping daily papers afloat, and TCU sports are a huge regional draw. I guess Star-T staffers will just have to get creative. In his beloved Buck U column, our Buck D. Elliott has managed to cover TCU athletics for several years now without any fancy press-box/locker-room access, and his writing on everything from TCU football to TCU tennis and marksmanship has been certainly more literary, and thus enjoyable, than anything the daily paper has produced in that time period, which has been: recap of some stuff many of us witnessed, generic quotes from players and coaches, more recap of stuff we all saw, some stats, and so on.
Maybe this divide represents an opportunity for the Star-Telegram. Maybe the paper will allow its sports writers to dig deep and get a little creative. Some advice: Bring your binoculars.
This column reflects the opinions of the editorial board and not the Fort Worth Weekly. To submit a column, please email Editor Anthony Mariani at Anthony@FWWeekly.com. He will gently edit it for clarity and concision.
