jerrym
05-14-2016, 12:25 AM
Do you think media are whining over their access to players or is the league being short-sighted and doing a disservice to fans in providing relatively limited access to players compared to other leagues?
Despite all the positive moves you've made in officiating concerns, in determinedly targeting a younger demographic, firming up drug testing and planting a stronger footprint in Toronto, you're dropping the ball with your media policy.
Coming from a media guy that must sound a little self-serving but it's really about fans, and potential fans, not the writers, broadcasters and bloggers who make up the Football Reporters of Canada. "We're your, the fans', representatives," says FRC president Terry Jones of the Edmonton Sun. "We're there because you can't be there. So players can essentially talk to you, the public."
Jones and The Spectator's Drew Edwards met with CFL commissioner Jeffrey Orridge in mid-winter, hoping to get reporters the same kind of multiday access to locker rooms that the NFL media has and which Canadian media once did.
Now, in direct contrast to pro hockey, baseball and basketball in this country, football locker rooms are effectively off-limits at all times except for the hour or so directly after a game.
But, in a recent email Jones, wrote, "The new CFL media policy will specify that the dressing rooms should be open for a half-hour once a week. But when they got finished adding clauses to that, it effectively offers the option of no change."
Why does that matter? Because the media is a conduit from players to fans and that conduit runs most informatively, accurately and interestingly when it's used more often, and more openly. "The most important part is that the NFL allows access to the dressing room, over and above game days, four days a week for 45 minutes," Jones says. "Enough time to do you job, and look for other ideas."
In most CFL markets now — and, to be fair, the Tiger-Cats have usually been very co-operative in providing requested players to The Spectator — there are no prepractice interviews, and post-practice interviews are conducted either on the field, or a space near the dressing room. But there is limited time allowed, there's usually a company representative nearby, and it's difficult to talk to more than a couple of players in a session.
http://www.thespec.com/sports-story/6550268-cfl-media-policy-deprives-its-own-fans/
Despite all the positive moves you've made in officiating concerns, in determinedly targeting a younger demographic, firming up drug testing and planting a stronger footprint in Toronto, you're dropping the ball with your media policy.
Coming from a media guy that must sound a little self-serving but it's really about fans, and potential fans, not the writers, broadcasters and bloggers who make up the Football Reporters of Canada. "We're your, the fans', representatives," says FRC president Terry Jones of the Edmonton Sun. "We're there because you can't be there. So players can essentially talk to you, the public."
Jones and The Spectator's Drew Edwards met with CFL commissioner Jeffrey Orridge in mid-winter, hoping to get reporters the same kind of multiday access to locker rooms that the NFL media has and which Canadian media once did.
Now, in direct contrast to pro hockey, baseball and basketball in this country, football locker rooms are effectively off-limits at all times except for the hour or so directly after a game.
But, in a recent email Jones, wrote, "The new CFL media policy will specify that the dressing rooms should be open for a half-hour once a week. But when they got finished adding clauses to that, it effectively offers the option of no change."
Why does that matter? Because the media is a conduit from players to fans and that conduit runs most informatively, accurately and interestingly when it's used more often, and more openly. "The most important part is that the NFL allows access to the dressing room, over and above game days, four days a week for 45 minutes," Jones says. "Enough time to do you job, and look for other ideas."
In most CFL markets now — and, to be fair, the Tiger-Cats have usually been very co-operative in providing requested players to The Spectator — there are no prepractice interviews, and post-practice interviews are conducted either on the field, or a space near the dressing room. But there is limited time allowed, there's usually a company representative nearby, and it's difficult to talk to more than a couple of players in a session.
http://www.thespec.com/sports-story/6550268-cfl-media-policy-deprives-its-own-fans/