University Reprimands Reporter For Livetweeting Basketball Game

from the because-who-would-ever-want-to-watch-the-game-when-you-have-140-character-update dept

I'm always amazed at what people who run sports teams think will draw away people's interests. For years, sports teams have tried to make it more difficult for people to get information about sports other than by attending games lives directly. They've tried instituting blackouts (especially if games aren't sold out) for local TV, sued services that (accurately) report scores in realtime and many other things all of which seem to be based on the ridiculous belief that if people can get some info about a game from another source, they won't actually want to go see the game. This, to put it simply, seems really stupid, and shows little understanding of how sports and fans work. Sports fans love the sport and would like to see it live when they can, but when they can't, those alternatives offer a way to keep them connected and keep them interested.

This "can't give away too much" attitude has gone past just broadcasts of the game directly to the way that sports teams and leagues seek to control reporters and what and how they report. While they can't legally tell them what they can and can't do, they do have control over who they provide press passes to -- and then threaten to pull those passes if they disobey "the rules." These rules often seem focused on the same kind of "restrictions" in hopes of getting people to show up live, even if that's impossible.

Thankfully, these rules rarely seem to be enforced, but the University of Washington recently instituted a "Live Coverage Policy" for credentialed reporters that says they can only provide a maximum of 20 "in-game updates." A reporter for the Tacoma News Tribune, who was live tweeting a recent game, was reprimanded for going over his allotted 20 tweets and daring to go all the way up to 53. Not surprisingly, the reporter, Todd Dybas, then Tweeted about the reprimand:

Also, tonight I was reprimanded by the University of Washington for tweeting too much during a live event.

— Todd Dybas (@Todd_Dybas) November 12, 2012

It's not even a case where the policy is just outdated. Apparently the policy is brand new. I'm amazed that someone (or some group of people) in charge here actually think that someone providing a bunch of live tweets will somehow take away from other forms of coverage available. However, if I'm the Tacoma News Tribune (or any other publication) the first thing I do is suck it up and send a reporter to buy a season pass so that they're not at the whims of some ridiculous policy, and let them cover the games however they want via Twitter. Either that, or (better yet), ask for volunteers already attending the game to be the designated live tweeter for the game.

Filed Under: reporting, restrictions, tweeting
Companies: university of washington