Earlier today, thanks to the magic of Twitter and the spiritual power of the wild and wacky information superhighway, I stumbled upon this Tweet from Carson Cunningham, a sports reporter for KOCO-TV, Oklahoma City’s local ABC affiliate …
The word that jumped off the screen was “agenda.” Here was another local reporter accusing a national magazine of having an agenda against Oklahoma State University and, specifically, its football program. The same theme has been repeated over and over and over and over and over and over by Oklahoma State loyalists.
Agenda …
Agenda …
Agenda …
Agenda …
And, perhaps, Thayer Evans does have an agenda. Perhaps he openly roots against the Cowboys and wants the school to burn down and has all the love in the world for Oklahoma and Baylor and all of OSU’s opponents. As I noted earlier, I’ve never met Thayer, I’ve never worked with Thayer, I’ve read only a few things he’s written. I’m neither fan nor foe—though, clearly, the recent five-part series could have been handled much better (You make any mistakes in an investigative piece, you damage the reputation of the entire project. Period).
That said, it’s weird (creepy, almost) how those screaming “Agenda!” can do so without the slightest trace of self-examination or introspection. Exhibit A, B, C, D and E: Carson Cunningham, pride of KOCO-TV and the station’s leading Evans/Sports Illustrated critic.
Cunningham, according to his bio, is a 29-year-old graduate of, hmm, Oklahoma State University—and is, “proud to cover some of the best teams in the country here in Oklahoma.” Personally, I have no doubt graduates of colleges can remain unbiased when dealing with their old loyalties. I, for example, have written myriad scathing pieces on the University of Delaware through the years. In a way, it’s a good sign if a reporter leans the other way; if he/she actually goes a tad harder on the ol’ alma mater. I’m assuming Carson shares this belief and would never use his Twitter account to set forth anything like, uh …
… this …
Or, egad, this …
And, even if Carson Cunnigham—unbiased news/sports reporter for an ABC affiliate—would re-Tweet such things, he would at least (of course) remain unbiased and neutral when it comes to his statements. I mean, he certainly learned in school that a reporter/anchor’s job is to—first, foremost and only—take no sides; to gather the information, then convey it as fairly and evenly as possible. Even in the Internet era, reporters are not cheerleaders. They are deliverers of information.
So if you were to tell me Carson Cunningham—unbiased news/sports reporter for an ABC affiliated—would Tweet this …
… and this …
… and this …
… and this …
… and this …
… and this …
… and this …
Well, I wouldn’t believe you.
Wait. Scrap that. I would believe you. Because I would think, “Yes, he’s Tweeting and re-Tweeting some awfully one-sided takes on the SI series. But surely he’s also asking the tough questions. Surely he’s reaching out to Oklahoma State administrators and demanding to know which parts of the story are true. Surely he’s thinking to himself, “Well, this is Sports Illustrated. And even though I don’t particularly trust Thayer Evans, George Dohrmann is a Pulitzer Prize winner, and Jon Wertheim is one of the great sports journalists of the modern era, and the magazine does some amazing work. So my job is to figure out what’s legit here, what’s false here—and to report my ass off. This is my chance to take ownership of this story, and I’m gonna do it.” In fact, I’d be quite certain Carson—unbiased news/sports reporter for an ABC affiliate—would be devoting hours to the phone; going one by one through the old media guides, calling every listed player and coach and trainer and equipment guy and and saying, “This is Carson Cunningham from ABC. I’m investigating the SI investigation of Oklahoma State, and I wanted to see if you had a moment …”
That, after all, is how the great sports TV journalists I grew up watching did things. Len Berman, Sal Marciano, Warner Wolf—they went after stories. They worked the phones. They relied on their own reporting. They stayed as unbiased and neutral as humanly possible. Their opinions weren’t the stories. The sports were the stories.
Ah, the good ol’ days …
Unless I’m mistaken, Carson Cunnigham—unbiased news/sports reporter for an ABC affiliate—hasn’t reported worth a damn. He landed this embarrassingly vapid phone interview with former Oklahoma State quarterback Josh Fields, which offers young viewers a riveting 9-minute, 40-second lesson titled, HOW TO MAKE SURE YOU’LL NEVER BE THE NEXT WALTER CRONKITE. Or, put differently, how in God’s name don’t you ask some variation of, “Josh, over the past few years myriad athletes have denied accusations, only later to be proven false. Why should people believe you in light of this story?” Or, “Josh, even though you say you did nothing wrong, Sports Illustrated does have many ex-players on the record. Do you believe the program was clean, or were there at least some issues?” Or, “Josh, do you think the university should launch an internal investigation?” Or, “Josh, is it possible you just didn’t know?”
But, no, Carson Cunningham devotes a huge chunk of his star-attraction, welcome-to-the-big-time-Mr. Strine interview to lead-in questions (“Josh, the thing that jumped out to me, the players interviewed, most of them—if not all of them—didn’t finish their time here at Oklahoma State. What were your thoughts on who were interviewed for the story?”) and slow-motion softballs and homer nonsense (“I don’t know how much you know about this Thayer Evans …”). He doesn’t even leave open the chance that maybe, just maybe, Fields is full of crap. That maybe, just maybe, he’s one of many ex-Oklahoma State players thinking, “Oh, fuck, this has the potential to be really damaging.”
I’ll say this once again: It is certainly a possibility that Thayer Evans messed this thing up and belongs working aisle 23 at the nearby Target. But is it likely that absolutely everyone who was interviewed lied? That Oklahoma State is clean of guilt? That none of the financial and academic accusations are true? Uh … no.
For “reporters” like Carson Cunningham, though, the story seems to be only about Sports Illustrated, and how a magazine dared mess with his beloved university. That’s how things often work in small towns like Stillwater, where coverage is mostly sympathetic and national entities are viewed warily and the us-vs.-them genre of thinking transfers from students to fans to media members. Too often (but not always, of course), what reporters in such environs want most is access. Is time with the star quarterback. Is the head coach knowing his first name. Is a nice, central spot in the press box—where the temperature is a comfortable 72 degrees and the free ham hoagies are plentiful.
Hell, with that sort of ambition, it’s easy to smile and stare into a camera and cheer for the home team.
The hard part of journalism comes with asking the tough questions. Tough questions you often don’t wish to know the answers to.
PS: To reply to the inevitable snipes. 1. No, I don’t work for SI. 2. Yes, I was the guy who “got” John Rocker. 3. Yes, I worked as a local reporter—for two different papers. 4. Yes, my book on Clemens sold 14 copies. 5. No, I don’t hate Oklahoma State. Or Oklahoma. Or Carson Cunningham. Or Lance Mehl. 6. Yes, I rooted for Delaware when it played in last year’s women’s basketball tournament. However, I haven’t covered a Blue Hen game in more than a decade.
PPS: Forgot to say, I love the final question of the Fields Q&A: “You have the floor …”
