Play it Forward Summit discusses the press’ changing role in sports journalism

Compared to their peers across the world, American sports journalists have always enjoyed privileged—often guaranteed—access to the athletes they cover. The locker room interview, where players chat with reporters before or after stripping for the showers, is a peculiarly American phenomenon. Once upon a time, journalists even had an official role on the baseball field: In the early days of the game, they also kept score.

Until a couple of decades ago, little disturbed the status quo; then the internet blitzed it. Journalists found themselves competing for clicks with a spiraling number of outlets and bloggers. Leagues and teams saw how a story could spin out of control—and were excited by their ability to maintain some degree of oversight over it.

Teams, leagues and franchises are taking tougher stances on the press in an effort to manage their messaging—dialing back on player interviews, restricting practice coverage and getting in on the reporting game by posting exclusive content on their own sites.

Andrea Kremer, an adjunct lecturer and NFL Network chief correspondent, says websites featuring athletes’ own writing are “filtered product[s]” that don’t meet journalistic standards.

On April 15, 2016, the first-ever BU Sports Communication Summit, Play It Forward, was hosted by Kremer at Agganis Arena. Panelists such as Red Sox Chair Tom Werner, New England Patriots’ Andre Tippett, ESPN’s Don Van Natta, Jr. (’86) and the Washington Post’s Kevin Blackistone (’83,’07) will discuss the future of sports journalism, technology, safety and law.