Sports Media: Reporting

by Jesse Liebman

Editorial. Photos by AP News

There is little doubt that yesterday's Celtics loss to the Orlando Magic was an abject failure in the eyes of many fans. And when those fans opened the newspaper this morning, more often than not, that sentiment was repeatedly beat into their heads.

It doesn't take an expert to tell you that Boston's basketball team has had its struggles this season, and yet it's how those struggles are conveyed to the reader that makes all the difference. Is the team's performance so poor that they're on the verge of their worst season since 1996-97? Or is this just a hiccup for a team of world-beaters that's going to rally from this loss on their way to the NBA championship?

Obviously I'm referring to two completely different extremes here. To be fair, the coverage of last night's game was fairly similar in their coverage; it's little nuances in style and substance that distinguishes one recap from its peers.

Of the three stories that I read that covered the Celtics' loss -- the Globe's Frank Dell'Apa, the Herald's Steve Bulpett and an Associated Press recap that was printed in USA Today -- I found myself questioning my already existing notions on what makes good sports reporting.

The story that ran in USA Today was presented as a game report in the simplest of terms; only this time it presented the events in the third quarter from the perspective of the Magic, and deservedly so, as they were the victors of this match. It doesn't get more basic than that. I seldom like reading sports content from the AP, if only because of the fact that the copy is often staid and unadventurous, and you don't get a sense a familiarity that you do with reporters assigned to a local beat. But there is nothing wrong with solid hard-news style reporting, and this piece fulfills that aspect.

All three stories made great use of statistics and of Celtics head coach Doc Rivers' "We were getting what we deserved," quote. But there's a major difference in how the rest of Rivers' post-game comments were ran in the Globe and Herald. I want to direct your attention to video of the Celtics coach following the loss:

Now I want to call your attention to how these comments were presented:

Globe: "I thought we played [very badly]. In the third quarter, I thought everything we did in the first half we decided not to do."

Herald: "I thought we played like crap in the third quarter. I thought everything we did in the first half we decided not to do"

There are two differences between the piece that Dell'Apa ran and the one written by Steve Bulpett. Granted, the first is simply a matter of reading Rivers' speech patterns correctly -- I think that Dell'Apa got this one right -- but that's not always an exact science. Still, it's something that reporters need to keep an ear out for.

What concerns me is the fact that the Globe edited Rivers' quote on how the Celtics played. It's my belief that the adjective he used to describe the situation is fine in a quote for a sports story; I think the public has come to the point that we've been desensitized to the word. While it seems innocuous, I do have to take issue with Dell'Apa's or the Globe's decision to censor the quote. I'm of the opinion that if the quote is too radical for the publication's taste, describe what was said rather than change it.

Bulpett's article normally would be fine, but at times he seems to be injecting his own personal -- and critical -- evaluation of the Celtics' performance. By the end of the story it's clear that Bulpett's stake in this piece is one of provocateur, and not a reporter, accusing the Celtics for being defensive in explaining the loss. Bulpett's tactics are not uncommon, but this abrasive style can cause issues of trust with team members.

Which brings me to Dell'Apa's piece. Of the three, I felt that this article was of the highest quality from a beat perspective. It clearly and concisely reports on the game while using descriptive language that isn't inserted for literary effect, i.e., "The sold-out TD Garden crowd seemed shocked by the Celtics’ comatose performance." Dell'Apa shines the spotlight on the visiting team too, but at the end of the day, he still knows who his audience is.