The Ethics of covering football

[Spider-Dan]

Doesn't seem like Samantha Steele cares very much about her job.

Isn't it a severe breach of journalistic ethics to date a football player when your job is to cover football?

[Phishfan]

Doesn't seem like Samantha Steele cares very much about her job.

Isn't it a severe breach of journalistic ethics to date a football player when your job is to cover football?

She dates an NFL player and works in college football. Where is the issue? I would say having Jeff Van Gundy covering a game coached by Stan Van Gundy would be a bigger breach of ethics myself.

[Sunstroke]

She dates an NFL player and works in college football. Where is the issue? I would say having Jeff Van Gundy covering a game coached by Stan Van Gundy would be a bigger breach of ethics myself.

I could agree with that... Also, if Steele was dating an NFL player who was his team's union representative, and she was assigned to cover labor talks between the players and owners...THAT would be more like a conflict of interest.

[Fins4ever]

I could agree with that... Also, if Steele was dating an NFL player who was his team's union representative, and she was assigned to cover labor talks between the players and owners...THAT would be more like a conflict of interest.

You politically correct people and union reps friggin kill me. Is it ok with the union??? Oh my! Is it against the rules? Not my job! Heaven forbid! What a joke! I need someone to tell me what I can and cannot do and say. 

How in the world could some woman that is basically just eye candy in college affect some QB in the pros? As far as I know Ponder was not even a pawn. The people I saw were guys like Dree Brees and Jeff Saturday. Ponder was still wearing a NFL diaper.

Sunstroke, tell me your conflict of interest. An example of conflict of interest is having money invested in a company and being a member of Congress that passes rules in favor of the company you are invested in. That is conflict of interest! (See Nancy Pelosi)

How could Ponder possibly benefit from having Ms. Steele give her "extensive negotiation expertise during these negotiations"? lol lol Think he might have got a free lunch or maybe they supersized his meals because Sam was there?

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Isn't it a severe breach of journalistic ethics to date a football player when your job is to cover football?

I don't think so. 

I think it would be a breach of ethics to date a football player and ref a game that player was playing in.

I think it might be a breach of ethics to date a football player AND not disclose you are dating said football player AND then do a very positive story on said football player while claiming objectivity.   

We all know when Marino is talking about the Dolphins or Dungy is talking about Manning or Harrison is talking about the Patriots or Cowher is talking about the Steelers what each ones own biases are and filter their commentary accordingly. 

If Steel is doing a story about Ponder, we know that the story has bias and the source of the bias. 

Plus it is football. 

I am more concerned about the bias that exists when reporters cover politics and slant the news for one party.  Or when a reporter that covers Wall Street slants the news b/c he doesn't want to devalue a stock he owns, than I am about biased sports reporting. 

[Sunstroke]

You politically correct people and union reps friggin kill me. Is it ok with the union??? Oh my! Is it against the rules? Not my job! Heaven forbid! What a joke! I need someone to tell me what I can and cannot do and say. 

Sunstroke, tell me your conflict of interest. An example of conflict of interest is having money invested in a company and being a member of Congress that passes rules in favor of the company you are invested in. That is conflict of interest! (See Nancy Pelosi)

I am not politically correct. Being anti-intolerance these days is actually being "correctly political," which is a different thing entirely...
I am also not necessarily supportive of unions...though in some cases, I see their necessity.

As far as the conflict of interest in my original post goes, the conflict was obvious. Not as obvious as the extreme example you countered with (you have mad hypothetical one-upsmanship skillz), but I do applaud how you worked the Nancy Pelosi shot in there. Smoothness...

And to put things back on topic... Would someone with a good graphics program please blow up that Alex body paint shot and tell me what the pantone color is for the light blue used on her nipple? I'm thinking of painting my living room in that shade...

[bsmooth]

You politically correct people and union reps friggin kill me. Is it ok with the union??? Oh my! Is it against the rules? Not my job! Heaven forbid! What a joke! I need someone to tell me what I can and cannot do and say. 

How in the world could some woman that is basically just eye candy in college affect some QB in the pros? As far as I know Ponder was not even a pawn. The people I saw were guys like Dree Brees and Jeff Saturday. Ponder was still wearing a NFL diaper.

Sunstroke, tell me your conflict of interest. An example of conflict of interest is having money invested in a company and being a member of Congress that passes rules in favor of the company you are invested in. That is conflict of interest! (See Nancy Pelosi)

How could Ponder possibly benefit from having Ms. Steele give her "extensive negotiation expertise during these negotiations"? lol lol Think he might have got a free lunch or maybe they supersized his meals because Sam was there?

How about giving her inside information from the discussions that is privileged in an attempt designed to portray one side in a less positive light as leverage? That is a much more realistic possiblity.
For the record Pelosi is not the only who has made questionable stock trades after getting privy information. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/13/paul-ryan-sold-shares-banking-crisis. If you are going to be outraged over something, at least ensure your outrage extends to both sides engaging in it. Keep the political stuff to the off topic thread.

[Fins4ever]

For the record Pelosi is not the only who has made questionable stock trades after getting privy information. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/13/paul-ryan-sold-shares-banking-crisis. If you are going to be outraged over something, at least ensure your outrage extends to both sides engaging in it. Keep the political stuff to the off topic thread.

When did it become criminal to sell stock? What is criminal is making political decisions that favor your spouses company. I have always said that a caveat of holding a political office is not being allowed to vote concerning industries you hold stock in. Better yet, those in Senate and above should be disallowed of any public or private investments. It is an automatic conflict of interest. Pelosi should be in jail.

Talk about insider trading! However, the laws are so screwed up it lets them get away with it with no penalty. 

[Spider-Dan]

Let me explain where I'm coming from on this.

Like their male counterparts, female sports reporters are given access to locker rooms, which have male players in various states of undress.  This is a rather unique arrangement and part of the reason why this was allowed is that female sports reporters successfully argued that they are acting in a professional manner and are not there to ogle players.  Fine.

If Steele is dating a player (be it from a league she isn't covering, or a DII college player when she covers DI, or a WAC player when she covers Big 12, etc.), it casts a shadow on her ability to separate her profession as a reporter from her (potential) attraction to the players she is covering.  Think of a high-school teacher that starts dating one of his former students; she may no longer be in his classes, but this puts his potential attraction to his students on the table.

And yes, Steele was a college football reporter when Ponder was still in college football.  She had been covering Pac-10 and Big 12 since 2009.  Of some interest is the fact that FSU played at OU in 2010.  Was Steele covering that game?  Did she use that opportunity to scout Ponder?

Other female sports reporters have a hard enough time in the business without their counterparts dating players.  Steele isn't helping.

P.S. If Steele moved up to the NFL, do you think anyone on the Bears, Lions, or Packers wants her prowling their sideline?

[MikeO]

This kind of stuff goes on all the time. Bonnie Bernstein once was dating Tom Brady back in the day. That Michelle Beadle has been passed around by various NFL and NHL players. She has dated so many I won't even begin to name them all. Kim Jones was with Nick Swisher a few years back. That Lauren Gardner is now dating Red pitcher Sam Lecure. Erin Andrews dumped Kirk Herbstreit and is now with Troy Aikman (granted everyone there is retired...lol.) That Melanie Collins is dating Scottie Upshall the NHL player. Hedi Watney is/was dating Nick Green from the Red Sox before he got shipped off to another team. 

I don't believe any of  these beautiful sideline reporters have "journalistic integrity" so to me its not a big deal. Everyone knows why they get the jobs they got, and it's not because they are the sports version of Woodward and Bernstein!

[Fins4ever]

I don't believe any of  these beautiful sideline reporters have "journalistic integrity" so to me its not a big deal. Everyone knows why they get the jobs they got, and it's not because they are the sports version of Woodward and Bernstein!

Sex sells and the NFL knows it and they are no different. Just eye candy. However, there is a couple who I respect. Suzy Kolberg seems pretty competent and there is a woman (forgot her name) that is a broadcaster in college who does an excellent job. 

[Phishfan]

When did it become criminal to sell stock?

Is this a serious question? Martha Stewart went to prison for it.

[Fins4ever]

Is this a serious question? Martha Stewart went to prison for it.

Insider trading, meaning trading with information not known to the public. Could be an upcoming law change, big contract or a number of things. It is illegal unless you are a member of Congress. lol

BTW, I love Martha Stewart! Her stock tanked when she went to jail and I loaded up on it knowing her fan base would come back and most analyst over-reacted. Americans are pretty forgiving and have a short memory. The stock came roaring back. Thank you Martha!     

[Landshark]

Insider Trading is a victimless crime.  To me, that's the one unethical thing that the government has made illegal.

[Spider-Dan]

Insider Trading is a victimless crime.

Not sure if serious...