Sports journalism has to be one of the most rewarding professions around. I mean, seriously, where else do you get to watch your favorite teams and then tell others how the game went. And what's really cool about this job is that you're earning a paycheck at the same time. It's awesome, baby with a capital A!
After having an internship with a local sports TV network, it's easy to see why the job of sports journalist is envied. No professional sporting event ever takes place before noon and there is always free food up in the press box. Every time you go listen to Bill Self talk on Thursday afternoons, the KU Athletics Department is going to feed you. Not a bad deal if you ask me.
Talking about sports and free food...there's nothing better
While the journalists may think the free food is great and just "part of the job", some serious ethical issues come to mind. We all know that an easy way to get someone on your side is to give them a good meal. This being said, if one team serves a nice steak dinner in the media room while another just puts out some chips and dip, which team do you think is going to get the better write-up in the next morning's paper?
I'm not going to say that I don't enjoy the free food spread at every KU home game…because I do. It's one of those perks that comes with the media pass. Should we (journalists) have to be careful about what kind of benefits we take while covering a story? Definitely. If I'm offered courtside seats to a game by the team's owner right before a huge story breaks, I better think twice before I take them.
This just shows that journalism ethics has some pretty broad rules. It's okay for the sports guy to eat on someone else's dime, but as for the political reporter, sorry, you're out of luck. But don't worry, even though we might spend halftime at the dessert bar, we still manage to get the story out on deadline.
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