From the editor: Prep sports coverage requires added grace
Several years ago, the owner of a Chicago professional sports team asked me how the Daily Herald covers high school sports and pro sports differently and why.
When we cover high school sports, I answered, we take care to show high school athletes extra grace. They are after all, still kids, some of them as young as 13. They’re also not employed to entertain their fans.
We tend not to name high school football players who fumble, for instance, and we’ll go the extra mile to make sure when we interview prep athletes that we don’t ask them hard questions about why they won or lost. We’re not looking to embarrass these kids. We’re also not looking for bulletin-board material from high school kids, and when we get it anyway we rarely publish it.
Professionals are adults, of course, with a few exceptions, but they’re also generally well paid and choose to step into the limelight. They understand that when they become professionals, they accept the pressure from fans and media that comes with fame and mega contracts.
Did this answer satisfy the sports team owner? No, I’m pretty sure it didn’t.
There is one other factor I didn’t mention to him, though. We get to know the high school kids better than we get to know the local pro athletes, especially in recent years. Nowadays, pro teams guard access to their athletes, limiting how and when the media can interact with players.
We don’t get to know pro players as people the way we did a couple of decades ago. We’re kept at a distance, and we don’t get to know them well enough to earn their trust and to learn if we can trust them.
It’s not that way with the high school players, of course. I recently interviewed a local high school graduate now playing Division I college basketball. I covered several of her high school games and got to know her a little bit.
On the phone we greeted each other with familiarity and appreciation. It was good to talk to her. With that familiarity came a sense of trust between us.
The same goes with the local high school coaches and athletic directors. The reporters and editors on our Sports staff have all been with the Daily Herald a couple of decades. We showed up, put in the time and effort to learn about them as people as well as athletes and coaches.
We think we’ve earned their trust. We appreciate that, and we’re careful not to lose it while telling their stories in a way that is fun for you to read.
Daily Herald Sports Editor Orrin Schwarz can be reached at oschwarz@dailyherald.com.