STEELE SPORTS
Possibly the biggest storyline of this past week in sports was the progress of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin after his scary collapse in Buffalo’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday, Jan. 2.
From the moment Hamlin collapsed and training staff rushed onto the field, social media and broadcasts nationwide turned their attention toward the well-being of Buffalo’s talented 24-year-old athlete.
Yet, as a journalist, one specific moment stood out from all the media buzz surrounding Hamlin’s situation: A tweet from Fox Sports television personality Skip Bayless.
In Bayless’s tweet, he said, “No doubt the NFL is considering postponing the rest of this game - but how? This late in the season, a game of this magnitude is crucial to the regular-season outcome ... which suddenly seems so irrelevant.”
Initially, I was appalled by this message and viewed it as a gross lack of judgment to raise such a question when a young man’s life was on the line.
However, after reflecting on the context of the tweet – for which Bayless eventually apologized – it made me realize a key component of my job as a journalist.
When nobody else is willing to ask the tough questions, a true journalist has to take the responsibility to raise the question and seek answers.
As a man who signed a four-year, $32 million contract with Fox Sports, according to Sports Illustrated, Bayless is no cheap asset to his company and so must be willing to do what they pay him for: finding answers and bringing in viewers.
While I don’t agree with all of Bayless’s takes, what I will say that I respect is a journalist who is prepared to take on the hate of an angry mob in order to provide answers to key questions that must be brought up.
As journalists, we deal with our fair share of wins and losses, and no matter the time, place, or outcome, we are expected to have questions.
Sometimes these questions are met with smiles, laughs and great quotes.
Other times they simply are not.
It’s a part of the job we chose, and in order to ensure that the audience is always as well-informed and entertained as possible, we have to make sure we cover all the bases.
While journalists like Bayless may polarize themselves with untimely questions or absurd opinions, what you cannot ignore is that their method is working whether you choose to acknowledge it or not.
Journalism is better because of the people willing to ask the tough questions.
In parting, I’ll offer the words of former Time Magazine Managing Editor, Henry Anatole Grunwald, who said, “Journalism can never be silent: that is its greatest virtue and its greatest fault. It must speak, and speak immediately, while the echoes of wonder, the claims of triumph, and the signs of horror are still in the air.”