Sometimes journalists have to learn the rules the hard way.
Athletic officials at the University of Washington warned a reporter to not tweet so much while he was covering the school's basketball game against Loyola Maryland on Sunday.
Todd Dybas, a local sports beat writer, sent out a tweet saying: "Tonight I was reprimanded by the University of Washington for tweeting too much during a live event." The incident brought attention to an interesting new rule for live coverage by outside press: UW's policy states "periodic updates of scores, statistics or other brief descriptions of the competition throughout the event are acceptable" - as long as they don't exceed 20 tweets per basketball game or 45 per football game.
While we frequently stand up for other journalists, this time we stand behind the University of Washington on its policy.
Washington is not the only institution with this rule in place. USC has a similar set of rules to keep media from providing play-by-play updates, and a few years back, a sports journalist in Louisville had his credentials revoked during a College World Series baseball playoff game due to the NCAA's strict "no-broadcast" policy.
As useful as social media - specifically Twitter - is for fans who are outside the walls of the arena, it raises the question if the rights to live updates should be protected to the same degree as television and radio broadcasts of the games.
The athletic department at UW hosts live chats on its website during games. It's a product, like anything else, and it's a product that needs to be sold. It's going to fight to keep overly detailed live updates and other competition away.
According to Scott Woodward, Washington's athletic director, the goal is to protect the live descriptions of events, a department right for decades. "As technology gets better and better," he said, "we're going to have to be more vigilant about how we do it, but also understand that reporting has changed, too. There's a fine line there and we're always going to be cognizant and reasonable."
It's difficult to take a full stand and say no live press should come out of games, but nobody wants to see tweet after tweet of inane information. Opponents of the rule are willing to argue the school is getting free coverage. But there are only so many tweets you can contribute without being repetitive and contributing to the vast information overload that exists because of social media and citizen journalism.
If it's true the majority of fans aren't looking for every individual detail of every individual play - that they're just looking for analysis and reaction - then this shouldn't be a problem. The athletic departments aren't trying to silence that; otherwise they would ban live coverage as a whole instead of limiting it.
Whether or not you think there should be a limited number of tweets per game, there are better ways to use Twitter when it comes to game coverage. Here is what Twitter should be used for if you're covering a game: in-game news (that includes score updates), injury reports and analysis - not 140 characters every time a pass is made.
The ability to provide real-time updates is becoming more common and more straightforward, but a press pass, ticket or Twitter account are not free passes to publically distribute any and all information. The department has the right to set its own rules and allow as much information as it wants to enter the public.
It should be about quality over quantity, and journalism should belong to the reporter who can engage his or her audience, not the one who can tweet the fastest. The department only gave Dybas a warning, but his actions could have ultimately lost him his credentials. No update is that important.
Email: editorial@ubspectrum.com
