RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. We live in a day and age where when college or professional teams flex their muscle and revoke media credentials for reporters or new outlets, word gets around fast.
That’s exactly what happened when TCU banned the Fort Worth Star-Telegram from covering any of the school’s athletic teams after the paper recently reported on a violent physical assault that happened in the football team’s locker room that led to senior safety Jacob Fields getting dismissed from the program.
According to Jim Barnes of the Star-Telegram, the university informed the outlet of its decision on Wednesday morning.
“TCU has rescinded the Star-Telegram’s credentials to cover Horned Frogs athletics over the newspaper’s coverage of an Aug. 13 locker room assault that led to the dismissal of senior safety Jacob Fields from the football team,” Barnes wrote .
“In a phone conversation Sunday, a TCU athletics spokesman said the Star-Telegram’s credentials were being pulled because the coverage resulted in threats to the victim. The Star-Telegram did not identify the player, junior wide receiver Dozie Ezukanma, until three days after the initial report, when he identified himself in a now-deleted Instagram video.”
TCU claims the Star-Telegram published inaccurate information in its report about the incident, which “endangered a student-athlete and resulted in threats to him and his family.”
The school opened the door for the outlet to get its credentials back after “additional conversation can be held between athletics and the sports reporting team” to discuss the matter further.
Barnes also added that TCU denied the Star-Telegram’s reporting on the attack and the events that led up to it, though head coach Sonny Dykes and an official spokesperson declined to actually comment on what happened.
“The Star-Telegram reported that the dismissal came after an altercation in the locker room five days [before Fields’ dismissal on Aug. 18],” Barnes continued. “In that article, a source close to Fields said the player ‘felt targeted by teammates with insults and threats’ leading up to the altercation and that TCU coaches made ‘no attempts to de-escalate the brewing tension.’
“Dykes declined to comment for that story, as did athletics spokesperson Kyle Neaves. TCU officials disputed the source’s account of what led to the attack in conversations with the Star-Telegram, but they have declined to provide the university’s version of events for publication.”
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