Download A Case Study of an Athletic Department Writer

International Journal of Sport Communication, 2013, 6, 478-489
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Case StudY
Publishing for Paydirt: A Case Study
of an Athletic Department Writer
Molly Yanity
Quinnipiac University, USA
Since 2010, major college athletics departments have expanded a trend of hiring
former beat writers to the hybrid position of sportswriter/public relations (PR)
practitioner. This case study explored the routines and roles of a former sportswriter
in his PR position at the University of Washington. After observing how he moved
through social and professional settings and occupational routines, the author
identifies 3 themes surrounding his routines. The themes are sport journalist, PR
practitioner, and subordinate. Given the historic antagonism between journalists
and PR practitioners, the routines are sometimes at odds with one another. The
results indicate that the routines affect content while engaging stakeholders.
Keywords: college football, sports public relations, sports journalism, public relations practitioners, journalists
As the sport communication industry has evolved in the digital age, professional
and major college athletic programs have forged into the news business. Large
college athletics departments have done this by implementing their own radio,
television, and Web operations (Moore & Carlson, 2012). They have taken advantage of current technologies, such as the social-media sites Twitter and WhoSay,
and in-house Web publishing platforms to “shoulder the traditional media out of
the way and speak directly to audiences effectively” (Carvalho, 2013, ¶ 3). To
improve and legitimize the content of these multimedia and social-media platforms,
as well as to grow audiences, at least 20 major college athletic departments have
also expanded a trend of hiring professional journalists who previously reported
on the department’s sports teams for traditional media outlets (Carvalho, 2013).
The University of Washington believes it was either the first or among the first
athletic departments to hire a former beat writer to serve in the hybrid position of
sportswriter/public relations (PR) practitioner when it brought in Seattle-area Associated Press sportswriter Gregg Bell as its director of writing in late summer 2010
(S. Woodward, personal communication, August 30, 2012). Since 2011, Football
Bowl Series–level programs such as the University of California at Berkeley and
the University of Florida have hired former sportswriters as the primary writers
and editors of their athletic Web sites. As recently as summer 2013, the University
The author is with the Dept. of Journalism, Quinnipiac University, Hamden, CT.
478
Publishing for Paydirt 479
of Oregon and Auburn University hired three longtime beat writers from local
newspapers to produce content exclusively for their athletic departments’ Web
sites (Carvalho, 2013).
These hybrid positions are unique in that the relationship between journalists
and PR practitioners has historically been antagonistic (Baker, 1995; Harris, 1961;
Sallot, Steinfatt, & Salwen, 1998). Furthermore, transforming from a journalist
attempting to deal in “devout objectivity” to a PR professional whose goal is
“strategic maneuvering” is not simple (“PR Beckons Journalists Leaving Their
Estate,” 2001). Thus, positioning former journalists in the arenas they used to
cover creates unique dynamics for the former journalist, the department, and the
audience.
Much of the limited literature on college athletic department Web sites examines
the content of the sites, as well as advantages the athletic department reaps from
producing such content. This case study expands that literature as it identifies the
routines and roles of the athletic department’s primary content producer at one
major (Football Bowl Series level) athletic department—that of the University
of Washington (UW)—while also examining how the routines and roles of these
positions affect content.
Literature Review and Research Questions
Sport Journalists and Their Routines
Journalists’ routines and roles shape content (Shoemaker & Reese, 1996). Shoemaker and Reese identified three sources of constraint in the process of content
production. Those constraints are the media organization, the sources, and the
consumers. The needs of the larger organization contribute to the routines, which
are important because they “affect the social reality portrayed by the media” (Shoemaker & Reese, 1996, p. 108). Sport journalists work long hours, spend nights
away from home, are criticized by both their sources and audiences, and face a
high level of burnout (Reinardy, 2006). However, they often perform their work
outside of the newsroom in a solo and/or remote manner (“PR Beckons Journalists,”
2001; Reinardy, 2006). They work in competitive environments and attempt to be
the first to report stories, in a way that adds just the right color and tone (Jones,
2010).
Sport PR
Stoldt, Dittmore, and Branvold (2006) defined sport PR as “a managerial communication-based function designed to identify a sport organization’s key publics,
evaluate its relationships with those publics, and foster desirable relationships
between the sport organization and those publics” (p. 2). For the sake of this study,
the organization is the athletic department.
Ruihley and Fall (2009) wrote that sport PR professionals play a primary role
in maintaining relationships with the publics. The publics are also called stakeholders, a term developed by Freeman (1984) in his stakeholder theory, which is
the framework behind PR managers’ purposes in engaging with and prioritizing
those stakeholders.
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Journalists Turned PR Practitioners
Previous studies suggested that journalists and PR practitioners typically express
similar news values and ethics (Sallot et al., 1998). However, they differ sharply
on the role of PR and issues like freedom of the press, balance, objectivity, diplomacy, and withholding of information (Belz, Talbott, & Starck, 1980). Despite
the differing opinions, journalists have long moved from reporting careers to ones
in PR. The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism’s annual
report (2013) revealed that cutbacks in 2012 dropped employment at newspapers
30% since 2000 and below 40,000 full-time professionals for the first time since
1978. Those figures, along with factors like the dot-com bust of the early 2000s
(“PR Beckons Journalists,” 2001) and the financial crisis of the mid-2000s, have
factored into a spike in the number of journalists turning to jobs in PR.
Literature on the transition from journalism to PR is sparse in academic journals
but rife in industry periodicals. An article in PR News (“PR Beckons Journalists,”
2001), for example, suggested that the transition from journalist to PR practitioner
can be difficult as journalists “tend to work alone and don’t always play well with
others; they bristle at the thought of selling anything that smells advertorial; they
occasionally suffer from acute arrogance; and they loathe the bureaucracy of the
approval process” (¶ 5). A national board member of the Public Relations Society
of America posted a detailed blog entry on the topic on the society’s Web site,
concluding that “without the proper education and training, it’s no more realistic
to expect that a former journalist can competently perform a public relations
professional’s job, than it is to expect that they can capably conduct a symphony
orchestra” (Hubbell, 2010, ¶ 14).
Athletic Department Web Sites
Pedersen, Mioch, and Laucella (2007) wrote that the Internet “laid the framework” (p.
213) for the current and growing position of digital media in the sport PR landscape.
In 2010, Kriemadis, Terzoudis, and Kartakoullis (2010) explored the commercial
benefits of using the Internet as a PR instrument for English and Greek football
clubs. They identified four unique advantages of the Internet: as a new distribution
channel, as a new means for communication and promotion, as a unique marketing
research instrument, and as a new means for segmentation and for targeting. Furthermore, all of those advantages are ones the clubs can operate and control almost
immediately and without outside assistance or without relying on traditional media.
Ruihley, Pate, and Hardin (2011) conducted a content analysis detailing how
large university athletic departments “use their websites to disseminate information
and what information they choose to send” (p. 10). They found that many types
of content are found on home pages of athletic department sites, such as marketing tools, listing of sport teams, news releases, athletic results from competition,
statistics, history and tradition, displays of merchandise, and ticket information,
as well as all kinds of multimedia, options to buy media such as original photos
and DVDs, external advertising, social-networking opportunities, and more. They
concluded that this onslaught of content “waters down” any dominant message
and “the qualities and the messages attached are lost” because there is too much
being presented in one forum. They also found that “advertising clutter can create
a mixed message for consumers” (p. 19), meaning that the PR organ that is the
Web site is less effective than it could be.
Publishing for Paydirt 481
UW
In 2009, the athletic department at UW began to overhaul and reorganize the
public and media relations/sport information staffs. It hired Carter Henderson in
July 2010 as the director of PR. Henderson helps oversee UW’s newly created
athletic communications department, which is charged with two tasks according
to the strategic communications plan that Henderson largely authored: editorial
messaging and media and constituent relations. According to the plan, the objective is to “increase the level of user’s engagement by fostering a greater sense of
brand affinity” (Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, 2011, p. 1). The athletic
communications staff is responsible for the department’s PR, media relations, and
its Web site, GoHuskies.com, which initially launched in 1998.
After an award-winning sportswriting career for the Associated Press and the
Sacramento Bee, Gregg Bell accepted the position of director of writing in UW’s
athletic communications department in August 2010. His charge was to write
daily news stories, features, and a weekly column to be published on GoHuskies.
com. He also writes departmental letters signed by the athletic director, recruiting
literature that goes out to prospective athletes, and more. Those duties, however,
are secondary to his duty to produce content for GoHuskies.com.
The athletic communications department has taken advantage of the advancements in digital-media technology to identify, produce, control, and distribute its
messages to a desired audience of athletic recruits, season-ticket holders and current donors, and potential customers, as outlined by the strategic communications
plan (Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, 2011). The study by Kriemadis et
al. (2010) is important in this study because UW uses the Internet as its primary
channel of message distribution and attempts to use all four advantages identified.
GoHuskies.com is similar to the sites studied by Ruihley et al. (2011), as the range
of content is vast and cluttered and includes the same types of content.
This study focuses on Bell, who is making the transition from journalist to PR
practitioner in the athletic communications department. Because athletic department
writers have never been examined by scholars, two overarching research questions
were used to guide this exploratory study:
RQ1: What are the routines and roles of Gregg Bell, GoHuskies.com’s primary
content producer?
RQ2: How do Bell’s routines and role influence content?
Methods
In this case study, the social constructions of Bell’s routines were explored. To
accomplish that, I employed a monthlong ethnographic observation of Bell’s routines during the football team’s fall camp and through the first week of the 2012
football season. The observation period spanned 19 practices and/or media sessions
and one regular-season game. I chose Bell and UW for the following reasons: (a)
Bell formerly served as an Associated Press sportswriter who covered UW sports;
(b) UW’s was among the first athletic departments to hire a former beat writer who
covered the program in that capacity to produce exclusive content for the department; (c) the UW athletic communications department’s Web site, GoHuskies.
com, generates significant traffic; and (d) I am familiar with both Bell and many
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members of the UW athletic communications department, so gaining access was
not an insurmountable obstacle.
I observed Bell’s daily duties, interactions, and relationships during the 2012
fall camp and through the first week of the football season. Fall camp started with
an August 6 news conference and practice. The first game of the season took place
September 1, 2012. The UW staff granted me credentials for access to news conferences, practices, the field before the game, the press box during the game, all
interview areas, and all other access Bell had. I took ethnographic notes during my
fieldwork. The notes were transcribed after each session. The fieldwork also included
eight unstructured interviews with Bell, his superiors, colleagues, subordinates, and
subjects. The interviews were based on my observations, as well as the content
Bell produced. The interviews were either digitally recorded and transcribed later
or recorded manually in a notebook and transcribed later.
Finally, I analyzed 23 articles that Bell wrote and that were published on
GoHuskies.com from August 5 to September 2, 2012. I assigned each article a category as identified in the coding schema by Ruihley et al. (2011). Other documents
analyzed for this study included the UW Athletics’ strategic communications plan
and the athletics communication financial status report. I obtained both by filing a
public-records request to the UW Public Information Office.
Before my observation period, I received written permission from Bell and two
of his superiors to access the football practices, which were closed to the public;
to interview subjects; and to use the names of all involved. This process received
approval from the institutional review board of an RU/H research university, which
constitutes high research activity.
Reflexivity requires an awareness of the researcher’s contribution to the construction of meanings throughout the research process and an acknowledgment of
the impossibility of remaining apart from subject matter while conducting research
(Willig, 2001). I brought a unique presence into both the observation and the
interview phases of this research, as I previously served as a sport journalist for a
traditional media outlet in the area. This information needs to be disclosed to ensure
transparency in the name of ethical research, as well as to establish reflexivity for
reliability and validity.
Findings
During fall camp and through the first week of the season, I observed Bell in his
occupational frame and paid close attention to how he moved through social and
professional settings and occupational routines and how those routines affected the
articles he produces for GoHuskies.com. I identified three themes surrounding his
routines: Bell as sport journalist, Bell as PR practitioner, and Bell as subordinate.
Bell as Sport Journalist
Gregg Bell did not act like an employee of the UW athletic communications
department. He moved about the UW athletic facilities more like an outsider than
a university employee. He was not held to the same regular workday confinements
as the other athletic department workers, such as an 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. workday,
a noon lunch break, or a static position behind a desk in an office in the Graves
Building, the two-story home of the athletic department. Rather, the daily routine
Publishing for Paydirt 483
of Bell looked more like that of an external sport journalist than an employee of
the athletic department. For example, Bell was able to tend to many of his young
children’s summer needs before reporting to campus for the 3:15 p.m. football
practices. He took his young daughter to the dentist one morning. Another morning,
he took his 9-year-old twins to horseback-riding camp. Bell’s workday typically
began at the start of football practice. On days when the weather permitted, he
rode his bicycle from his nearby home to the practice field. He watched practice
in the space designated for other traditional media workers—namely, beat writers
from the Seattle Times, (Tacoma) News Tribune, and (Everett) Herald, as well as
the beat writers for Web sites like Scout.com and RealDawg.com and radio and
television reporters. When those beat writers, many of whom follow the team
all year, needed players and/or coaches to interview, they asked Jeff Bechtold,
director of athletic communications, and his assistants to retrieve the coaches and
players. Bell followed the same protocol. Thus, an athletic communications staffer
approached the coaching staff on Bell’s behalf—an action that seemed to separate
Bell from his employer.
There were no tangible differences among Bell and the other reporters when
it came to the interviews Bell conducted. The players clearly recognized Bell and
the other writers but never referred to any of the media members by their first or
last names. Bell and the other media members interviewed coaches on the practice
field at the conclusion of the workouts. From the coaches’ and players’ perspectives, Bell appeared to be a beat writer—arriving with the other beat writers,
approaching them like the other beat writers, asking questions like the other beat
writers.
After observing practice sessions and conducting interviews with coaches and
players, Bell most times got on his bicycle and rode home to write his daily news
story about practice. During my observation period, Bell did not once return to
his office in the athletic department to write. I witnessed Bell in his office just one
time, and it was simply to find another athletic communications staff member who
had not been at the day’s practice to ask a question. Twice, however, Bell did join
the other beat writers in the media workroom in the basement of Hec Edmundson
Pavilion, the basketball arena adjacent to the practice field. That positioned Bell
in the same environment as the other sport journalists and again separated him
from athletic communications department employees. Bell wrote into the evenings
on his laptop. He did this on most nights from his home office. He transcribed
interviews from his digital recorder. He researched players and coaches from the
UW-issued media guide and other stories written about the players and coaches.
Bell said he typically wrote until about 9–10 p.m. When he finished with his daily
practice reports, he usually called Bechtold (or, occasionally, another member of
the athletic communications staff) to edit the story for typographical (not content)
errors and to publish the story on GoHuskies.com. The process mirrored what Bell
did when he worked for the Associated Press in that, when he finished a story, he
would e-mail it to an editor and call the editor to alert him or her it was available,
and it would be edited and then published to the Web. This was a typical workday
for Bell. It spanned a loose 6 hours on a day with one practice. His schedule and
hours fluctuated depending on practices times and how many practices per day—
much like a sport journalist.
Bell also played the role of “sport journalist” in that he appeared to get no
special or exclusive treatment as an employee of the athletic department. He was not
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privy to players’ contact information and conducted all his interviews on the field
after practice. He did not have access to coaches aside from the designated interview
times before or after practices. That showed itself in an incident on August 14, 2012,
when the athletic communications office released a news release that two players
had been dismissed from the team. The head football coach, Steve Sarkisian, gave
the information to Bechtold, who wrote the release. Bechtold informed Bell after
writing the release. The same release was e-mailed to members of the traditional
media outlets, too. The news could be found in the 34th paragraph of Bell’s August
16 story on GoHuskies.com. The players were not high‐profile players and did not
garner much more attention in the traditional media, either. As Bell walked into
practice on August 17, he noticed a player in one of the expelled player’s jerseys.
He asked Bechtold, “Who is the new No. 82?” Bell recalled. “It was the same guy
that had been kicked off the team. They’d been reinstated. No one told me. And I
just knew not to ask” (personal communication, August 18, 2012). When a beat
writer from the Seattle Times did ask Sarkisian after practice what had happened,
the coach answered, “It felt like the right thing to do.” Neither Bell nor any of the
beat writers pressed Sarkisian for details. The quote ended up in both the Seattle
Times report and in Bell’s August 17 article on GoHuskies.com. Quotations from
Sarkisian often ended up in the beat writers’ articles and in the PR messages and
articles published on GoHuskies.com. This was another example of how Bell
appeared to be a sport journalist as opposed to a PR practitioner for the program:
The topic of the lead football story on GoHuskies.com and in the Seattle Times
was the same four times during camp.
Bell’s training and experience as a journalist dictated some routines for him,
because he did seemingly strive to break stories and provide color that beat writers for newspapers and independent Web sites could not offer. For example, the
only access Bell enjoyed that other beat writers did not have came during the
season, he said. On road games, he is the only writer with access to pregame
“walkthroughs”—when the players and coaches go to the visiting stadium the
evening before the game. At home, he is permitted on the field before games
when beat writers are not. Bell uses both to offer the GoHuskies.com audience
something other media outlets cannot offer. During the walkthroughs, Bell will
include the dateline of the visiting city and write something about the stadium or
a specific incident or experience during the walkthrough. When he gets to go on
the field before home games, he takes pictures that he posts to GoHuskies.com and
tweets.
Bell’s routines as a traditional journalist clearly influence his content. He said
that he attempts to maintain journalistic integrity by writing about news events
such as injuries and suspensions in his copy. He does not elaborate in detail per the
coach’s request, but he also does not ignore that news. Despite somewhat limited
access, he also attempts to use his access within the department to give his content
something other beat writers cannot provide. Bell explained this:
I still consider myself a journalist. I do journalism. I have to understand [journalism and PR]. I side to journalism, so they have to beat the PR stuff over
my head, but I got home last night and wrote two stories that were published
for an audience to read—that’s journalism (personal communication, August
15, 2012)
Publishing for Paydirt 485
Bell as PR Practitioner
The transition from beat writer to PR practitioner has not been easy for Bell, yet
the routines are “beat over his head,” he said. Although he did none of this during
my observations, Bell has been tasked with assignments that deal specifically with
donors and season-ticket holders. The assignments are clear in their purpose. Bell
writes letters that are signed by Director of Athletics Scott Woodward or Sarkisian
that promote fundraising efforts and are published in brochures or that encourage
season-ticket renewals and are published in collateral. Bell has also written articles
for the alumni magazine, Dawgs Digest, knowing that this magazine is specifically
used to make alumni feel good about their alma mater in hope that they will donate
to the athletic department. These letters are targeted at “stakeholders” as defined
by Freeman’s (1984) stakeholder theory.
Bell had to transform journalist routines into PR practitioner routines. Asking
about injuries was one of those routine shifts for Bell. During his first football season
on the job, he asked Sarkisian about injuries, after which he was asked by Henderson
not to do so. Not surprisingly, that routine changed, with Bell stating he has not
asked about the topic since. Afterward, he conceded to let the other reporters ask
and report minimally about injuries to football players. Another changed routine
was how Bell selected what parts of the “backstage access” he would report on
GoHuskies.com. Whereas he writes about visiting stadiums and the walkthrough
experiences and posts on-field photos before games, he also thoughtfully chooses
what not to publish. That routine thought process transformed for Bell after a UW
loss at Oregon State University in November 2011. Bell traveled with the team, so
he went to the postgame interview sessions with the beat writers after the game to
conduct interviews. Afterward, however, Bell left from the locker room to go to
the team bus—a vantage point other reporters did not have. His game story of the
loss included his observations of injured and frustrated players. It read,
Keith Price was dragging his leg, vowing to start next week’s Apple Cup. Cort
Dennison was shaking his head as he walked alone to the team bus, saying
“coaches can only do so much. We need to rise up as players.” And Nick
Montana was in tears. (Bell, 2011)
The lead of this story taught Bell a lesson about PR. He said months later of the
incident,
I wrote about it and [Sarkisian] called and asked Carter whose side I was on
and said I violated the inner sanctum. I called [Sarkisian] and said I was sorry,
but that I just wanted to show the emotions of the kids and show how serious
they were about winning. He said, “You don’t want the kids wondering whose
side you’re on.” (personal communication, August 15, 2012)
It was a learning moment for Bell the PR practitioner. Bell saw the incident as a
frustrating disadvantage when he was trying to serve the PR function (personal
communication, August 18, 2012).
Another frustration for Bell in this role is that he is left to define his stories
and their quotations for the PR function, even when it goes against his journalistic
instincts. As stated in the strategic communications plan, the function is
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To tell the stories of our student-athletes, coaches, administration and fanbase
. . . and help form an unbreakable connection with our target audience. By
forming these connections, we can create a lasting brand affinity for Husky
athletics and trigger increased engagement in our audience. (Department of
Intercollegiate Athletics, 2011, p. 3)
Sarkisian’s reaction to his Oregon State game story showed Bell that tears after
a loss do not help to form unbreakable connections with or trigger engagement in
the stakeholders. Bell’s journalistic integrity bumped up against the coach’s communications goal, as well as the goals laid out in the strategic communications
plan. The goals also forced Bell into a strict PR role to which he continues to adapt.
Bell as Subordinate
Bell’s challenge of balancing his journalistic instincts, the “job” of being a journalist, and the “job” of being a PR practitioner has placed him firmly into a role
of subordination guided by bureaucracy. According to Bell and the hierarchy of
intercollegiate athletic departments, he reports to senior Associate Athletic Director O.D. Vincent, then to Athletic Director Scott Woodward. Carter Henderson
was hired as director of public relations after Bell’s hire, but Henderson has since
been promoted to assistant athletic director, technically surpassing Bell on the
hierarchical list.
Despite having no formal experience in strategic communications, PR, or journalism, the person who sits at the head of the hierarchy is Head Football Coach Steve
Sarkisian, and his reactions shape many of Bell’s routines. According to Henderson,
Sometimes [Sarkisian] will want Gregg to write something, or to not write
something. We try to balance all of those things. . . . While [Sarkisian] is a
football coach, he is also a CEO of sorts. In that role, you manage things like
messaging, recruiting. I don’t know comparatively how involved another head
coach wants to be with all that, but with our guy, I think that’s one of the things
that makes him great. He certainly isn’t trained in that, but he has a good feel
for what he wants in that area and it has proven to be pretty successful in the
recruiting domain. (personal communication, August 28, 2012)
On August 14, 2012, Bell wrote a story about sophomore defensive tackle
Danny Shelton and wanted to publish it as his weekly “Unleashed” column on
GoHuskies.com the next day. In 2010, Shelton had witnessed the murder of his
brother after a street fight. The killer was not prosecuted because the district attorney deemed it a case of self-defense. The police report had never been publicized,
but Shelton had been involved in the fight, per the report. In his reporting, Bell
analyzed the police report, then wrote a story that pointed out that the incident was
a turning point in Shelton’s life (Bell, 2012). Bell also detailed how Sarkisian was
emotionally available to Shelton, as the coach went to the hospital on the night of
the shooting (Bell, 2012). Henderson insisted Sarkisian sign off on the story, which
delayed publication. After practice on August 15, Bell approached Sarkisian about
the story. He said before the meeting, “Only in my job does this happen. I wrote
the story last night and when I saw the police report, I wondered about it. So, I’ll
pull [Sarkisian] out tonight and lead in with this and ask his permission” (personal
Publishing for Paydirt 487
communication, August 15, 2012). In an uncomfortable exchange after practice,
Sarkisian told Bell to send him the story when it was finished for his approval.
Three days later, Bell still had heard nothing from Sarkisian. After practice, Bell
waited until the beat writers were finished and followed Sarkisian a few yards off
the field before stopping the coach. The exchange was immediately awkward.
Sarkisian said, “Yeah, just send it to me again,” and hurried away. Bell was clearly
humiliated by what was obvious condescension. He did not hear back on the story
until August 22 when Sarkisian’s assistant Cheryl Taplin emailed him. The e-mail
read, “Gregg, Sark wants you to hold off on this article for now. Thanks, Cheryl
Taplin” (personal communication, August 22, 2012). Bell wrote in an e-mail to
me, “Here’s all you need to know about my relationship with the football coach”
(personal communication, August 22, 2012).
At practice on August 28, Bell approached Sarkisian again about the story.
Sarkisian said, “Why don’t you just summarize? . . . [Otherwise] it will make people
think we bring criminals into this program” (personal communication, August 28,
2012). The next day, Bell submitted a revised story to Sarkisian and Henderson
but was this time told he needed to get the OK from Scott Woodward. Woodward
read the story from Bell’s iPhone at practice. After practice, Woodward said, “I
have no problem with it.” Bell asked, “What were the issues with the original?”
Woodward simply said, “Too rough.” The Danny Shelton story ran on GoHuskies.
com on August 29, 2012—more than 2 weeks after Bell originally submitted it
for publication.
Bell’s instincts as a traditional journalist led him to the police report. Furthermore, those instincts drove him to put those violent details on paper. The PR
practitioner in Bell led him to the glowing assessment of the coach. It was the role
of subordinate, however, that forced Bell to wait, edit, downplay the violent details
altogether, and rewrite.
Discussion
Bell adopted routines and roles as a traditional journalist, a PR practitioner, and
a subordinate. Those affected the content he produced, as his weekly column,
“Unleashed,” is anything but unleashed. Still, the Shelton feature under the
“Unleashed” heading attracted about 16,000 viewers over the course of the week
it was published. That statistic may prove that UW’s approach to Bell’s position
and its content is successful in that it does engage stakeholders. For example,
nearly 16,000 unique visitors looked at Bell’s feel-good feature on tight end Austin
Seferian-Jenkins and the player’s “date” with a sick girl in a hospital room days
before she died. During October 2011, Web stats revealed that 101,685 unique
visitors looked at football-related stories on GoHuskies.com. As a comparison,
stats provided to me by the Seattle Times showed that SeattleTimes.com’s UW
football stories averaged roughly that many visitors per week during October 2011.
But the niched content of GoHuskies.com was never intended to compete with
traditional media, Woodward said (personal communication, August 30, 2012).
The content on GoHuskies.com is produced to serve a different purpose—to use
stories to engage stakeholders. Despite, or perhaps because of, Bell’s routines and
roles, it clearly did that.
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It would be difficult to prove that Bell’s content—though engaging stakeholders—prompts stakeholders to buy tickets or merchandise, to donate, or to visit
campus. Thus, it would be difficult to measure the success of Bell’s messaging,
a research question that is outside the scope of this article. It could be a topic for
further research, as could quantitative surveying of sport journalists working as
PR practitioners.
Case Questions
• Gregg Bell, the subject of this case study, is one of about 20 former beat writers
to be hired to write and/or edit content for an athletic department’s Web site.
What are the pros and cons of hiring former beat writers for these positions?
• This case study identified three roles. What might other roles be?
• UW uses Bell to write and edit beyond GoHuskies.com in writing departmental
letters. What else could a former beat writer do beyond writing and editing to
benefit athletic departments?
• How might a former beat writer be a liability to athletic departments should a
scandal break?
• How might the former beat writer be an asset?
•Are there broader ramifications to the state of sport journalism as athletic
departments hire former beat writers to PR positions?
• How might current beat writers be affected by having one of their former colleagues operating within the athletic department?
• How does one measure the success of Bell’s content in terms of the stakeholders’ actions (buying tickets and merchandise, donating, and attending the
university)?
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