This past week there was an interesting back and forth between and NFL team and some members of the media. The crux of it, without naming names because it is part of a bigger issue of sometimes building walls and less bridges, was that a team, led by a coach, felt like they did not need to share certain information that the media members needed to do their job, and addressed the “rumors” certain members had pushed out in a very public setting.
In the end the issue is about access, relationships and who holds the hammer. Teams, athletes, leagues more and more feel…maybe rightly so…that they have all the control and can use their outlets to distribute what news and when they want to their audience. Control the message. Media members, especially those who are used to wider access and relationship building over the years, feel the squeeze and try and explain how they…rightfully so…can help reach audiences that one outlet can on their own. The holder of the news…in this case the team or the league or the individual…feels like the outlets resharing is enough, while the outlets argue they can do a more expansive job of storytelling with access and relationship building. Now there are always exceptions where the creative owners of content find ways that others may not be sharing outside and do it themselves. A great example is here with the LA Chargers and their use of social channels…a story which was amplified by The Today Show (see how it works?). One side helps lift the other to find an audience who just doesn’t know.
This is not new, and we discussed it in both of our classes this week with students falling on both sides. The reality is simple. No one can reach everyone, especially new audiences who may not be following the news of the day in a time challenged world, so there is a need to still work together…share the hammer and find the common ground. Now I’m not privy to the back and forth of the issue that started this, you can only know the details when you are in the room, but it was not a great look for both.
I raise this because this past week we lost five very unique characters on both sides of this equation…Lenny Wilkens, Richie Adubato, Kevin Mackey, Michael Ray Richardson and Larry Brooks, the last being one of the most respected and hard working members of the media in the hyper competitive marketplace of New York.
The loss of these very unique personalities…flawed, funny, thoughtful, remorseful, mercurial, successful and for the most part quite colorful and sincere (and I was lucky enough to have crossed paths with all five) emphasizes the need for the sharing of storytelling to a larger audience. Without access and building trust with people who have the key to that access, Larry Brooks never is able to tell the stories of the NHL to his massive audience, one that the teams probably could not reach on their own. Without NBA writers to talk to Michael Ray both his personality, and his challenges never get told to legendary status. Without media to amplify, some of the work Adubato did with the NY Liberty away from his years at the NBA, never gets amplified, without a trusting relationship Lenny Wilkens has amazing success, but does his life story reach younger people not following hoops? And while Kevin Mackey’s Cleveland State team was the stuff of “March Madness” Cinderella legend, once he fell from grace into drugs and other challenges, would his comeback and his message been told if there were not third parties to tell it?
Probably not, and that would have been a tragedy.
The point is that as much as one side says they don’t need the other, to be a holistic success and to reach the widest audience, the shifting world of media…digital, social, influencer, spoken word, video long and short, and yes even print…needs to still be a trusted matrix. That trust comes from both sides not operating in a vacuum and finding the best ways to meet in the middle, build bridges and get along. It’s still not one or the other.
Perhaps that reminder of a need to seize the moment and amplify a story came from one of those who has had his feuds with media but has an understanding of how to use the tools that are in the toolkit to the best way…now St. John’s coach Rick Pitino. In this social post, not by St. John’s but by a third party…Greg Barge…Pitino shares his thoughts on the now, and the importance of today.
Don’t waste the sand in the hourglass.
Work collectively, agree to disagree, tone down the confrontation and find ways to tell amazing stories, just like that list of five who passed this week did it take a village, and without the amplifiers, we miss the best pieces of the story sometimes.
The sand runs out.
Ten More Brands From Our Students…