Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Sports coverage: Public service?

During the Women's Final Four weekend in Tampa, several sports journalists shared experience and tips with college students during the USBWA Sportswriting Seminar. One question from a student for the AP's Doug Feinberg, the Philadelphia Inquirer's Mel Greenberg, and the Chicago Sun-Times' Steve Tucker was about the social value of sports journalism.
Feinberg and Tucker both pointed to the ability of great sports stories to take readers places they otherwise would never visit -- exciting games, emotional locker rooms, athletes' homes. But Greenberg, considered the "guru" of women's college basketball coverage, said he thought the value was his ability to help readers escape their everyday lives and learn about sports. "Basically, you see yourself as a public servant," he said.

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