Bradley upset Northern Iowa earlier this week to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament, and amidst this feel-good story the basketball program has somehow wound up in a brewing national media tempest over barring longtime Peoria Journal-Star Bradley hoops reporter Dave Reynolds from a media event for the tourney berth.
The PJS describes what happened:
Journal Star sports editor Wes Huett, who met with the Bradley program at its request on Jan. 29 to listen to grievances about the newspaper’s coverage of the team, received an email with media-access information for Friday’s event, scheduled for 1:45 p.m. at Renaissance.
The newspaper, of course, sent its beat writer. “The door was open,” our man Reynolds said. “I walked in and chatted with the other media guys. (BU assistant director of athletic communications) Jason Veniskey was there but didn’t say anything to me. Players started to filter out. One of the players I wanted to talk with was Nate Kennell, and I motioned to Jason, ‘I’d like to talk to Nate.’ He said, ‘I want to talk to you for a minute.’
“He pulled me aside and said their policy of me not given extra coverage opportunity was still in place, and I was not allowed to do any interviews. I told him, ‘The newspaper received the invitation.’ He said, ‘That was directed to (Huett), not to you.’ I said, ‘He doesn’t cover the team. I have for 29 years.’ … “He responded by saying, ‘You don’t promote the Bradley brand, and basically we don’t want you here.’ I said, ‘Jason, that’s not my job to promote the Bradley brand. You know that.’
The end of that is particularly silly. It’s obviously not a journalist’s job to “promote the brand” of the entity he or she is covering, it’s to present accurate facts and informed commentary. This is a bad look for Bradley coach Brian Wardle and, pragmatically, an unneeded distraction to impose upon his team as they head towards the Big Dance.
UPDATE: Bradley has issued a statement regarding the controversy:
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