Wednesday, March 09, 2011

Curley Center Chat Evaluates Coverage of Youth Sports

Some basic sports rules—including three strikes and you’re out in baseball or 10 yards for a first down in football—apply whether a game is contested among professionals or pre-teens, but accepted and expected conduct of the media when covering those competitions often differs according to the age and experience of participants.

The challenges, ethics and responsibilities for journalists covering youth sports will be discussed at 1 p.m. Monday, March 21, during an online chat conducted by the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism.

"Ethical Issues in the Coverage of Youth Sports" is free, and people may access and participate in the session by visiting http://sportsjourn.psu.edu/live-chats online.

Participants include:
--Steve Barr, director of media relations for Little League Baseball and Softball;
--George Dohrmann, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who writes for Sports Illustrated and authored “Play Their Hearts Out,” which examines grassroots basketball, in 2010;
--Tracy Greer, online editor of the North County Times in Escondido, Calif.; and
--Malcolm Moran, the Knight Chair in Sports Journalism and Society and director of the Curley Center.

Marie Hardin, an associate professor of communications at Penn State and associate director of the Curley Center, will serve as moderator for the hour-long session, which will focus on journalism coverage of youth sports and how the age of the participants can and should shape how media outlets cover those activities.

The Curley Center explores issues and trends in sports journalism through instruction, outreach, programming and research. The Center's undergraduate curricular emphasis includes courses in sports writing, sports broadcasting, sports information, sports, media and society, and sports and public policy, which is cross-listed with the Penn State Dickinson School of Law.

- Curley Center for Sports Journalism

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