Lexington Herald-Leader | Kentucky Kernel | APSE | APME [PDF]
National journalism organizations are criticizing the University of Kentucky athletic department for revoking a student journalist’s Media Day pass because he called two basketball team walk-ons without going through the sports media relations department. This “amounts to no less than an attempt to bully the newspaper into submission and to censor news concerning operations of the University of Kentucky athletic department,” says an Associated Press Managing Editor’s statement [PDF]. An Associated Press Sports Editors letter to the university says: “This is a form of censorship, something institutions of higher learning should find as repulsive as the media do.”
A University of Kentucky law student and ex-Kernel staffer writes:
UK Athletics is on a diva-sized power binge and is using its desirability to control news organizations. Ultimately, it sounds like UK Athletics is annoyed that another organization stole its limelight. In the Twitter generation, they need to learn that hoarding information is impossible and just frustrates fans and reporters. Bravo to the Kernel for good reporting.
