Texas’ football program has instituted a new social media policy for reporters.
The Austin American-Statesman’s Brian Davis says Texas is asking reporters not to live-tweet any information gained from post-practice interviews until after all post-practice interviews have ended.
Here is the program’s explanation for the policy change.
“Our hope is that you would take time to review your post and re-listen to the questions and answers in an effort to increase accuracy and insure the necessary context in each of your social media reports,” the program said in a statement to Texas reporters, via Davis.
“We hope this will not only allow everyone more time to craft those commentaries/reports, but also allow necessary time to absorb full context. It also will be beneficial in providing full attention for follow-up questions or the next line of questioning during the actual interviews. Thank you in advance for adhering to this new policy.”
Texas’ goals of improving journalism standards is noble, but their statement omits that the policy also gives the media relations staff an opportunity to address potentially harmful things said after practice before it makes social media.
We’ll see how long this policy lasts. All it takes is one eager reporter to tweet news a little early and there will be problems.
