As more and more public universities make it increasingly difficult for their athletes to speak to student-journalists, issues arise that are detrimental to broadening the experiences of both parties involved. 

Plus, an important avenue for athletes to practice self-advocacy is being destroyed. 

The College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida conducted a study aimed to answer two questions: How often are public universities gagging athletes from speaking to the media, and is it legal for them to do it? 

The university said its research “looked at the policies at public university athletic programs regulating student-athletes’ communications with the media.”

“Using a combination of public record requests and online searches, we gathered rule books from 58 state universities that compete in the NCAA elite Division I. Of the 58 handbooks, 50 of them — or 86 percent — explicitly forbade athletes from speaking to journalists without permission from the athletic department,” the study said. 

The study found that some public universities take it a step further, discouraging “blowing the whistle” on mistreatment within the athletic department. This percentage may be higher, seeing as some of these universities maintain their athlete’s silence through verbal instruction, and not written policy, the study said. 

It is irresponsible for universities and coaches to interrupt the media process. By deterring, or even enforcing, their players from speaking to student media, they are hindering necessary learning and development for the athletes and the journalists. 

Being interviewed by their peers is a good way for athletes to practice speaking to the media in case they play professionally post-college. It also serves as good practice for student-journalists, who are learning to cover sports and interview athletes. 

Speaking to the media can feel scary enough as it is, but only because of the hoops journalists are made to jump through to speak to them in college. Athletes may become wary of the media if they never interact with it, especially if their coach is discouraging them. 

Under these restrictions, student-journalists are not able to establish rapport with the athletes, leading to a lack of trust in the media that could follow these athletes into their professional careers.

College athletes should be able to decide whether or not they want to participate in an interview. Not allowing them to make that choice perpetuates the idea that student-athletes are possessions to their university, with no importance given to their wants, needs or free will. It is imperative that student-athletes feel comfortable speaking to the media so that they are given the necessary platform to speak on issues related to the athletic department or even to just get the recognition they deserve in their sport.

This issue also affects journalists. They are not given an accurate picture of reporting for sports media, and often have a hard time constructing or finishing sports stories with a lack of sources and failed attempts to communicate through the department’s channels. 

The study from the University of Florida considered this. They asked sports editors from The Associated Press to survey member journalists about their experiences.

“Of 32 sports editors who responded, only three (9% said that, when they go through a sports information officer to request an interview, they are always unsuccessful; 21 (66%) said they were sometimes unable to get the access they needed and eight (25%) said they “regularly” were refused access,” the study said. “And 29 out of 32 (91%) said that inability to get access to college athletes adversely affected their coverage.”

All of this red tape begs the question of why universities make it so difficult for this relationship between student-athletes and student-journalists to blossom. If they don’t want athletes to have a means of self-advocacy, then that may be an issue with the coaching staff. 

But, their real issue appears to be a lack of trust in both the athletes and student-journalists.

Universities need to have more confidence in their students to handle their jobs and positions. If they don’t, they are admitting that they have no faith in their institution to train their students.