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| Senior Wesley Matthews participated in hundreds of interviews during his career. |
Dealing With The Media
Marquette student-athletes benefit from tremendous local and national media exposure. This level of coverage reached an all-time high in 2008-09.
The primary way for Marquette's fans to find out about MU's student-athletes is through the media. The stories of MU's teams, student-athletes and coaches are told to the fans on a daily and sometimes hourly basis throughout the year by thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio stations, television stations and web sites.
As a Marquette student-athlete, one of the responsibilities is to cooperate with the media. It's all part of the package of being a Golden Eagle student-athlete -- just like give 100 percent on the field/court and in the classroom are your responsibilities.
The media's role is not to be a cheerleader. However, you'll find that the more cooperative you are with the media, the better chance you will have of the media presenting positive stories about you. Seeing the media as the enemy only hurts the athlete, not them. At the very least, good relations with the press makes them less inclined to attack following a tough performance.
Types of Media
Beat Writers - Newspaper writers who cover Marquette on a daily basis. Primarily, they report the facts in an objective way. While beat writers may become the most familiar members of the media to you, they must still remain objective.
Columnists - Newspaper columnists can be more subjective than beat writers, injecting their opinion into stories.
Wire Service Reporters - The Associated Press digests breaking news, usually distributing capsule stories to nation-wide media outlets.
Television News Crews - Though you won't see local TV camera crews as often as newspaper beat writers, don't overlook their impact. Most people get their news from TV instead of newspapers.
Game Broadcasters - Television and radio broadcasters not only provide play-by-play accounts of the game they are covering, they will also be interested in background information on all of the players to help improve the content of the broadcasts. Do not discuss game strategy in detail, or share confidential team information, specifically injury details.
Photographers - All photographers must tell their stories visually, so remember that your actions can be captured on film and video.
Internet Reporters - There are hundreds of sports-related web sites providing "instant" news to their respective viewers. Internet sites are able to reach their audience in minutes, rather than having to wait until the next day (newspaper) or later that night (news).
"Fans judge you as a player according to how you perform on the court. They judge you as a person according to how you perform with the media. If fans develop a good impression of you through the media, especially when things are not going well on the court, the benefits to you can be significant."
• NBA Media Relations Handbook
2011-12 Season
WeAreMarquetteAthletics.com
2012 Summer Camps
Program History
