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Views of the News: When It's More Than A Game

Dexter Fowler told an ESPN reporter last week that the travel ban’s effect on his family was “unfortunate.” Fowler’s family was going to visit his wife’s family in Iran, but they postponed due to travel concerns. His comment was met with wave of criticism on social media. Among the comments were “shut up” and “just play ball.” Missouri School of Journalism professors Amy Simons, Mike McKean and Stacey Woelfel discuss the issue on the weekly media criticism program, “Views of the News.”

We don't really know what his political feelings are because he was putting it in the context of his family, McKean said.

McKean said that the outrage on social media was “typical and sad,” even when Fowler seemed respectful toward the Trump administration. Woelfel compared Fowler’s response tweet to Curt Flood’s attitude toward teams’ control over their players. In Fowler’s case, the Cardinals backed his comments. McKean and Woelfel both agree that athletics may be getting more political. McKean said he believes this may be because some reporters today are focusing more on political views among athletes. 

AMY SIMONS teaches news literacy, multimedia journalism and advanced social media strategies.
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