Jay Glazer: We Fear What We Don’t Understand
Recently Richard Sandomir, the sports media watchdog of the NEW YORK TIMES, examined the business relationship Fox NFL reporter Jay Glazer has with NFL players.
Noting that Glazer now trains NFL players in the art of MMA, Sandomir observed:
Glazer’s arrangement is unusual, at best, and raises questions about how he balances his competing interests. While some N.F.L. reporters and sportscasters cover the sport for more than one news media outlet, Glazer reports on some of the same players and teams who pay him for his training expertise.
In polling Fox, the NFL league office and NFL players and coaches, Sandomir was unable to find anyone who objected to Glazer’s arrangement.
Journalism ethics expert Bob Steele of the Poynter Institute though did raise questions about Glazer’s situation:
“You can only scrutinize what he reports. But you can’t scrutinize what he does not report, so we don’t know what he didn’t ask an athlete. He might be making legitimate journalistic choices, but you can’t tell because you can’t see beneath the surface.”
That’s as deep as the criticism went of Glazer in the New York Times piece.
Though in a recent blog post on his personal website, successful author and former Sports Illustrated reporter Jeff Pearlman wasn’t nearly so kind.
When he’s not reporting on NFL players and teams, Glazer, ahem, works for NFL players and teams. Literally. He is a mixed martial arts trainer whose clients include two franchises (the Falcons and Rams) and, apparently, dozens of players, ranging from Ryan Grant to Patrick Willis to Matt Leinart. As in, they pay him for his services.
This, journalistically, is a joke. An embarrassing, pathetic, worst-of-its-kind joke.
