Athletes' comments in check

The mission of the IU Athletics media relations department is to act as a liaison for student-athletes and the media, said media relations director Jeff Fanter. But in an e-mail obtained by the IDS, Fanter told several sports information directors what student-athletes should be saying to members of the media.\nFanter defended the e-mail and said, "We do not prep our athletes on what is to be said in interviews. We go over concerns, questions and try to help them. These concerns have come from other student-athletes."\nPete Moore, president of the College Sports Information Directors of America, of which IU is listed as a member, echoed Fanter, saying SIDs "serve as a liaison between the student-athletes and the media." \nWhile the organization's code of ethics doesn't address preparing students for interviews, it does state, "Administrators and coaches should be encouraged to answer questions from the media honestly and accurately."\nEach Big Ten university athletics department has a media relations director and staff. The media relations staff has SIDs assigned to each sport to communicate between the media and athletes and to facilitate interviews.\nFanter sent an e-mail Friday to several IU SIDs in response to an IDS request for an interview with seven prominent IU athletes. His e-mail message to the SIDs was accidentally forwarded to the IDS by football SID Todd Starowitz; Fanter confirmed that he wrote it.\n"We want our athletes talking about how important athletics is to their overall development as a person and how helpful athletics has been in making them better people," he began in the e-mail. "They can talk about the fact that they do not feel that IU has commercialized athletics. They should mention how athletics builds pride in the alumni, both former athletes and non-athletes. Put a positive spin on things..." Fanter wrote. \nHe ended the e-mail by saying, "Be sure to speak with your athletes about this before setting up the interview. It would look good if all of them are saying the same thing." \nWhen asked to comment on Fanter's e-mail, Starowitz referred comment to Fanter but said the athletic department does not censor athletes.\nMoore said that while it is acceptable for SIDs to prepare athletes for interviews, it is unacceptable to tell them what to say.\nMoore, who is also sports information director at Syracuse, said his university produces a manual for athletes that explains to them what many reporters are looking for in interviews and what to expect with television and newspaper interviews.\n"We feel that it is very appropriate to review different scenarios and to make suggestions, especially for those student-athletes that are really uncomfortable in that setting, and I don't call that telling them what to say," Moore said. "In our case, I think that it is part of the educational process, and do you at times perhaps make suggestions, sure. \n"But the fact of the matter is our jobs, and I hope the people at Indiana would say the same thing, is to allow reporters to get a feel for the individual student-athlete, and we certainly don't want to do anything that puts the athlete in the position where they are not portraying themselves accurately." \nBesides acting as an intermediary with players, the media relations department also handles media requests to interview staff members, such as coaches, the athletics director and other department staff.\nThe response to recent IDS requests to interview athletics director Michael McNeely has been that he would need days or weeks to decide on interviews. An article in Tuesday's Bloomington Herald-Times reported that they had encountered a similar problem.\n"The Herald-Times requested a brief interview with McNeely," the article states, "but was told by his spokesman that time could not be made in his schedule for such an interview until mid-November."\nAt other Big Ten universities, reporters have direct access to athletics directors and staff members. Responding to a request for an interview for this story, Northwestern athletics director Rick Taylor was available after only a few seconds of waiting. \n"Anyone can call me at any time," Taylor said. \nMinnesota assistant media relations director Kyle Coughlin said men's athletics director Tom Moe can be reached through the media relations department within one or two days. \nFanter said his department has good intentions regarding student-athlete contact with the media. \n"All we are trying to do is show what is good about college athletics," Fanter said.