The Fort Worth Star-Telegram has been banned from covering football games at Texas Christian University (TCU) after one of their reporters broke the news of a fight leading to a player’s expulsion.
Last week, it was revealed TCU transfer safety Jacob Fields was kicked off the Horned Frogs’ football team after he got into a locker room fight with one of his teammates. The fight was first reported by the Star-Telegram back on August 18.
The victim was not initially revealed, but reports say Fields committed ‘an alleged aggravated assault with hands, feet or fists’ in his team’s locker room. Follow-up reports identified the victim as wide receiver Dozie Ezukanma.
These events all led to Wednesday’s announcement by the paper that the school has ‘rescinded the Star-Telegram’s credentials to cover Horned Frogs athletics’ over the coverage of the incident by TCU beat writer Steven Johnson.
‘In a phone conversation Sunday, a TCU athletics spokesman said the Star-Telegram’s credentials were being pulled because the coverage resulted in threats to the victim,’ the paper’s sports editor, Jim Barnes, wrote in an article. Barnes added that the paper did not identify the athlete and that Ezukanma ‘identified himself in a now-deleted Instagram video.’
In a statement to the paper, TCU athletic director Mike Buddie said: ‘Our primary focus is the health and wellbeing of our student athlete. Unfortunately, an unnamed source without first-hand knowledge of the incident provided inaccurate information cited in initial reporting by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, which we strongly disputed.’
Texas Christian University has revoked the credentials for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram
This comes after the paper reported on a fight leading to Jacob Fields being kicked off the team
The paper’s TCU reporter, Steven Johnson, was preparing to travel to the team’s first game of the season in Ireland when the news of the credential revocation broke
He added: ‘The inclusion of the misinformation advanced a narrative that endangered a student-athlete and resulted in threats to him and his family. These actions led to the decision to withhold the media credential until additional conversation can be held between athletics and the sports reporting team. We remain dedicated to restoring our student to health as well as focusing on the game that’s ahead.’
Barnes added that officials have not ‘defined what criteria would need to be met to restore the credentials.’
Fans and journalists were outraged by the move from TCU, with social media lashing back at the team: Genuinely what the f*** did TCU think would be the response to this,’ wondered one fan on X.
‘They should have an empty press box,’ said NFL beat writer Scott Salomon. A fellow NFL writer, Charean Williams, posted, ‘Boycott covering anything about TCU. Anything.’
The Athletic’s media reporter Andrew Marchand tweeted: ‘This seems embarrassing by TCU.’
The presidents of both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Football Writers Association of America released statements condemning the move.
TCU’s opening game of the season takes place this Saturday when they play North Carolina at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland.
Posting to X, Johnson said that he was boarding his flight to the Emerald Isle before adding: ‘I just want to say I appreciate all the support and those reaching out. It means a lot. As for the situation, I don’t have much to say aside from I look forward to continue covering TCU and believe the Frogs have a chance to be pretty good this year.’
