Travis Kriens/KORN News Radio Sports Director
A lot has been said lately about bias, coverage, and what’s “fair.”
That conversation reignited when University of South Dakota Athletic Director Jon Schemmel posted on X accusing a media outlet of masquerading as “neutral” while leaning toward South Dakota State guests and co-hosts. It struck many, myself included, as strange and unprovoked.
South Dakota State beat writer Matt Zimmer responded bluntly, pointing out that his outlet continues to cover USD athletics despite consistently low audience traffic, ending with a simple message: grow up.
This dust-up highlights something I wrote about previously when defending local journalism and it’s worth repeating: many public officials and administrators fundamentally misunderstand how media works. If they didn’t, reactions like this wouldn’t happen.
Let’s clear something up.
As members of the media — print, radio, TV, digital — we do not care who wins or loses. Our job is to cover the game and tell the story for the public. That’s it.
Some journalists say they root for the best story, and there’s truth to that. Covering a state championship game in a packed arena is more engaging than covering a seventh-place matchup in a mostly-empty gym at noon. But that’s not bias. That’s recognizing audience interest and news value.
And here’s another reality: media members are not fans. At least not professionally.
Sure, most of us love sports, otherwise we wouldn’t be in this industry. But when we’re working, fandom gets set aside. We aren’t friends with coaches, players, or administrators. You can maintain respectful relationships, especially in tight-knit communities, but once professional boundaries blur, credibility erodes. It’s a delicate line and it matters.
We don’t tell athletic departments how to run their programs. We don’t tell city officials how to govern. Because we know we don’t have the expertise to do those jobs.
So when those same figures tell journalists how to do ours, it rings hollow. The criticism is heard, but it carries little weight when it comes from a misunderstanding of the craft.
Fans, meanwhile, see sports through rose-colored glasses. That’s their role. Passion is what makes sports matter. But passion doesn’t translate into newsroom decision-making. Writing a story, covering a game, interviewing a coach, or calling a broadcast involves professional judgment developed through experience, not fandom.
There’s another factor people often overlook: media is also a business.
Teams that win draw audiences. Teams that generate interest get coverage. If you want to sell ads, grow readership, and sustain a newsroom, you cover what people follow. That isn’t bias. It’s economics and common sense. A national championship team will receive more attention than one that struggles. That’s reality, not favoritism.
Even the idea of “favorable coverage” is often misunderstood. When a team wins, the story will naturally read positively because the outcome was positive. When they lose, the tone changes accordingly. Journalists don’t determine that narrative. The results do.
At the end of the day, the relationship between media, programs, and fans works best when everyone stays in their lane.
Be passionate.
Be informed.
Do your job.
We’ll keep doing ours.