Note: The primary intention of the Dear Ethics letters forum is to educate the CoSIDA membership in the realm of ethical and professional conduct during our day-to-day SID lives. If you recognize yourself in either instance below, you might be in trouble. The following letters are actual complaints forwarded to the CoSIDA Ethics Committee. The replies are an amalgam of responses from the same committee. These are true stories, but the names and institutions have been changed to protect the innocent---or guilty.
Mike Korcek, SID, Northern Illinois University
CoSIDA Ethics Committee chair
mkorcek@niu.edu
Dear Ethics,
My assistant wrote a game story for our home womens soccer match. The opponent SID asked him to e-mail the game story along with the box score after the match. When I read the story on our opponents website the next day, it was copied from our original story almost verbatim, except for some minor changes in the lead paragraph. Legally, I know that it is copyright infringement and, furthermore, our website clearly states at the bottom of each page that it is copyrighted. Im young so I wanted to know if copying stories is a common and accepted practice among SIDs. Please let me know what you think about this situation.
---Young, Copied, and Infringed
Dear Young, Copied, and Infringed,
This sounds more like the Led Zeppelin song Communication Breakdown. To be honest, this is not a high tech or a legal dilemma but more of a common sense issue. If an SID has event staffing problems (one-person shop, illness, family emergency, etc.), then call the opposition SID immediately, introduce yourself, and state your problem. The P-word always helps. Could you please help? Take the time to make a telephone call to the other SID. Humans would rather talk to another human than a machine. At one point or another, every Sports Information shop on the planet can use a helping hand and someday you can return the favor (remember, were all in the same business). Repeat after me: Interpersonal communication is good. Excellent.
Tell Perry Mason that all websites are copyrighted. The logical solution would be for School A to give School B permission to use the same game story and then give School A credit on School Bs website. A simple professional courtesy should suffice---such as Reprinted with permission from School A or Game story courtesy of School A Office of Sports Information. Most SIDs write game stories in wire service style and want them used verbatim in the local newspapers anyway (with your particular spin or your coachs / student-athletes quotes). Some media outlets may credit Sports Info or just use From Wire Reports. That might be the ultimate compliment to your operation, having a story run verbatim in a local outlet. As far as School B changing School As lead paragraph or other parts of the original story, that, after all, makes sense---different perspective, different outcome. Relax, dude.
Dear Ethics,
Just wondered how ethical or unethical the following press release is to your committee. Most of us work with conference sports information directors and understand their situations. This was put out by a conference member schools SID. What do you think?
---Beleaguered
GOTHAM CITY, NY --- All Bruce Wayne did last Friday night was score 19 points and dish out 12 assists while keeping the Gotham State University mens basketball team in the game against a team from the Big Metro Conference.
Despite having some of the best numbers by a player in the conference last week, Waynes night against Metropolis Tech was not good enough to earn the Mid-Swamp Conferences Player of the Week honor.
Instead, the honor went to Central City State Universitys Barry Allen for his efforts in leading the Crimson Flashes to two wins against a pair of Division II teams.
I thought he (Wayne) deserved the award, said GSU head coach Hal Jordan. Fortunately, its early in the season and he will have plenty of other chances to earn the award.
Dear Beleaguered,
Please take some sage, old-school advice. All of us who have been in this profession for any length of time has probably had an issue (or will have one) with the conference office regarding a league Player of the Week or Player of the Year award, etc. Its the nature of the beast, a political football, or in this case, basketball. Were all competitive and want to win. League SIDs are human beings, too. Griping or whining in a press release is not professional or ethical---either from your end or your coachs. Realistically, what happens next week when you nominate Bruce Wayne again to the same conference SID you just backdoored? Believe me, the coach and SID at Central City State may not be happy either since you dissed their player (wait until Barry Allen has a 55-point night on your team---can you say bulletin board material?) and non-conference schedule. Think big. In the scheme of things, Player of the Week is small potatoes on a world scale.
SIDs are in a unique position because we answer to many people. In this case, we must work with both the coach and conference SID. The best policy is diplomacy. First of all, in nominating student-athletes for individual awards, do the best and most complete job possible with supporting statistics, quotes, notes, you name it. If the situation continues with the league, then phone the conference SID and calmly talk about the award selection process (how can I do it better?). Go to lunch or dinner if possible (the league SID may come to campus several times a year). Remember, you may be your institutions only liaison with the league SID. Dont antagonzie that SID (if you get the conference SID upset during basketball season, then how many league individual awards are you jeopardizing in the spring?). If the problem persists, maybe contact another SID at a league school about your relationship with the conference and talk about the issue. By reading the above release, it appears the coach has a strong influence on this SID. Keep the communication lines open at all levels.