Dion Cliss from PrepsKC lectures Journalists and Coaches on Forfeiture issues.

[JNsDaddyzDaddyIownU]

View from the Press Box: Dion Cliss 10/19​

Dion Clisso PrepsKC Managing EditorOctober 19 - 2023 at 7:35 AM

It’s been a rough couple of weeks for football here in the Kansas City Metro. Three schools have forfeited a total of 17 games that not only affected the individual team’s record and district standings but the points of dozens of teams in Missouri and even across the state line in Kansas.

Each school, Grandview, Lincoln College Prep and Park Hill South used a player that was deemed to be ineligible and had each of their records adjusted. Grandview and Lincoln Prep moved down in their district standings while Park Hill South’s spot remains unchanged.

Those are the facts, and it is disappointing that this has happened for those players who did nothing wrong but had wins on the field turned into losses in the record book.

The mistakes were made by adults and young people are suffering the consequences.

Simply put, we as adults need to do better. All of us. Journalists, coaches, administrators and parents. I started with journalists because I always believe you have to tend to your own house first.

When the first set of forfeits started with Grandview two weeks ago, plenty of people who either claim to be journalists or want to play journalists jumped on social media and made claims that games were forfeited because of multiple reasons and multiple players.

Neither was true. PrepsKC confirmed with the Missouri State High School Activities Association that it was one player, and it was self-reported. Those are the facts, confirmed both by the school district and MSHSAA. Anything else was not a fact and was in fact a rumor.

If you want to break news, you should live by the journalists' creed that it takes double confirmation for something to be reported. If you are foggy on the concept, I suggest watching All The President’s Men or Spotlight. Journalists need to do better.

People who work for schools need to also do better. We all make mistakes at our job but when it involves young people it raises the stakes. We are the adults, it’s time to do better.

Parents, we all can do better. Some of these mistakes are made because students are moving between districts to play sports. This isn’t everyone but sports aren’t the reason you attend a school. It also shouldn’t be the reason you attend college. While the sports scholarship seems like the easiest way to get help for school, the best way is good grades and good test scores.

All in all, we need to do better.

 

[JNsDaddyzDaddyIownU]

I didn't think a dude running a Twitter feed is a "journalist" but Okay Dion.

 

[JNsDaddyzDaddyIownU]

We better shut down this site:

Neither was true. PrepsKC confirmed with the Missouri State High School Activities Association that it was one player, and it was self-reported. Those are the facts, confirmed both by the school district and MSHSAA. Anything else was not a fact and was in fact a rumor.

Bosko could never pass this smell test. Boosters always live on rumors.

 

[BoosterBosko]

We better shut down this site:

Neither was true. PrepsKC confirmed with the Missouri State High School Activities Association that it was one player, and it was self-reported. Those are the facts, confirmed both by the school district and MSHSAA. Anything else was not a fact and was in fact a rumor.

Bosko could never pass this smell test. Boosters always live on rumors.

Huh? That quote doesn't even mention the Booster Club! But having said that, ALL these schools forfeiting games need to take a good, long look at their Booster Clubs. ANY good Booster Club know how to "rub elbows" with the governing state bodies. Allegedly, things can quietly just "go away".

 

[hangmanbobbyjaggers]

Will the CR mess just go away?

 

[86THS]

Huh? That quote doesn't even mention the Booster Club! But having said that, ALL these schools forfeiting games need to take a good, long look at their Booster Clubs. ANY good Booster Club know how to "rub elbows" with the governing state bodies. Allegedly, things can quietly just "go away".

I'm a fan of Peaky Blinders and Yellowstone. Heck with the booster club, what you need is a good "fixer" and things will magically, and sometimes not quietly, go away.

 

[JNsDaddyzDaddyIownU]

I'm a fan of Peaky Blinders and Yellowstone. Heck with the booster club, what you need is a good "fixer" and things will magically, and sometimes not quietly, go away.

As a fan of the Soporanos. "Going away" has one meaning.

 

[Stagolee]

His main point seems to be to lecture unnamed people for vague transgressions, and to make sure he is considered a professional journalist.

 

[JNsDaddyzDaddyIownU]

His main point seems to be to lecture unnamed people for vague transgressions, and to make sure he is considered a professional journalist.

Hahah...so true. I guess aspiring Twitter/X posters better get their Jourlism Degrees from the University of Missouri before they go around posting information.

 

[r14veer]

For a bit of perspective: it turns out that when people who are trained for a job see other people who are untrained in that field trying to do that job (breaking newsworthy items) but maybe not up to the same standards, they get annoyed. I can't say I blame Dion for it; I would probably feel the same in my field, as do most of us in our own fields.

Having said that, though, I don't know that an Artist Formerly Known As Twitter account is journalistic, just by its very nature. But at the same time, the act of attempting to break news is, by its nature, journalistic. In other words, I'm not saying that the account he's referring to is trying to be a journalist, but they are functioning in that way, given how many people consume news in today's world. So again, I see his point, though I don't fully agree with it.

Of course, Dion probably wouldn't be so pissy about it if the general public didn't treat social media as actual news and perhaps did a little bit of verification for themselves. But then we've shown time and time again that verification isn't a skill that many possess in much quantity, especially when something fits a narrative that we want to believe.

 

[CaptainMullet]

I'm pretty sure one of the accounts he's referencing was the one that immediately said it was 20 players who were ineligible. Not sure if was the same account that has a tagline of "not trying to be first, just here to report the news."

 

[r14veer]

I'm pretty sure one of the accounts he's referencing was the one that immediately said it was 20 players who were ineligible. Not sure if was the same account that has a tagline of "not trying to be first, just here to report the news."

I guess that pretty much makes it attempted journalism.