The life of a Knicks beat reporter sounds awful (and I feel sorry for them)

November 28th, 2007 | Posted by PostmanR

I don’t mean to pepper the day’s blogging with tales of old vs. new media; I just play it as it lies. (I had to hit it off Frankenstein’s fat foot!) Anyways, the New York Observer drops a piece on us here about the life of a New York Knicks beat reporter. I have heard stories about the oddities and general malaise of franchise, but this certainly seems to grab hold of those and run to the hills with them. Besides the quotes from columnists and reporters talking about how draining and awful the job presents itself as and how stifling management is, there was this:

“I believe our policies work for everybody across the board,” said Mr. Watkins. “If some particular people don’t like or don’t feel good about it, I can’t control what they think.”

Garden policy has meant that before and after every game, there is a media relations official—a minder, really—with a BlackBerry in hand who furiously types away while listening to reporters’ conversations. The notes that the official takes are then e-mailed up the chain of command.
When I spoke with Mr. Isola, the News reporter, on Saturday afternoon on the Garden floor, he pointed to a media relations official watching us. “He’s taking note that I’m talking to you,” he said.

On Monday night before a game against the Jazz, six reporters were speaking with forward Malik Rose. Nick Brown, a public relations official for the Knicks, was recording the proceedings on his BlackBerry, in an e-mail prepared for the Knicks’ head of P.R., Jonathan Supranowitz.

Sometimes Mr. Supranowitz does the monitoring himself.

“I take notes, absolutely,” said Mr. Supranowitz. “A P.R. person must be present for every interview. That’s a Garden policy.”

(Even, apparently, for interviews with other P.R. people: Mr. Supranowitz typed into his BlackBerry while I was speaking with his boss, Mr. Watkins.)

For the record, I have a stenographer recording my every move during blogging activities. It’s usually just me typing stuff up and then scratching my crotch. These are then forwarded on to PostmanE, who usually just laughs and shakes his head. See: bloggers and beat writers have so much in common!