Jaguars reporter’s kindness to Liam Coen is not the end of sports journalism as we know it

Sports are emotional. Sports are people-driven. But in the Year of our Lord 2026, as basic human decency and kindness are becoming endangered species in the United States, apparently the most unprofessional, unethical behavior a journalist could demonstrate is … being nice to a head coach whose team was just eliminated from the postseason?

Adam Schefter shared a snippet of Jaguars head coach Liam Coen’s post-game press conference following the team’s Wild Card Weekend loss to the Buffalo Bills. The reporter asking the question is Jacksonville Free Press’s Associate Editor Lynn Jones-Turpin, a longtime journalist covering the game for Duval’s Black newspaper.

The response to this interaction has been ridiculous. Taking 20 seconds to be kind doesn’t interfere with anyone else’s coverage. The Jaguars had an incredible turnaround this season, and acknowledging that in a tough moment for their first-time head coach is not problematic in any way, shape, or form. I can’t even count the dozens of times a man has cut me off mid-question in a press conference, or has failed to pay attention and then duplicated questions asked by female reporters, which actually is a waste of everyone’s time. Why are we getting so worked up about 20 seconds of friendliness?

Meanwhile, a similar exchange in Cleveland last week went generally unnoticed. The fact that a man was involved in that one instead of a Black woman isn’t a coincidence.

What’s being missed in this conversation is the fact that fans are the audience. And understanding your audience and their mindset leads to more interesting, effective coverage.

Liking a team and appreciating and respecting players, coaches and other team personnel is not an obstacle to objective coverage. Fandom and objectivity are not mutually exclusive, and sports media has evolved. If you want pure analysis with no emotion, cool. That definitely exists. You can probably take a look at the quote-tweets on Schefter’s post and find yourself a whole bunch of traditional media bros to follow.

But it doesn’t mean that Jones-Turpin’s approach here was wrong or problematic in any way. And I’d like to let her have the last word here.

“Support the Black Press. You can call me fake all you want to, honey. I’ve been doing this a long time,” Jones-Turpin said.