Bobby Petrino Dresses Down Reporter (Video)
Mistake costs a former classmate of mine her job...
I haven't spoken to Renee Gork since I left my WRUF radio days behind in college. In fact, I'd lost track of where her career had taken her. I'm sure she'd rather I, along with thousands of others, had re-discovered her under better circumstances.
Gork wore a Florida Gators hat to a post-scrimmage press conference held by Arkansas football coach Bobby Petrino. His cold reaction to the hat after answering one of her questions is above.
"And that will be the last question I answer with that hat on."
Those in the sports media are not supposed to wear team gear for the same reason that you don't see a political reporter wearing a "Vote Obama" shirt while covering the campaign trail. We are taught to strive for complete objectivity in our coverage.
Gork was fired by KAKS, the northwest Arkansas radio station she worked for, on Monday following the weekend incident.
Station general manager Dan Storrs telling the Associated Press: "This radio station is Hog Sports Radio. We are very biased. We support the Razorbacks 100 percent."
Oh, remember that whole objectivity thing I mentioned? It doesn't apply to corners of the world where professionalism and irony have not yet reached.
Even as a student at the on-campus flagship radio station of the Florida Gators in Gainesville, Florida, we were forbidden from ever using "we" or "us" when referring to the Gators. We were not biased in our coverage. We did not profess our "100 percent support." Why? Because it's behavior unbefitting a professional in this business.
"Hog Sports Radio" should be just as embarrassed by its GM's statement as Gork's choice of apparel.
Here's hoping Gork learns from her error and that the GM who fired her one day grasps the foolishness in his own statement.
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