A reporter offered up encouragement to an NFL head coach after a devastating playoff loss. The Jacksonville Jaguars lost to the Buffalo Bills 27-24 in the Wild Card playoff on Sunday at Everbank Stadium. You would think this team’s loss would make the rounds on social media, but it was what happened after the game that actually went viral.

ESPN Senior NFL Insider Adam Schefter posted a clip of the post-game exchange between Lynn Jones from the Jacksonville Free Press News and Jaguars head coach Liam Coen. In the clip, you only hear Lynn’s comments towards Coach Coen, but I immediately began searching for her name and publication. The exchange was warm and uplifting.

“I’m going to tell you, congratulations on your success, young man,” Jones said. “You hold your head up. You guys have had a most magnificent season. You did a great job out there today. You just hold your head up, OK? Ladies and gentlemen, Duval. You keep it going. We got another season.”

However, many media members voiced their displeasure. 

Media Members such as ESPN NFL reporter Brooke Pryor, who covers the Pittsburgh Steelers; Yahoo Sports senior writer Dan Wolken; The Atlantic Contributing writer Jemele Hill; and Associated Press Sportswriter Mark Long.

Brooke stated, “Look, it’s a kind sentiment, but it’s not the job of a reporter to console a coach in a postgame press conference. Pressers are to ask questions to gain a better understanding of what happened or figure out what’s next– and do it in a limited amount of time.” 

Now I know Brooke thought she ate that, considering this tweet had over a million views, but mam shut up. Lynn is a seasoned journalist who covers local news and culture, so she was ethically correct to share the comment she had. The Jacksonville Free Press represents the Jaguars fan base, which supports the team. 

Now, let’s jump into Dan Wolken’s comments.

Dan simply quote-tweeted Adam Schefter’s tweet, “What would give you the impression that was a reporter?” First off, Dan asked this question to try to dismiss Lynn’s presence in the post-game press conference. Secondly, he continued to explain why he asked that question, which only pissed me off more. Dan stated to someone on Twitter, “the only reason why you’re in that room is to get information about what happened in the game so that you can relay it to the public.” 

In that case, Lynn exceeded her job’s expectations. She didn’t need to beat a loss over this coach’s head because she knew everyone else in that room would do it after her. The connection that local journalists and media outlets have with sports teams is often dismissed because of the popularity of national media outlets. For example, South Carolina women’s basketball head coach Dawn Staley consistently says the local media shows up everywhere her team is, and she demands they be credentialed to be in the room. 

Let’s go visit the Jacksonville Jaguars’ Instagram page, where you will see the team posted the full video clip of Lynn’s introduction and the naming of the publication she works for. 

I am telling you now that if that team and organization didn’t like how she did what she did, they wouldn’t have posted that on their main page. Not even for engagement.  

Let’s move on to what Jemele had to say. 

Jemele Hill quote-tweeted Adam Schefter’s tweet by saying, “That can’t be a reporter. Cause if so, I would not have used the term awesome.” Here we go again. Another media member dismissed someone’s role because they didn’t do what they thought Lynn should’ve done. Let’s continue.

Jemele also replied to one of my favorite Twitter accounts, DragonflyJonez, after he quote-tweeted Brooke Pryor. DragonflyJonez, whose real name is Tyler Puryear, explained to Brooke who Lynn Jones was.

“Hard disagree. This wasn’t some dude from Cincinnati who works for NBC Sports. Saying this was just “consoling” is reductive to the dynamic between local reporters and the coaches/teams they cover. Those who cover sports locally are not just covering X’s and O’s. They’re covering community and a shared kinship in a city. And I’m sure she was speaking for that community when expressing this sentiment. I do not believe that reporters solely need to just ask questions. Sometimes they need to be the mouthpiece for the fandom they cover as well.”

FINALLY SOMEONE WHO GETS IT!!!

Jemele’s reply to this, “Ehhhh… I hear you, but I’m going to push back. You can echo the fan without coming off like this coach’s Auntie. I get it. The media is never going to win these battles because people see the media as self absorbed, but also realize this is a working press room and a lot of other reporters there are on a deadline and need to ask a question. So I imagine a couple of them were like… aight now Auntie.”

Now Jemele, full stop. To be clear, Associate Editor Lynn Jones from the Jacksonville Free Press News has been covering news in Duval County for over 20 years. She has rapport with this team and its organization to the extent that, if she uses her time to address the head coach in this way, it is ethically acceptable.

What’s not acceptable is how many seasoned media members chose this moment to call out a Black woman who was clearly doing her job and being human in that moment. It wasn’t a fan moment. It was a “I SEE YOU” moment. There have been many college football or NFL post-game conferences I’ve sat in where a white man or white woman has said something similar or just overall inappropriate to a head coach and players. This was NOT that moment.

Let’s add this video clip from the Browns post-game conference, where NO media member said this exchange was unprofessional.  I don’t have to wonder why because that was a white man speaking to another white man.

Now let’s add what Mark had to say here, because he actually needs to apologize to Lynn Jones and the Jacksonville Free Press News. 

Mark really fixed his fingers to quote-tweet Adam Schefter’s tweet saying, “Nothing ‘awesome’ about fans/fake media doing stuff like that. It should be embarrassing for the people who credentialed her and her organization, and it’s a waste of time for those of us actually working.” Heavy sigh, and did he really call the Jacksonville Free Press “fake media”? This is how mainstream media outlets and reporters tend to view Black Press outlets and journalists, yet they get their top news stories from us. The Black Press fights against fake news and disinformation daily. 

Conversely, Pat McAfee absolutely fried Jones’s critics after seeing the outrage.

“Love seeing these sports ‘journalists’ getting ABSOLUTELY BURIED for being curmudgeon bums..” he wrote. “OBVIOUSLY NOT ALL OF THEM but a LARGE % of these things hate sports.. they hate what sports are for people (happiness).. They hate what sports are for society (unifier).. they’re political journalists by nature who’ve preyed on sports because they saw it as an easier path to ‘make it.’

One thing that I’ve loved the most about working with the Black Press is our freedom to cover news and connect with our communities. We can use our free will and discernment in our press coverage, and that freedom scares the mainstream media. To know that this Black woman was bold enough to speak to this white man and encourage him in that moment really ruffled feathers amongst media members. 

I want to give credit to Robert Littal of Black Sports Online, who was one of the first media members on Twitter to properly state Lynn Jones’ name and publication. I will say that he misspoke about the Jacksonville Free Press being one of the few Black newspapers out here, when we have over 200 black newspapers still active across this country. I would also like to note that while more mainstream and legacy press publications have stopped printing, our Black newspapers have not.

At this moment, the Black press needs your support. During these difficult times, it was refreshing to hear Lynn express her care and support, when all we hear and see on our social media timelines is terrible news. This is just one of those moments where you need to be okay with what happened and move on. But I am afraid that because it’s the Black press, people will continue to pile on their negative thoughts and energy. Media members do better. 

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