Understanding the Dallas Cowboys Media

In the Sports World, it doesn't get any more high profile than the Dallas Cowboys. Everyone who comes to the Cowboys from other teams, for whatever reason, are always shocked at the amount of media activity surrounding all things Cowboys.

In fact, a legitimate part of the Cowboys story is the personalities providing various types of coverage for the world to consume. From the strict reporting of mundane statistics to the tabloid unreality of PacMan's diet, one has to wonder what type of psychological profile is required to report on the Cowboys.

While we can't possibly profile each person who engages in highly public coverage (We'll save that for later), we can speak in broad generalities which give insight to the circumstances involved in the broad range of media coverage.

First, you have the completely independent freelance writer/reporter/blogger. This person has no allegiances to anything or anyone other than himself. Therefore, there's no surprise to anything this person might say or do. Nothing is taboo. Whatever brings attention to him and his enterprise, whatever that may be, is the norm. For that reason alone, this person is usually never taken seriously as a professional anything.

Then you have the professional media types. This is where you find most of the writers/reporters and, yes, even bloggers. Not afraid to turn attention to themselves, they, nevertheless, tend to moderate their actions when it comes to covering America's Team. This is usually because their professional contractual obligations to media organizations such as Newspapers, Television Networks and even advertisers, limits unapproved activities which would tend to bring unwanted or negative attention to the group. So, actions are carefully policed by the individual rather than depending on the Organization, because once it gets to the organizational authorities, it's usually too late to remedy the situation. In other words, the media person should already be sprucing up his or her resume or looking for additional advertisers.

Finally, we come to the pitiful world of the media types strictly employed by the sports organization itself. While deluding themselves into thinking that they possess the journalistic freedom to print their own thoughts, they, nonetheless, are limited in what they can actually write or say, especially when it comes to decisions of the coaches and/or management and especially the ownership. This is even more true in the case of the Dallas Cowboys. The poor souls who are employed by Jerry Jones, while obviously having an envied position, are still trapped, whether they admit it or not. Rather than truly investigate and write what they have found to be true, their journalistic hands are tied. Well, let's just say, they are motivated to write things that tend to put all things Cowboys in as positive a light as possible. And that motivation is monetary in nature.

Criticism? Not allowed! Well, not so you would notice. It is usually buried within the layers of explanations as to why or how the Cowboys made and implemented a certain organizational policy or decision. Legitimately question a decision of the owner? As I said, not so you would notice. And as I also said, your job is at stake. Question a decision of the Head Coach? Maybe, but carefully. It's usually couched in discussing the myriad of possibilities available to the coach at the time.

So, in seeking to understand the unusual media world of covering the Dallas Cowboys, it's good to realize that all is not as it seems. At the same time, most involved are completely sane, though there are some who appear to live on the edge of that media sanity. Others cannot afford to even consider approaching the edge. Their very media life depends on it.