Sports Media Bias Bubbles Up Again (Media Review)

We thought we liked University of Arkansas women’s basketball Coach Gary Blair as much as the next guy until we heard some recent comments by Mike Olmstead. A sports anchor for NBC 24/51, KPOM/KFAA, Olmstead has interjected his opinion into several reports about Blair’s March 31 departure for Texas A&M University.

Blair, a Texas native, left the Lady Razorbacks to accept a five-year deal worth a base salary of $1.75 million ($350,000 annually) at A&M. His base salary at Arkansas was $175,000 annually.

During an April 17 report, Olmstead noted that Blair would be back in Arkansas during May for his annual charity golf tournament, a sign that Blair was still “fulfilling his obligations” although the school where he coached for 10 years didn’t do the same.

Getting outbid by a school with a bigger athletic budget does not make the UA irresponsible. Obviously, Olmstead had a personal friendship with Blair that bled into his reporting. In a former life, we too saw Jerry Jeff Walker sing the “Texas Blues” and shared many a “Sliver Bullet” with Blair. But a story is still just a story, especially when it’s just business.

We also noticed that Olmstead’s biography at the station’s Web site includes the following description:

“Mike is originally from Indiana and has no problem whatsoever switching his love for Hoosier basketball to that of the Razorbacks.”

That smacks of the kind of unobjectivity that could only be equaled by Otis Kirk, who covers collegiate recruiting for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.