Yesterday afternoon, the colege of Industrial and Labor Relations’ Sports Management Club hosted a panel to examine the effect sports media has on management and players. Panelists included Cornell basketball head coach Steve Donahue, former minor league pitcher Michael Wagner and Sun Sports Editor Keenan Weatherford ’11.

Junior Mathew Sevin, vice-president of the ILR Sports Management club, moderated the discussion, which spanned from the media’s portrayal of collegiate and professional athletes to the relationship between the media and athletes.

Wagner, who played college ball at Vanderbilt where he was roommates with Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher David Price, offered insights from his days sharing the rubber with the first overall selection of the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft. Wagner also played in the Texas Rangers organization from 2006-07 and was selected in the 18th round of the 2006 draft.

Donahue addressed his concerns about the media criticizing athletes and the blurring of the distinction between amateurs who play for their schools and professionals who play for a living. According to Donahue, his players are coached on the court in the game of basketball and off the court in how to deal with the media.

“You try to talk to guys and [tell them] to be simple, be humble, be truthful to a point,” Donahue said. “You don’t want to hurt anyone in this locker room nor do you want to affect feelings in the other locker room. It’s just important to represent yourself, your families and our organization in the right way.”

Unfortunately, the media does not always have the best of intentions, according to Wagner, a graduate student in the Johnson School of Management and former Seattle Mariners scout.

“[Look at] what’s happened with Alex Rodriguez,” Wagner cautioned. “The media loved Alex Rodriguez. He was on Sports Illustrated to start every year in baseball. Even before the steroid thing came out, he had a date with Madonna or he had something going in New York City with an escort and then a lot of the facts aren’t confirmed, but some in the media take it, run with it and publish it. Everything’s in print and everybody has a tendency to believe what they read first and rationalize it later.”

When asked about the media’s “love-hate” relationship with collegiate and professional athletes, Weatherford offered his own code of ethics when it comes to sports journalism.

“Ideally, the media would never love anyone,” Weatherford said. “Theoretically, they’re impartial. They don’t play favorites. It’s the journalists’ job to report what they think is the truth. As far as publishing things that aren’t confirmed, that’s obviously very detrimental to everyone involved. It’s detrimental to the player who was lied about, to the publication and definitely to the writer. They all lose credibility and no one wins in that situation.”

The ILR Sports Management club seeks to educate people about opportunities in the field of sports management and to assist its 25-30 club members in gaining employment in the sports industry. The recently established club was started by the senior class and currently publishes a magazine, produces a radio show and hosts several speaker series.

“Ultimately, we want to be working in sports, specifically, with teams,” Sevin said. “That may change when we get older and we may want to work for a league. There’s something about this club that attracts people to it whether it’s ‘I want to work in sports or something that this club entails whether it’s marketing or journalism.”