Where do sports writers (ie. AP) get their breaking news?

Question

Example: My fav team, Clemson. Where do writers and what not get the info that player A broke his ankle today or something like that?

Whats to stop a sports blogger from finding out the info first?

Answer 1

They are journalists. They attend the game, interview the coach or have a tip from some one that they try to verify

Answer 2

It's their full-time job to stay on top of what's happening with the team.  They have a working relationship with the players, coaches and owners.  They spend as much time with the team as possible.  

Theoretically, a blogger could do the same thing.  However, most college and professional teams give far greater access to newspaper, radio and television staff members.  They know those media, and they know that people trust them.  I could go to a major league team and say I'm starting a blog about them, but why would they go out of their way for me if they've never heard of me before?  If they knew I was capable of providing fair reporting, and that thousands of people were reading my blog every day, sure, they'd give me all the access I want.  But most bloggers, unless they're already affiliated with a legitimate media outlet, couldn't come close.  

Answer 3

Depends on the circumstance.

Let's see -- say a player breaks that ankle in a practice. Chances are that a reporter was there to see it. He calls the office, dictates a couple of paragraphs, and out it goes.

Or -- let's say there is a trade by the Jets. The public relations person calls the reporter and says, "We've acquired Brett Favre." The reporter puts it out on the wire, blog, Web site, whatever. When I did public relations, I usually called the local paper first, then the television stations, then the wire service, then the radio stations. The AP usually took care of everyone else. (To be honest, sometimes friendship played a part in the order of the calls.) It might be different in an Internet age.

If a blogger hears about something, or sees it himself, he might be able to beat the AP or local paper. One example -- if he or she is watching a game on television, he probably could instantly update his blog, while the AP story would have to go through some editing and take a few minutes to actually get to the wire.