Locker room filming should end

Officially we at CincyJungle could be considered part of the media. We report the news, do player interviews and create original content all surrounding the Cincinnati Bengals. One thing we don't have currently is credentialed access to the field, players or locker rooms. I think press access to locker rooms should be banned as well.

Forget for a second the recent incident. It is unfortunate that locker room footage, unknowingly was broadcast to the world of some of the Cincinnati Bengals. Sure, it was laughed off, but really, you could make the case a crime was committed in airing that footage. So lineman Andrew Whitworth, who has earned the respect of his peers, took offense in the media. End of story right?

Nope.

Martin Rogers of the USA Today decided to publish a rebuttal to Whitworth's outrage. With what he thought was a clever play on words,

"But Whitworth's plea to overhaul the league's media policy thanks to a poorly aimed locker room camera, is a bigger load of junk than, well, you got the picture."

It's turns out to be very offensive and egotistical of the reporter.

Rogers' argument is around the access that media feels it deserves of players after a game. In disguising what he feels is his right for "The Story", Rogers paints a picture of media zones ruining the sport of football. He talks of unruly scrums or players walking by without a comment being bad for the player and the sport.

Sure, we eat up what the Bengals players say after a game because as fans we are living in the moment with them. Would the Seattle comeback lose any luster if we didn't get to hear what Andy Dalton had to say in the locker room as opposed to the post game press conference?

In reality there is such a need for individual journalists to get a story and build a following that they forget they are actually the medium and not the attraction. I am all for player privacy more than some over inflated egos rubbing elbows in a locker room. If Andrew Whitworth and others are uncomfortable with working conditions, they have a right to ask for change. The offenders shouldn't get a vote against the offended.

There is a possible compromise. What if only audio was permitted in the locker room and video of the post game press conference? Wouldn't that be a logical compromise?