Courting the press

COURTING THE PRESS

FROM PLAYING FOR KEEPS: MICHAEL JORDAN AND THE WORLD HE MADE, BY DAVID HALBERSTAM. RANDOM HOUSE. 423 PP. $24.95.

Jordan was particularly good with the beat reporters in those early years, always accessible and friendly. Part of it was the way he had been raised, part his understanding that this was an important part of his job, part his natural confidence, and part his innate shrewdness. He realized that he could learn a great deal about the league and about other teams - including which players were having trouble with their teammates and their coaches - by talking to reporters informally. He soaked up information readily and traded tidbits of his own, learning, as good politicians learn, that to get information you have to give information. He seemed to have a sixth sense for which of the younger reporters were the comers, the ones who soon would be stars and have their own columns Mike Lupica, Michael Wilbon, David Remnick, Jan Hubbard fl and were worth taking a little extra time with. He was, even then, an astute judge of quality.

Even though the media fascination with him was, by the standards of what was to come, relatively minor, it was immense for a Bulls player in that era, and Tim Hallam the Bulls's press officer, was soon bombarded by requests for interviews. . He would duly make a note of each request on a little pink slip and hand it to Jordan, who dutifully returned every call until about midseason when he came to understand that he was the only player on the team doing this, that everyone else let it fly. The great unwritten rule of the NBA was that if a reporter wanted to talk to a player, he had to nab him in the locker room. In time, Jordan and Hallam worked out a deal: When Hallam had an interview he felt was important, Jordan would do it, but he could also order a steak and charge it to Hallam (even though Jordan was already collecting a handsome per diem.)

Halberstam is the author of sixteen books, including The Best and the Brightest and The Powers That Be.

Copyright Columbia University, Graduate School of Journalism May/Jun 1999
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