{"id":2084,"date":"2026-01-12T18:25:36","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T18:25:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/?p=2084"},"modified":"2026-01-12T18:25:36","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T18:25:36","slug":"sports-media-reacts-to-one-of-its-own-in-press-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/sports-media\/sports-media-reacts-to-one-of-its-own-in-press-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"Sports Media Reacts To One Of Its Own In Press Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In media, the old adage is to &#8220;cover the story and not become the story.&#8221;\u00a0 But this past weekend, a credentialed member of the media showed her emotions during the postgame press conference, and other media members across the country decided it was the right time to show off their &#8220;unbiased&#8221; nature.<\/p>\n<p>It started after <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/jaguars\/\" target=\"_self\">Jacksonville&#8217;<\/a>s 27-24 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Saturday, when Lynn Jones, a reporter and editor at the <em>Jacksonville Free Press<\/em> with more than 20 years on the job was called on for a question by Jaguars head coach Liam Coen.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I want to congratulate you on your success, young man,&#8221; Jones started.\u00a0 &#8220;You guys have had a most magnificent season.\u00a0 You did a great job out there.\u00a0 So you just hold your head up, OK?&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This reporter&#8217;s message to Liam Coen following the Jags&#8217; Wild Card loss \ud83e\udd79 <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/wq4yhG317y\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/wq4yhG317y<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ESPNNFL\/status\/2010477991415914771?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 11, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>She did not ask a question of the head coach, but Coen appeared to be grateful for Jones&#8217; words.<\/p>\n<p>But her opinion <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.barstoolsports.com\/blog\/3560648\/legacy-media-and-the-big-js-are-freaking-out-over-the-most-innocent-between-a\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">set off a firestorm<\/a> of other reporters who didn&#8217;t care for what she said for a multitude of reasons.<\/p>\n<h2>The Media Weighs In On One Of Their Own<\/h2>\n<p>Most reporters, like former ESPN SportsCenter anchors Stan Verrett and Trey Wingo believe Jones&#8217; message to Coen was sincere, but that the media&#8217;s postgame press conference was the wrong place to do it.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I don\u2019t mind what the reporter did in Jacksonville. But pull the coach aside before or after the news conference and do it privately. She meant well. It was sweet. It was the wrong place.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 stan verrett (@stanverrett) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/stanverrett\/status\/2010547856403579067?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 12, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Respectfully\u2026 this was something you say to the coach 1 on 1.. not in front of everyone else who might actually want to ask a question pertaining to the game <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/L4A2pqygum\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/L4A2pqygum<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 trey wingo (@wingoz) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wingoz\/status\/2010550787869643055?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 12, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>ESPN reporter Jenna Laine pointed out that if she had done something similar when she started reporting nearly 20 years ago, she would have been thrown out of the locker room.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This reporter sounds incredibly sweet and thoughtful. I can tell she comes from a place of love. But if one of us &#8211; her female peers &#8211; did this after a postseason game in 2007, we would not have been allowed back. Women have fought really hard to be in these spaces. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/LMjaAPcSsO\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/LMjaAPcSsO<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 JennaLaineESPN (@JennaLaineESPN) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JennaLaineESPN\/status\/2010537255106949557?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 12, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, some reporters, like Mark Long and John Wawrow of The Associated Press, really took a hard line over what Jones did.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Nothing \u201cawesome\u201d about fans\/fake media doing stuff like that. It should be embarrassing for the people who credentialed her and her organization, and it\u2019s a waste of time for those of us actually working. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/sP2vAEJYj4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/sP2vAEJYj4<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Mark Long (@APMarkLong) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/APMarkLong\/status\/2010479686585819483?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 11, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Either be a reporter. Or be a fan.<br \/>\nYou can\u2019t do both. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/pnjJDW2y6q\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/pnjJDW2y6q<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 John Wawrow \ud83e\udd37\u200d\u2642\ufe0f (@john_wawrow) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/john_wawrow\/status\/2010489118577267099?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 11, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>This Reporter&#8217;s Take On What Lynn Jones Did<\/h2>\n<p>Was what Lynn Jones did for Liam Coen Saturday afternoon sweet? Yes, it was.<\/p>\n<p>Did it come from a place of well-meaning?\u00a0 It certainly appeared to be.<\/p>\n<p>Did reporters who may have been on deadline have the right to be upset for her taking 30 seconds (or however long it was) to voice her opinion and not ask a question?\u00a0 Undoubtedly.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s why I think it would have been better for her to not take less time, but instead a few seconds more for context.\u00a0 She could have mentioned something like how it was her readers that told her that they were proud of Coen&#8217;s job this year, and asked a question in the vein of &#8220;What message do you have for those football fans here in Jacksonville who have come back around to the Jaguars because of what you accomplished this year?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>But those thoughts didn&#8217;t come up in the moment, and Lynn Jones acted as a human being with feelings and emotions.\u00a0 Unfortunately, some feel that&#8217;s not a good thing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In media, the old adage is to &#8220;cover the story and not become the story.&#8221;\u00a0 But this past weekend, a credentialed member of the media showed her emotions during the postgame press conference, and other media members across the country decided it was the right time to show off their &#8220;unbiased&#8221; nature. It started after [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5660,"featured_media":2085,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[264,238],"tags":[75,442,441],"class_list":["post-2084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-sports-media","tag-featured","tag-jacksonville-free-press","tag-lynn-jones"],"modified_by":"Steve Carney","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5660"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2084"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2084\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2088,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2084\/revisions\/2088"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}