A reporter whose 23 seconds of encouragement for an NFL football coach turned into a conversation about professionalism as a sports journalist isn’t shying away from the moment.
During the Jacksonville Jaguars’ heartbreaking Wild Card round loss to the Buffalo Bills, Lynn Jones, who works for the Jacksonville Free Press, one of 230 African-American newspapers in the country, used her time to speak life into first-year head coach Liam Cohen.
“I just want to tell you, congratulations on your success, young man,” Jones said to Coen on Sunday (Jan. 11). “You hold your head up, all right? You guys have had a most magnificent season. You did a great job out there today. You just hold your head up, OK? Ladies and gentlemen, Duval, you the one. Keep it going, we got another season, OK? Take care, and much continued success to you and the entire team.”
Coen thanked her for her kind words.
The exchange quickly went viral on Twitter and other social media, with several notable sports journalists, past and present, weighing in. Some had positive responses to Jones’ comments while others felt she violated the sanctity of sports journalism. One comment from reporter Mark Long gained plenty of traction.
In his since-deleted tweet, Long wrote, “Nothing “awesome” about fans/fake media doing stuff like that. It should be embarrassing for the people who credentialed her and her organization, and it’s a waste of time for those of us actually working.”
The Jacksonville Free Press did not take too kindly to being labeled “fake media,” leading to a roundtable discussion with Jemele Hill and others on the subject.
A day removed from the conversation and her moment of compassion, Jones spoke to The Athletic and confirmed not only that she wasn’t apologizing for her words of encouragement, but also that she wasn’t backing down after a 30-year career in journalism and ties to the Jaguars organization dating back to their debut season in 1995.
“There are no protocols for a press conference,” Jones told The Athletic. “We do not receive any type of information saying, ‘Hey, you can’t say this, you can’t say that.’ Because I noticed that’s what the controversy is right now.”
The Detroit native added she believes the clip went viral only because the Jaguars lost the game. Having worked in Jacksonville for a number of years, she says her comments spoke for the fans in the city who ride and die with the team. But the incident won’t change how she does her job going forward.
“I’m not getting ready to get into no rules and regulations and what you can and cannot say and cannot do,” she said. “We have enough of this going on already. We’re in communications, we’re in a field. … There’s nothing wrong with expressing how you feel and being emotionally invested.”
The National Association of Black Journalists also stepped up for Jones, releasing a statement on Tuesday (Jan. 13).
“For nearly 200 years, the Black Press has been central to American journalism, documenting history, challenging power, and serving communities long excluded from mainstream coverage,” NABJ president Errin Haines shared in a statement. “Journalists from that tradition bring deep institutional knowledge, community trust, and decades of professional rigor. Debate strengthens journalism. Disparagement does not. Dismissing that work as ‘fake’ or unprofessional is not a defense of standards — it is an act of erasure that reinforces inequity within our industry.”
Ultimately, Jones said she’s not backing away from what she said, nor did she prepare for the moment to occur the way it did. In fact, she wasn’t even going to attend the press conference until she was encouraged to.
