By Scott Salomon
The framers of the United States Constitution must be rolling over in their graves tonight as the freedom of the press aspect of the First Amendment obviously does not have any meaning to USC Head Football Coach Lincoln Riley.
Riley, acting like a communist dictator restricting the free press, acting in a Putin-esque style, initially suspended Orange County Register reporter Luca Evans for an article that he wrote last Thursday about Quinten Joyner. USC, a private institution, receives federal funding, and Riley acted as an employee of the University.
Riley might be the Quarterback Whisperer and be able to stifle defenses with his passing game, but USC should not let Riley anywhere near that law school or the journalism school. He violated the very spirit of what the Constitution was intended to provide, a free and undisturbed press.
The reporter was reinstated early on Thursday and was given back his privileges of covering the Trojans, a beat that he was just getting used to after covering preps at the Los Angeles Times.
Evans and his superiors were initially informed on Tuesday by USC’s Director of Communications for Football, Katie Ryan, that he would be suspended for two weeks from all USC football access, citing what the school felt were multiple violations of its policy for media. This was all over a story that Evans wrote last week.
The Southern California News Group, through written correspondence, pled Evans’ case to Riley and USC’s athletic department officials and asked that he be reinstated. They contended that denial of access was a “clear overreaction.”
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USC Athletic Director Jennifer Cohen wrote back that the school, after careful consideration, stood by the Evans’ suspension.
On Wednesday the SCNG authored another letter to USC officials, this time they went as his as the President of the University, Carol Folt. They asked once again that the suspension be rescinded.
School officials arranged a teleconference between Riley and Evans wherein Riley informed the beat writer that his suspension was lifted.
Riley released a statement welcoming Evans back to the University.
“Last night, I received a phone call from Luca Evans, and we had a very candid and productive conversation. We agreed that we both could have handled the situation differently. I appreciate Luca recognizing the policies we have in place to protect our student athletes and acknowledging to adhere to those in the future. We welcome Luca back to practice and look forward to his continuing coverage of the Trojans.:
Evans said that he was able to share his perspective on the events that led to his suspension.
“Riley made it clear his intent is to protect his players. I made it clear that my intent has always been to tell compelling, honest stories on USC – I respect and understand the program’s outlined policies regarding media access, and any missteps came through the intent of doing my job and pursuing relationship-building and storytelling.
Evans went on to say that “I will continue the same reporting and writing with fairness, accuracy and depth, and we reached an agreement to lift the restriction on access.”
One of Evans’ mentors at the Times had this to say about the newbie on the beat.
“Evans worked as a Los Angeles Times preps writer for a couple of years and left here with a sterling reputation for relentless effort and unquestioned ethics,” veteran journalist Bill Plaschke said. “For a 3-0 team with national title hopes, this is all so distracting. For a coach trying to win his first championship to justify his reported $10-million salary, this is all so unnecessary.”
Riley also said after Tuesday’s practice when that, “the article in question was not accurate.” Riley said that comment didn’t refer to Evans’ story last Thursday about Joyner but to stories by SCNG and other articles that Riley felt inaccurately portrayed the suspension as solely related to the Joyner piece.
