FORT WORTH - TCU Athletics fully restored media credentials to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Friday, ending a brief ban that kept the city's primary daily paper out of the press box for the Horned Frogs' season opener in Dublin.
"Today, TCU Athletics fully restored media credentials to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram," the school said in a statement posted with a letter from athletic director Mike Buddie. "In a series of productive discussions, we made clear our position and resolved to move forward. We respect their role as an independent news source and voice in our community, and we look forward to the season ahead."
ESPN reported that Star-Telegram beat writer Steven Johnson wrote on social media, "Let's get back to football, shall we?" after the restoration. Johnson still covered the North Carolina game in Ireland without credentials after TCU pulled access late last month.
What Buddie put on the record
Buddie's letter, posted on gofrogs.com, framed the dispute around August reporting of a locker-room incident involving two football players - one hospitalized, one later dismissed from the team. He wrote that sports medicine staff treated the injured athlete on site before hospital transport, that coach Sonny Dykes suspended the other player the same day, and that Dykes permanently dismissed him on Aug. 15.
"Our concern was never that the Star-Telegram reported on a particular incident, scrutinized our football program or published information critical of our university," Buddie wrote. "Instead, we took exception to their publication of an uncorroborated account that shifted the blame to the victim. This resulted in threats against the victim and his family."
TCU had revoked the paper's athletics credentials for one game while talks continued. Buddie said those conversations in recent days were productive and that credentials were restored Friday. He also wrote that any dispute over coverage is secondary to an ongoing criminal case and that the department would continue cooperating with authorities.
