Sarah Spain says WNBA players need ‘real media,’ but that sounds more like league-approved PR
Sarah Spain thinks the WNBA should steer its players toward what she calls "real media."
That’s a PR job. Not a journalism job.
On a recent episode of her podcast, Spain said she wants the league to keep setting up relationships with "the real media" that covers the WNBA "in a fair way."
Her definition of fair is pretty clear. Players trust the outlet, the outlet helps build their brands and the WNBA helps make the relationship happen.
She’s laying out a league-approved list of "reporters" players are supposed to trust.
The people who don’t make it? Spain threw them in with "a rando" on the internet spreading "bulls---."
And, by the way, Spain’s already inside the system she wants the league to grow. Spain's podcast has recently featured Connecticut Sun assistant coach Roneeka Hodges, Golden State Valkyries guard Veronica Burton, Seattle Storm players Dominique Malonga and Awa Fam, WNBA legends Cheryl Swoopes and Ticha Penicheiro, and former WNBA president Donna Orender.
Spain has the access and she calls that fair coverage. Then she says the WNBA should help its players find more outlets like hers.
That's convenient, huh?
The WNBA has publicists, marketers, agents, sponsors and social media teams to build brands. It doesn't need to turn reporters into another arm of that operation.
Spain’s preferred media setup is already taking shape in the WNBA.
I know because the teams have put it in writing.
The Atlanta Dream denied an OutKick credential request for its Aug. 5 game against the Phoenix Mercury. In follow-up answers, the Dream said it had denied 14 applications, given priority to season credential holders and outlets that consistently cover the team, and considered "the tone of coverage."
Tone of coverage.
That has nothing to do with whether a reporter got facts wrong. It has everything to do with whether the team likes the way it is being covered.
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The other credential denials use different words, but the same record keeps pointing in one direction.
The Dallas Wings said priority went to outlets that regularly cover the Wings and WNBA. The Connecticut Sun cited "reputable media/wire services" and outlets with a record of covering the organization. The Las Vegas Aces said it would prioritize local outlets and organizations that regularly provide editorial coverage of the Aces and WNBA.
The Chicago Sky asked a Fox News reporter about his planned coverage, denied the request and said credentials were for media covering games "for basketball purposes."
Then Atlanta told us it weighs tone.
That’s the one that matters.
The WNBA can call the preferred outlets reputable. Spain can call them real media. But a credential decision based on tone is still a team deciding whether it likes the reporter doing the coverage.
And the league just gave us another example.
When it wanted the public to know Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White were ineligible for the 2027 draft, the WNBA didn’t answer OutKick’s questions about the rule it used. Instead, unnamed league sources told Front Office Sports the men were ineligible and called their declarations "simply publicity stunts."
Front Office Sports printed the conclusion and the league’s framing. But it never told readers whether it asked the WNBA to define "woman," explain its eligibility standard or say how Freedom and White failed it. If it did ask, readers were never told the WNBA refused to answer.
That’s different from the treatment OutKick gets when we report something inconvenient for the league. Then Front Office Sports wants documentation, competing sources and a discussion about our motives.
Spain says the WNBA should steer players toward "real media" outlets they can trust. The league has already made clear which outlets it trusts: the ones that will carry its message without making it answer the question.
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USA Today columnist Christine Brennan asked DiJonai Carrington whether she intentionally poked Caitlin Clark in the eye during the 2024 WNBA playoffs. It was a question that had to be asked after an incident happened on the court, yet the WNBA Players’ Association responded by calling for Brennan to lose her access.
Spain has gone after Brennan, too. Earlier this summer, she called Brennan’s Caitlin Clark coverage a "dereliction of duties as a journalist" and questioned whether Brennan’s book promotion explained her singular focus on Clark.
In Spain’s version of "real media," the reporters who ask the wrong questions don't belong.
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Then Sophie Cunningham said "biological men" shouldn't compete in girls’ and women’s sports. Days later, the WNBA’s biggest players and Commissioner Cathy Engelbert were available all weekend in Chicago for All-Star festivities.
The questions should have been obvious to any reporter interested in doing their job.
Do you agree with Cunningham? Does the WNBA support female-only sports? What is the league’s policy on transgender eligibility?
The reporters with access didn’t ask.
Spain had access, too. She moderated a panel at the WNBA’s All-Star Media & Innovation Summit, hosted a live show, sat courtside at the game and later said she spoke with Paige Bueckers, Fever coach Stephanie White, Stephanie Dolson and Aliyah Boston.
Her All-Star recap had plenty about the parties, cookies, mascots and her baseline seat. It didn't include a single question about Cunningham’s comments, female-only sports or the WNBA’s transgender eligibility rules.
And when Fever coach Stephanie White read a prepared statement accusing unnamed people of hate, fear mongering and divisiveness, WNBA media elevated the rehearsed rant into an "important" moment instead of testing a single one of those claims.
Spain predictably took White’s side, too. She played part of White’s performative outrage speech on her podcast, said she was "adamantly opposed to Sophie Cunningham’s grift" and said White "was warranted in that anger and frustration."
Spain wants the league steering players toward outlets that will help build their brands and tell them who to trust. Those are the outlets she calls "real media."
The reporters who ask questions the league doesn’t want answered get hit with a credential denial, accused of having the wrong tone or brushed off as "randos."
That isn’t fair coverage.
It’s a loyalty test that punishes the reporters who are actually doing their jobs.