USC Football: Lincoln Riley Defiant In Wake Of Beat Reporter Suspension

An odd situation all around.

In one of college football's most wacky stories to begin the 2023 season, recent reports out of USC and their media coverage have been the focus of national attention for all the wrong reasons. 

With knowledge of the situation, Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley stood firm on his stance of restricting OC Register reporter Luca Evans from interacting with the team for a few weeks, despite support from other reporters that Evans received. 

Asked by @DanGreenspan and @Jim_Alexander about which policies were broken to result in suspending a beat reporter, Lincoln Riley declined to get into specifics. Says "we felt it was far enough that we needed to act on it." pic.twitter.com/6SmtBRb38i

— Thuc Nhi Nguyen (@thucnhi21) September 20, 2023

"Media here have been great partners in my two years here. I've enjoyed working with the media thoroughly. I don't feel like we have too many rules or policies, but the ones that we do have, we take them seriously. Because the first part of my job is not to, even though it is part of my job, is not to the media. It's not to the fans, it's not to anybody else. It's protecting our players. And that is first and foremost. That will always be priority number one. There was enough there in the article in question that was not accurate. There were multiple policies broken and felt like it was far enough that we felt like we needed to act on it. We look forward to welcoming back the reporter in question once that time's up."

via Thuc Nhi Nguyen, LA Times

Said article in question concerned freshman running back Quinten Joyner overcoming his shyness. Still, Evans' process clearly overstepped some boundaries enough for Riley and the university to suspend his credentials for a few weeks. 

Heavily debated, the topics of journalistic ethics, media coverage on college athletics, and Lincoln Riley's handling of the culture around his team have all had various opinions surrounding the situation in one of USC's most controversial stories in quite some time. 

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