With Dave “Feldy” Feldman’s departure from WTTG Fox 5, it’s time to expose the ugly truth… where the camera isn’t filming. For those of you who don’t know, when the press shows up to events, it’s an unwritten rule that they dress respectably. That doesn’t mean they need to wear a suit and tie (though highly prominent sports journalists do), so long as they don’t look like a slob.
Shortly after he took over the sports department at WTTG more than ten years ago, I saw him at the coach’s press conference of a preseason Redskins game. Wearing shorts. Shorts. No other journalist I’ve ever known would do that. Just a couple of years ago, I caught him in the press box of a Capitals game. This time? Torn jeans.
So long as they’ve got on a jacket and tie, it’s not uncommon for television journalists to wear jeans or something more comfortable, because the camera isn’t filming there. But Feldman took it too far.
Scandal? No. Unprofessional? I’d say. Feldman, surely an above-average sportscaster, may feel that his local Emmys gives him some entitlement. But what if all of the journalists showed up looking like that, bloggers included? Dressing respectably matters for credibility.
A few months ago, ESPN’s Michael Wilbon declared to an audience at University of Maryland that young journalists “look like shit.” With veterans like Dave Feldman showing up looking even worse, it’s a wonder why.
