How much freedom from media obligations should Naomi Osaka and other athletes get? – The Athletic

In the classic 1938 journalism novel Scoop by Evelyn Waugh, reporters who arrive at a supposed African war zone find no conflict, then create one in a hysterical sendup of the media at the time.

When news hit this week that tennis star Naomi Osaka revealed on Instagram that she would not be meeting with reporters at the French Open that starts Sunday in Paris, I thought of Waughs masterpiece. Unless Osaka shifts her position, reporters wont get to ask her questions about the tournament, or about whether she will play in the Tokyo Olympics or if she thinks they should even occur amid the lingering pandemic.

Osaka, whose mother is Japanese and father is Haitian and who grew up in the U.S., plays under the Japanese flag and is a face for the already once suspended quadrennial games.

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How much freedom from media obligations should Naomi Osaka and other athletes get? - The Athletic