by Holley Simmons

That's because NPR considers sports as news and treats it as such, by reporting it as it happens.

When an NPR newscaster announced the winner of the French Open Semi-Finals on June 6, our office received a few emails from not-amused tennis enthusiasts. These fans were upset that a spoiler alert wasn't given.

 

Listener Frank Luke writes;

"What a bummer for us on the West Coast to have the beans spilled and fun spoiled. This morning at 7 a.m. the results of the French Open tennis results for the men's semifinals were announced so watching the match would not be as enjoyable for us fans here in Hawaii. OK it's only the semifinals. I can forgive that, but please give the sports announcements a heads up before you blab the results, PLEASE! The finals will be coming up, and I hope you will be considering my plea. You don't like story endings to be disclosed do you?"

Mr. Luke has a point. The newscaster gave no indication that the name of the winner was going to be announced for those who had not seen the match.

However, it is NPR newscast policy to simply state the news rather than offer alerts.

Although this policy may seem more like a kill-joy, it's done in the listener's best interest. Newscasts are merely seconds long, and every second represents a reporter's opportunity to share pressing information. If time were devoted to giving alerts for every potentially spoiling story, there would be little time left for other more urgent world issues.

Furthermore, there is no general NPR policy which mandates sports "spoiler alerts." That's because NPR considers sports as news and treats it as such, by reporting it as it happens.

When I asked NPR's Uri Berliner, deputy national editor whose duties include editing sports, to comment, he said:

"Today we live in a 24/7 news cycle. We're bombarded with news on the television, on our personal devices, the internet, and on the radio. We no longer have to go home at the end of the day to get our information. Therefore it'd be unrealistic to protect every listener from breaking sports results. Plus, if time is devoted to disrupting our coverage every time we're about to announce the outcome of a game or event, where do you draw the line? We've never had a policy in place since I've been at NPR regarding alerts in our sports coverage, and I don't see one in the future due to the impracticality of such a policy."

The ubiquitous nature of news, whether it be on the radio or your co-workers at the water cooler ("Did you see the game last night?!") makes it near impossible to avoid.

And when it comes down to it, being correctly informed can be considered more vital than being surprised.