Our short, regional nightmare is over. TCU has restored the Fort Worth Star-Telegram\u2019s media credentials a little over a week after rescinding them.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, TCU Athletics fully restored media credentials to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram,\u201d read a short statement<\/a> from TCU Athletics on Friday. \u201cIn a series of productive discussions, we made clear our position and resolved to move forward. We respect their role as an independent news source and voice in our community, and we look forward to the season ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n On August 26, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram\u00a0reported<\/a> that the school had rescinded the news outlet\u2019s media credentials\u00a0after a dispute over the paper\u2019s reporting on a locker room incident that led to the dismissal of senior safety Jacob Fields from the football team.<\/p>\n \u201cIn a phone conversation Sunday, a TCU athletics spokesman said the\u00a0Star-Telegram\u2019s\u00a0credentials were being pulled because the coverage resulted in threats to the victim,\u201d reporter Jim Barnes wrote<\/a>. \u201cThe Star-Telegram\u00a0did not identify the player, junior wide receiver Dozie Ezukanma, until three days after the initial report, when he identified himself in a now-deleted Instagram video.\u201d<\/p>\n If the athletic department\u2019s intention was to put pressure on the news outlet not to follow up on the story, it didn\u2019t work. Shambhavi Rimal of the\u00a0Star-Telegram\u00a0reported<\/a> that\u00a0TCU wide receiver Dozie Ezukanma ended up in the hospital for three days with severe injuries after Fields punched and kicked him in the head.<\/p>\n \u201cTCU football player Dozie Ezukanma was not sent to the ER for nearly two hours after he was attacked by a teammate in the locker room and suffered a concussion and brain bleed, according to TCU police,\u201d longtime Star-Telegram\u00a0columnist\u00a0Bud Kennedy posted on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n TCU received extensive criticism for revoking the Star-Telegram\u2018s credentials. Clarence Hill Jr.<\/a>, President of the Dallas-Fort Worth Association of Black Journalists, and Shehan Jeyarajah<\/a>, President of the Football Writers Association of America, were among those who shared support for the Star-Telegram and TCU beat writer Steven Johnson.<\/p>\n