I think that stories that are "breaking news" are more likely to be reported when a member of the media is a trusted source. So, what kind of relationship does that media member have with the sports team, coaches or players?

I remember Bronco Mendenhall not being too pleased a few times with particular media members. Each media person is different. Some cultivate a pretty skeptical, nosy and almost adversarial relationship with sports figures, while others are friendly, professional and easy to trust.

The other thing is that there are different types of news. If a story is going to break, the institution often has an interest in how that story will be perceived or how it reflects on the institution. Sometimes, they really want to control a story or not have it break at all, so they don't cooperate with media or share much at all. Other times, they want to get the story out wildly, which is likely why the Kevin Young hire was coordinated so that a national figure like Adrian Wojnarowski released it - they wanted a major splash (and got it). Local media would not have had the same effect.

All of these things, I think, can impact how news gets broken (or not) by local journalists. I like local journalists, however, because they do often have program ties or historical knowledge that is really useful. Some folks struggle with Jay Drew, but his recent story about Coach Young's press conference and hire had a great story and insight in there about how Coach Young's path was influenced by former BYU coach Tony Ingle. That interesting detail is only there because Jay Drew has a lot of historical knowledge and background of BYU sports swimming around in his head - and that tidbit made a great angle in the story.