Course: Ethics 101. Student: ESPN. Grade: F. March 10, 2019

I don't post in here much, not my place. I thought this was a pretty good piece. Enjoy.

Course: Ethics 101. Student: ESPN. Grade: F.

 

I might be alone in this, but broadcasters have always operated as "salespeople" for sports and teams. Reading ads, promoting other things etc. I don't consider this some ethical breach of journalism. The only real journalists at events are sideline reporters.
Is there that much difference between the WWE announcers and what we see on NBC, FOX, CBS and ABC ESPN?

 

Are they still working on those ethical guidelines?

Schreiber: ESPN can have rules, edge

 

It's not just Mendoza, but breaching the church/state wall is old hat in Bristol. Berman was endorsing a restaurant chain for a while. Darned if I can recall which one, though, which tells how well it worked.

 

It's funny, back in the day I remember how appalled I was when news reporters started opting for clip-on mikes instead of the hand-helds. I've always thought the difference between a journo and a personality was whether they held a mike or not. If you are using your hands to "perform" or better sell the story - you're not a journo. It sounds silly, but the more I think about it - and how I view the TV news magazines, the walking interviews etc. - I think I'm right.
And let's not get into how ESPN downgrades sports properties it doesn't broadcast and how it pumps up those it does. How most of it's "journalism" is focused away from professional sports leagues.

 

It's a breach. Nobody apparently gives a shit, but it's a breach.

 

Am I the only one here who thinks Mendoza’s just not good in the broadcast booth?

 

It’s wrong.

I could give a shit if Kenny Mayne is selling Fords, but she covers baseball and this is a baseball team.

I still like the MLB guys the best even if they are paid by the league. The TNT guys on hoops are the best in the business, though.

 

Those pregame national broadcast pow wows with the teams should be interesting ... why would you as a rival ever give her any info that might be useful to the Mets?

 

Is the thinking that Mendoza might get inside info from one team and give it a team they're playing?

And as bad as that would be - I imagine the growth of sports wagering will be even worse with some of these loose ethics rules.

 

She's working on player development and roster construction with potential access to inside info .. .. Is the Nationals manager going to tell her how his outfielder fixed his swing when she works for the Mets and could then help those pitchers get him out? Can she use any of that info from those sessions to suggest trades/players to target?

Obviously on some level any Met employee could listen to the broadcast and glean that info from any announcer... But when the ESPN person youre talking to is drawing a check from a team in your division thats got to send up reg flags