1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

ESPN's Ombudsman Avoids Relevant Issues Going Out the Door,

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by dkphxf, Jan 27, 2011.

  1. dkphxf

    dkphxf Member

    http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=ohlmeyer_don&id=6063051

    "Some might misunderstand the fact that my every comment has not been a scathing, blistering indictment of network miscues. That might be because, after 40 years in the business, I have an appreciation of the intricacies and difficulties of what ESPN is trying to accomplish. There is plenty to criticize in Bristol, but in some respects I marvel at how well the company presents its product on so many varied platforms. The sheer magnitude of the undertaking today makes any other production operation seem puny by comparison."

    Because there's a lot of complexity of associated with ESPN, allow me to cut them a break. I know I'm supposed to be an impartial outside observer, but, hey, I don't want to call some people out for messing up, even though that's the point of this column. Oh, well, sweet cakes!
     
  2. slappy4428

    slappy4428 Active Member

    ESPN makes mistakes... and they don't care, despite what they say... back to NBC I go...
     
  3. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    "Also, I mean, I was in charge of re-selling O.J. Simpson to the American people in 1995. OH JAY SIMPSON!!!! If I'm going to be an apologist for that, you think I'm going to give two shits about integrity in journalism?"
     
  4. Double Down

    Double Down Well-Known Member

    His entire tenure in that job was utterly toothless, and I'd argue, pointless.

    As good as Le Anne Schreiber was in that job, he was equally bad. It's too bad about his health issues, but I doubt from his comments his philosophy would have changed at all had he written about the network weekly instead of bi-annually. You have to wonder if ESPN was, in the end, pleased they paid him to do so little, or even a little disappointed themselves at how irrelevant his role was compared to Schreiber.

    Yes, ESPN runs well for being the monolith that it is. It could also use a strong internal voice that, at the very least, reassures viewers and readers it's not tone deaf to their concerns.

    Backscratching is fine, to a point, unless that's all their is.
     
  5. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    A friend of mine works at ESPN and was ripped (fairly, I believe) in one of Schreiber's columns.

    He went into his boss' office and apologized for what he had done wrong (something small).

    His response: "Fuck her. Nobody cares what she writes..."
     
  6. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    I think on the whole, ESPN does a great job. It would be easy for a company with the programming contracts it does to skimp in other areas and not put people where they do. Which I think, makes their shortcomings more surprising when they do happen.
     
  7. Inky_Wretch

    Inky_Wretch Well-Known Member

    How many columns did he end up writing? One every four months?
     
  8. peacer84

    peacer84 Member

    This pretty much sums up ESPN in a nutshell. Nobody complains about ESPN's inaccuracies, because they're fairly accurate. It's the choices they make in terms of what to blow up and what to keep a lid on that not many like.

    ESPN is going to do what ESPN does no matter how many people hate it because it's 24/7 sports for bars to throw on in the background and for the average fan to fall asleep to.

    As a sportswriter, I get enough of national sports at work that if I need anything, I check out Yahoo Sports on my computer. I don't go to ESPN.com and I rarely watch ESPN on TV anymore.

    Does anyone else feel this way?
     
  9. HanSenSE

    HanSenSE Well-Known Member

    Has ESPN had a real ombusdman (in the mold of the late David Shaw at the LA Times) since George Solomon?
     
  10. slappy4428

    slappy4428 Active Member

    But even he couldn't affect policy change. How many issues have any of the ombudsmen (or women) actually made a lasting impression or change in?
    Suits do what they want -- the ombudsmen are like British cops -- stop or I'll say stop again.
     
  11. HanSenSE

    HanSenSE Well-Known Member

    Point to Slappy.
     
  12. Double Down

    Double Down Well-Known Member

    HanSen, did you miss the entire Lee Anne Schrieber era?

    Solomon wasn't close to as good at that job as she was.
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page