No Roethlisberger stories on ESPN.com

I don't think ESPN is about journalism, but I'm in the biz so I know better. The general public looks to ESPN as a news source, and they tout themselves as a news source. Yet they don't report this at all, even acknowledge that something has occurred? That's the point I'm getting at.

 

No surprise, since I'm still awaiting that wall-to-wall Favre-like coverage of USC's foibles with Reggie Bush to get the round-the-clock treatment. I think I'll be waiting for a while.

 

Interesting. How did you identify the suspect in the Eagle, Colo., rape case?

It's always been the reverse where I've worked. Anybody accused gets his/her named splashed everywhere, but the person making the accusation is protected.

 

Seriously? Sure, ESPN should have at least a brief mention, but anyone can sue anyone, and one would be stupid not to respond to a lawsuit. Until there's more substance, it's probably being overdone by other media outlets.

 

I disagree. We're talking about the QB of the Super Bowl champions, not some third-string nobody.

I think the lawsuit itself and what she's claiming is more than enough to justify it being a story. A big story.

 

There is no journalistic excuse for the nation's biggest sports news source to ignore a civil suit alleging rape against one of the most famous players in the nation's most popular sport.

And this business of not identifying people -- alleged victims, even -- needs to be re-thought in an environment in which someone is inevitably going to end up identifying the victim, anyway. I'm not saying newspapers need to change their policies necessarily, but they do need go back to the beginning and re-evaluate these policies within a modern context. On national stories, you're not hiding the identity from anybody anymore, but you are making yourself a secondary source.

 

Ryan, get it into an actual courthouse, or some better SCOOPS, then we'll talk. Any schmoe can file a suit. As a member of the media, I don't wanna be used that easily.

And TM, I believe I said ESPN should have reported it, but not as a blowout story.

 

You're right. Any schmoe can file a suit. But when it involves something this serious against someone this famous.....it's gonna get coverage.

 

Interesting they didn't seem to mind reporting the Robert Alomar AIDS civil suit which is certainly just as embarrassing as Roethlisberger's alleged sexual assault:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3900719

 

All the more reason for restraint, Ryan. Not as much restraint as ESPN is showing, but still...

 

So you think it deserves coverage, just not a lot? How do you define "a lot"?

 

Anything beyond one news story is overkill at this point.