What Lee Jenkins' LeBron scoop says about our industry

Here is (I think) the genesis of the essay. Jenkins had his first sit down with LeBron a couple of years back and talked about it.

http://ht.cdn.turner.com/si/richarddeitsch/audio/2012/04/24/042412.deitsch_jenkins.mp3

Some interesting insight about ESPN about 12 min. in.

 

Good point.

For some odd reason, your use of ***noise*** conjured in my mind the scene from "Airplane" when ***stuff*** hits the control tower fan. ;D

 

Other than Sheridan, LeBron and SI did an incredible job of keeping the lid on this. Major props.

Or it could be a turning point in the war.

 

That would be great if it comes to pass.

 

No way.

It's a great get by Jenkins. It's also possible that LeBron's camp didn't want ESPN to get it first because they would want to turn it into a special or televise it.

 

Why give it to ESPN? Half their people would praise the move, the other half would say it was the dumbest thing ever and he should have never turned his back on the Heat who "gave" him two rings. In the podcast I linked to above, it is mentioned that he found the criticism he received about The Decision from the network that aired it somewhat curious.

 

How SI got the story: http://adage.com/article/media/sports-illustrated-lebron-james-exclusive/294096/

 

I like the "Trusted us not to turn it into a circus"

The thing I wonder about... ESPN hired a writer LeBron is very close with to cover him in Miami. How simple would it have been to send him to Las Vegas with LeBron? Hindsight is 20-20, but it makes you wonder.

 

SI is getting credit, but little else from this story. It won't be a turning point, since every outlet can just throw a short credit (or not) in as story, and get the web hits.

 

Yeah, it's a great get for SI, but there will be people who arent familiar with the business who will be saying, "Well, that's what ESPN has been saying all long..."

SI will get a ton of traffic as a result, but it's not like people have been ignoring ESPN and other sites over the last week. Hell, they led SportsCenter with it minutes after a shootout determined the World Cup semis.

If you want a show, you give it to ESPN. If you want to do something quietly, you give it to SI.

 

It was really perfectly done. If he announces on ESPN, people flashback to the debacle that was The Decision. If he announces on his website, it's all about self-promotion.

I'm always curious how the negotiation for an exclusive works. I had scoops during my career, but the closest I came to a negotiation was asking someone not to say it to anyone else, which was pre-Internet. I remember being on the phone with a draft pick who had just signed and while we were on the phone he said, "I have another call and it's from (a competitor) and I said, "Well, I would never tell you not to call him back, but I would appreciate it if you didn't." He laughed and then didn't call him back.

 

I think it says that a journalist who is not going to rat out a player for a cheap tweet sometimes catches the biggest fish.