Ombud: Conflicts of interest at ESPN unavoidable

[Idaho]

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=schreiber_leanne&id=2866241

I kind of agree, regrettably :-\

 

[ondeadline]

If it really is unavoidable within the framework of SportsCenter, then don't try to call that journalism. They clearly are giving NASCAR more weight this year now that it has the Busch Series contract. I understand her point with the "shoulder" programming such as Baseball Tonight. But otherwise, good journalism would demand news judgments made based on news value and not a corporate relationship. ESPN does show good journalism lots of times, but not when business clouds its news decisions.

 

[Claws for Concern]

Sounds like a plea for hockey to return to ESPN to me. That alone would quiet the hockey fans like me.

 

[Lugnuts]

Good column. I still think fewer and fewer people care about the NHL, and it has nothing to do with ESPN. I just don't hear anybody talking about it.

The hockey fans keep whining. Their league cancels a season, then signs a dumbass TV deal with something called "Versus," and they want to blame ESPN.

 

[HejiraHenry]

This was a well-written examination of the issue, as good as you might see in, yes, the NYT itself.

And not, blissfully, undercut with a BOOYAH! at the end ...

 

[jgmacg]

I just want to mention that Ms. Schreiber is doing excellent work. The piece is balanced, well-written and has a lot of reporting in it. She's only written a couple of these, but she already seems to have a better sense of what she's doing - and how to do it - than Mr. Solomon did.

 

[Double Down]

I just want to mention that Ms. Schreiber is doing excellent work. The piece is balanced, well-written and has a lot of reporting in it. She's only written a couple of these, but she already seems to have a better sense of what she's doing - and how to do it - than Mr. Solomon did.

Amen, sir.

With all due respect to Mr. Solomon, his column read like a listing of readers complaints with surfacy analysis and little, if any, reporting at all. We joked here often that it carried no weight within the company and that's not surprising because it there was very little investment in it intellectually by the writer. I was definitely impressed with the number of people Schreiber solicited comment/clarification from.

 

[poindexter]

Let me put it in SAT terms:

The Ms. Schreiber Ombudsman is to the George Solomon Ombudsman like the 1986 Sportscenter is to the 2007 Sportscenter.

It's hard to believe these two have the same title, she does such a better job than Solomon. She will analyze an issue, ask questions, then ask follow-up questions. And she is a better writer to boot. WTG, Schreiber.


One small quibble: I would like to see the 2007 hockey highlights compared to some other year besides 2004 (ESPN's last year). My guess is that the sport was already out the door in the network's eye and that reflected on minutes given.

 

[Idaho]

More from Romenesko:

ESPN content veep John Skipper wants his employees to wear their complimentary AFL shirts "as a symbol of welcome to our Arena Football guests." A staffer writes to Romenesko: "I find it increasingly difficult to square such promotional stunts with my journalistic ethics and principles. We're supposed to objectively cover the AFL, and yet we're being asked to wear an AFL t-shirt to show our support when the league's bosses walk through the newsroom?"

Smoooooooth, Mr. Content Veep.

 

[ondeadline]

I agree that she's much better than Solomon. I know it's the Web and you've got all the space you want, but my one beef with her is that she needs to edit her column so that it's not quite as long.

 

[poindexter]

I agree that she's much better than Solomon. I know it's the Web and you've got all the space you want, but my one beef with her is that she needs to edit her column so that it's not quite as long.

Maybe she has the same editor as the one who wrote the Dave Collins gamer.

 

[jfs1000]

You know what upset me about ESPn, the darn NIT selection show.

Because suddenly it was ESPN's gig, I had to here about the NIT ad naseum and also had a fake selection show like anyone cared. Then they analyzed the brackets. Where was this coverage last year when the NCAA didn't own the tournament? Did ESPN promise for business decisions, to pump up the NIT on its news broadcasts. And let's not even start on NASCAR, Arena Football League and Poker.

 

[statrat]

I didn't mind the longer column at all. It was leaps and bounds better than anything Solomon put out there and actually went into depth on the issues. Well done.

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

Let me put it in SAT terms:

The Ms. Schreiber Ombudsman is to the George Solomon Ombudsman like the 1986 Sportscenter is to the 2007 Sportscenter.

It's hard to believe these two have the same title, she does such a better job than Solomon. She will analyze an issue, ask questions, then ask follow-up questions. And she is a better writer to boot. WTG, Schreiber.

Somehow I doubt Schreiber would assess it that way. She was among the first women sports editors and knows what it's like to set precedents. Those who followed her learned from her successes and failures. Just like she benefits from those of ESPN's first ombud.

 

[henryhenry]

give her credit for researching the piece.

but she soft-pedaled her findings.

at the top she writes:

"So how is it being managed?

The answer depends on whom you listen to."

that's wimpy compared with her conclusion:

"If you chip five minutes off "SportsCenter" here and there for a sponsored segment, another five minutes here and there for recycled portions of shoulder programming and more minutes for teasers leading up to those segments, there often seems to be nothing left for news of sports other than those for which ESPN holds rights. Nobody needs marching orders. The formula itself is skewed toward the sports that pay their way."


you might say she buried the lead.

 

[Boobie Miles]

I agree that she's much better than Solomon. I know it's the Web and you've got all the space you want, but my one beef with her is that she needs to edit her column so that it's not quite as long.

I agree. I think this column is a few days old and when I read it I thought a thread would pop up about it and I already had thought of a joke about her having the same editor as Simmons. As much as people knock Simmons for the length of his columns, at least his style is a bit more entertaining than this. It was pretty good stuff, but needed to be much shorter.

 

[Oz]

I didn't mind the length, I found it interesting to read just the same.

 

[friend of the friendless]

Sirs, Madames,

I think there are hard conflicts and squishy ones. The hard ones are in plain sight, obvious to everybody--licensed broadcaster, say ESPN with various leagues or CBS with NFL and NCAA ball, trying to do sports journalism (to whatever extent and with whatever enthusiasm) on vehicles like Outside the Lines or 60 Minutes ... and of course promoting programming. You hope that good people will try to do the right thing and be professional.

My antennae twitch with smaller, more insidious conflicts, creeping conflicts. e.g.: Those on the company payroll of Rogers (in Toronto, owners of sports-talk radio station and the Blue Jays among many other interests) know that they might be seen as shillin' for dinner. But what about those print types who cash side-cheques from the same company? Are they slightly softer in their criticisms of the franchise when they write their newspapers? Not so obvious.

I'm just sayin' ... or askin' ...

YHS, etc

 

[goalmouth]

So we agree her work is better than Solomon's. But as an ombud, her net effect will be...probably the same.

 

[zagoshe]

The ESPN showed its true colors -- and its total lack of integrity -- years ago when it allowed the NFL to bully it into cancelling that goofy weekly drama about the pro football team (the name escapes me)......

If the NFL can dictate programming, what else is it dictating to the network in terms of coverage and issues.