Will conservatives tune out Olbermann’s new ESPN2 show? He says ‘sports transcend politics’

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Olbermann makes its big debut tonight at 11 p.m. ET following ESPN2’s coverage of the U.S. Open. However, not everyone is pleased about Keith’s return to ESPN.

I received this note from a reader named Joe:

Very simply, when the visage of Olbermann appears anytime on my TV screen, I will instantly change the channel. I know many people who will do the same. Good move, ESPN.

I understand how Joe feels. When Rush Limbaugh was featured on The Haney Project a few years back, I couldn’t separate his politics from the golf. As much as I like the show, I only was able to watch a few minutes before pretty much bailing on the entire series. Frankly, I didn’t want Rush to get good at golf.

So while I am a big fan of Olbermann and his immense talents, it also helps that I agreed with his political views on MSNBC and Current. But as reader Joe suggests, many people, namely conservatives, don’t feel the same way.

Since that faction makes up roughly 50 percent of the country, I wonder if those viewers will continue to tune out Olbermann even though he insists he won’t be talking about politics on his new show. The potential of losing half of a viewer base doesn’t matter to MSNBC or Fox News, but it is a big deal for ESPN.

During a recent teleconference, I asked Olbermann if he was concerned about losing viewers due to his polarizing views from his previous stops.

Olbermann began with a long, “Uhhhhhhh….” Then he launched into a three-minute answer.

Not worried: “I don’t have any particular worry about that. You have to remember long before I had done my first newscast, let alone my first political broadcast, there were people who wouldn’t tune in to watch me because of my attitude about sports.

“People do not not notice what I’m doing in television. It’s probably my greatest sell-able asset. So the nature of why people would not watch will change from time to time. It might be my political orientation one time or whether or not I’m wearing a mustache. In local news, I once had a guy threaten to cut out my tongue because I said something bad about the Dodgers.

WAR talk with Ari: “There are various different reasons why people won’t watch. I will say this. During most of my spare time away from sports, I hung out at the ballpark. My guess would be 5 percent or less of everyone connected with baseball would not be described as a conservative. I never had a problem with a ballplayer.

“I’ve had long, warm conversations about baseball with Ari Fleischer. He sat behind me at a Yankees game and we talked for nine innings. If you would have told me in my previous incarnation, that would have happened, I would not have believed it.

Sports trumps all: “One thing about sports, it does transcend politics. It is the place where you can go to heal those wounds politics inflicts every day.

“If I could guarantee 100 percent of the audience, I probably could get some more money. If you have a different political point of view than the one I’ve expressed during the last few years, you probably should be happy I’m not doing politics anymore. So there’s also that.”

********

As I said, I’m an Olbermann fan. Even with all the programming being launched by the new Fox Sports 1, I think Olbermann’s show has the most potential of all of them. On the surface, it was a brilliant counter-move by ESPN president John Skipper.

However, as we all know in politics, people hold grudges. If those people tune out, it could impact the show’s prospects.

Please let me know how you feel. Will you be able to separate Sports Keith from Political Keith?

 

 

 

 

 

ESPN ombudsman sounds skeptical about reason why network bailed on concussion film

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Robert Lipsyte has filed a must-read column on this fiasco involving ESPN’s last-minute decision to bail on the PBS Frontline film on the NFL and concussions.

The ESPN ombudsman raises the pertinent questions, and eye brows, and gets more of the back story of what happened within the hierarchy of the network. ESPN president John Skipper didn’t start to express concerns until after a preview of the film was released earlier this month in Los Angeles.

Lipsyte writes:

That event, Skipper told me, was for him “the catalyst or starting episode” of what ultimately resulted in ESPN’s decision to part ways with “Frontline.” Skipper didn’t attend the event, and said he was “startled” when he read about a promotional trailer for the documentary which was screened at the news conference. He hadn’t seen the trailer or approved its content, which included the ESPN logo and a collaboration credit. He thought it was “odd for me not to get a heads up,” and said it made him “quite unhappy” to discover that ESPN had no editorial control over the trailer.

Upon screening it, Skipper said he found the trailer to be “sensational.” He particularly objected to the tagline — “Get ready to change the way you see the game” — and to the final sound bite in the piece, from neuropathologist Ann McKee. Referring to brain injuries, she says, “I’m really wondering if every single football player doesn’t have this.”

Skipper said he found that comment to be “over the top.”

And there is this.

He denied that anyone at Disney or the NFL demanded the action. Said Skipper, “I am the only one at ESPN who has to balance the conflict between journalism and programming.”

Lipsyte seems a bit skeptical here:

Which takes us back to the challenge of ESPN’s “dueling journalism and profit motives.” What exactly happened here, and how should we feel about it?

If, as Skipper told me, the ESPN-“Frontline” association was “a loose arrangement,” it seems an unusually sloppy execution for ESPN, an organization that is usually much more buttoned-up. (Raney Aronson, the deputy executive producer for “Frontline,” told me the arrangement was more of an “editorial exchange” and that “we were working on a piece of paper” — meaning some legal memorialization of the partnership.)

Was attention not being paid at ESPN? Too much time spent acquiring tennis rights, the SEC, Keith Olbermann, Nate Silver and Jason Whitlock, and not enough on journalism?

Ultimately, Lipsyte has only serious questions, not answers:

So what just happened? Beats me. At best we’ve seen some clumsy shuffling to cover a lack of due diligence. At worst, a promising relationship between two journalism powerhouses that could have done more good together has been sacrificed to mollify a league under siege. The best isn’t very good, but if the worst turns out to be true, it’s a chilling reminder how often the profit motive wins the duel.

Lipsyte says he will continue to stay on the story. That’s good news for people who want accountability from ESPN.

 

 

A 12-year-old’s memories of sitting next to Marty Glickman: “I would have let you call the 3rd quarter”

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As I wrote earlier this week, HBO is airing a new documentary, Glickman, on Monday at 9 p.m. ET. It is a terrific film about one of the legendary voices in sports history. And there’s much more to the story that involves encounters with Antisemitism.

An old friend, Mike Leiderman, shared a story of a wonderful experience he had with Marty Glickman. Mike is a long-time Chicago journalist, sportscaster and producer. He runs his own media firm, Leiderman Productions.

Leiderman, though, grew up in New York. At the age of 12, he attended a memorable Knicks game.

******

The quick story: My uncle Joe had a contact somehow and I got to sit next to Marty when he did a Knicks-Minneapolis Lakers game from the old 69th Regiment Armory in NY in the mid ’50s. I must have been 12 or 13. I knew it was a big deal, but didn’t realize how big it was. John and Jim Paxson’s dad played for the Lakers and the Knicks stunk – the Kenny Sears, Willie Naulls, Carl Braun, Richie Guerin Ray Felix Knicks.

Still, they were my home team and I was right next to them. Marty was an absolute prince. He set up a chair for me courtside, between him and his broadcast partner, Les Keiter (another legend in NY – he did the “re-creates” of Giants’ games in NY after they moved to San Francisco. “Here comes Willie around third. Here comes the ball and — HE BEAT THE BALL!! HE BEAT THE BALL!!)

But I digress.

The broadcast table was right next to the team benches and my little pre-bar mitzvah ears heard words from the coaches I was familiar with, but knew never to use around my parents. The coach – I think it was a guy named Vince Boryla – would curse at his players during each time out. Some of it must have carried into the microphones, especially since there was what I called “an underflow crowd” in the stands that afternoon. (In those NBA days, the Knicks would have to play at the Armory several times a season when Madison Square Garden was booked for the circus or rally or whatever. I still smell the horses in the Armory)  Finally, after one particular tirade, I remember Marty saying – in his usual understated tone: “Since our broadcast position is right next to the benches. you can hear lots of color coming from the huddles. (Pause) Sometimes too much color.”

Beautiful.

As the game went on, I thrilled to Marty’s calls, although I must admit I was equally taken by being so close to the action.  Marty, meanwhile, couldn’t have been nicer to a kid he didn’t know from Adam. Afterwards, I thanked him profusely in my early teen falsetto and told him I’d learned so much and hoped to be a sports play by play announcer one day.  “You should have told me that earlier,” he said with a wink. “I would have let you call the 3rd quarter.”  To this day, I believe he would have.

I was able to touch base with Marty several times as an adult; he was Gail Sierens’ coach when she debuted as the first female NFL play by play voice in Kansas City for a Chiefs-Seahawks game. (I covered for Entertainment Tonight.) Again, I introduced myself and whether Marty remembered our interaction decades before, he acted happy to hear about it.  Shortly before his death, he spoke at Spertus and talked about the 1936 Olympics and how he and Sam Stoller were dropped from the USA relay team at the last minute because of their being Jewish – not by Hitler, but by Avery Brundage and his band of anti-Semites on the US delegation. (Brundage was its head in Berlin before moving on to pollute the entire Olympic movement years later.)  The US Olympic Committee (or was it the IOC? doubt that) did give Marty his Gold Medal shortly before he died – as an apology. He told me it meant a lot to him, though.

Like I said, I can’t wait for the documentary.  I’ve been talking about him in my speeches for decades. He was special – a shaper of the craft and a great influence on me as well as all those “famous” voices.

 

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Sunday books: The history of Northern Illinois football; unlikely Orange Bowl trip tops all

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As an Illinois alum, I never thought I’d see the day where I thought I would be envious of Northern Illinois football. Then again, after the Illini’s winless Big Ten season in 2012, there’s plenty of room for envy for virtually every team.

NIU experienced the ultimate last year, earning an unlikely trip to the Orange Bowl. It all proved to be remarkable timing for Daniel Verdun, who was working on a book on NIU football.

His book, Northern Illinois Football, now includes the biggest chapter in the school’s history. Verdun talks about the program in a Q/A.

How much did NIU’s trip to the Orange Bowl impact the timing of this book? Was the book in the works prior to last season? If so, unbelievable timing.

I started working on the book in 2009. Originally it was supposed to hit bookshelves in time for the 2012 season with the Huskies coming off their first Mid-American Conference title since 1983. However, the book got delayed for a variety of reasons. I was pretty disappointed at the time, but then along came a second straight MAC championship and the Orange Bowl berth. Things could not have worked out better. The proverbial ball bounced my way.

Did you ever envision NIU would ever play in the Orange Bowl? What was that experience like for the school and its fans?

I’m going to quote Huskie great George Bork on the first question because I asked him the exact same thing back in December. “No, I never thought the Huskies would be in the Orange Bowl but I am proud and happy. What a thrill for all of us,” said Bork, who quarterbacked Northern Illinois to an NCAA College Division national championship in 1963.

As for the second question, Mike Korcek has been associated with NIU since his days as a student in the late 1960s. Korcek spent 34 years in the NIU sports information office and another three as SID emeritus before retiring in 2009.  According to Mike, the Orange Bowl “is the most significant event in Northern Illinois athletic history–maybe the entire school’s history.”

Talk about the program through the years. What stands out for you?

For people just coming around to NIU Huskie football, there was a long and rich history prior to last season’s success. My book chronicles that history from the school’s very first team in 1899 through its historic Orange Bowl appearance. Along the way Northern Illinois pioneered the shotgun spread offense. It had the first 3,000-yard passer in NCAA history (George Bork). NIU has two members in the College Football Hall of Fame in Tom Beck and George Bork. This fall, NIU will celebrate the anniversaries of three great teams from its past–1963, 1983 and 2003. With five straight bowl invitations, two consecutive MAC titles and the Orange Bowl appearance, the Huskies have been the most consistent winning program in the state of Illinois for the past decade.

Who are some of the most memorable players and coaches?

Starting back in the 1930s, DeKalb native Reino Nori earned 17 varsity letters in five sports. He tied inaugural Heisman Trophy winner Jay Berwanger for first place in the long jump at a dual track meet. He competed against Jesse Owens. Later, Nori played in the NFL. Larry Brink was the first Huskie ever drafted by the NFL (1948). Brink became a three-time All-Pro selection with the Los Angeles Rams. Bob Heimerdinger, whose son Mike was a longtime NFL assistant coach, quarterbacked the 1951 Huskies to a perfect season. I’ve already mentioned Beck and Bork.

Receiver John Spilis played in the College All-Star Game at Soldier Field in the late ’60s before becoming a Green Bay Packer. Tom Wittum was an All-Pro punter with the 49ers. Mark Kellar led the nation in rushing in 1973 and LeShon Johnson did the same thing 20 years later. Johnson finished sixth in the Heisman Trophy balloting while playing for a team that won only four games and never appeared on TV. Think about that! Dave Petzke led the nation in receiving in 1978. Hollis Thomas played 12 seasons in the NFL. In recent times, it’s been the likes of Tim Tyrrell, Todd Peat, Ryan Diem, Justin McCareins, Michael Turner, P.J. Fleck, Sam Hurd, Doug Free, Garrett Wolfe, Larry English (the 16th overall pick in the 2009 NFL Draft), Chandler Harnish and Jordan Lynch.

There were great coaches the likes of Chick Evans, Howard Fletcher, Bill Mallory, Jerry Pettibone, Joe Novak, Jerry Kill and Dave Doeren. Lee Corso coached NIU for part of the 1984 season before bolting for the USFL. Now that’s an interesting chapter in the book.

Where does NIU go from here?

Things have never looked better for the Huskies. Coming off the high of last season, NIU has upgraded its facilities to become the envy of the MAC. NIU now has an indoor practice facility that is second to none. All of that should pay dividends with recruits. However, NIU still faces the challenge in that for every successful season, there is the likelihood that its head coach leaves for a more lucrative job as Jerry Kill and Dave Doeren have done in recent years. Then again, who can blame a coach for tripling his salary by leaving?

Final comments about the book:

The book is roughly the size of a college yearbook. It’s printed on high quality stock that should last for years. There are over 250 pages and approximately 150 photos in the book, many of which are color. Some of the photos have never been seen before by the general public. One of my favorites shows NIU mascot Victor E. Huskie flanked by Harry Caray and Ray Meyer. There is a little controversy with evidence that Northern Illinois hosted its Homecoming game seven years before the University of Illinois, the institution that has long been credited with originating the concept. There are sidebars on the marching band, recruiting and rivals. The book ends with a computer simulation to determine the greatest Huskie team of all-time.

 

 

Sports Media Weekly podcast features yours truly; Interviews with Trey Wingo, Steve Levy

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Thanks to Keith and Ken for having me on.

Here’s the official rundown:

Our top story of the week is still evolving as it was announced late today that ESPN is backing our of its partnership with PBS’ Frontline show in producing an investigative documentary on concussions in the NFL.  ESPN claims the move is over a lack of editorial control on the project.  We speculate that there must have been a major disagreement between the parties.  We will follow the story as it progresses.

We then look at last Saturday’s launch of Fox Sports 1.  The three of us agree that as much as people want to send out flash judgments of what they’ve seen over the first five days on the air, it’s better to judge the success of the network over the long haul.

We wrap-up the news segment by reviewing my trip yesterday to ESPN as part of the network’s Media Day.  We discuss the state of ESPN, particularly through the words of ESPN President John Skipper, who held an hour-long Q&A session with reporters over lunch.

The day at ESPN also included panels on college football, the NFL, and a look at ESPN’s new digital studio, which will host SportsCenter beginning next year.

The second half of the show features my interviews with four members of ESPN:

  • SVP of Programming, College Sports Burke Magnus on the upcoming college football season
  • SVP of Content, Digital and Print Media Rob King on the network’s online properties
  • NFL Live host Trey Wingo
  • SportsCenter anchor Steve Levy who is celebrating his 20th year at the network

Random baseball card: Yaz as a rookie in 1960; listed as second-baseman

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The great Carl Yastrzemski actually made his debut in 1961. And he most definitely wasn’t a second-baseman.

All he had to do was try to fill the shoes of the retiring Ted Williams. Pressure? What pressure?

Yaz went on to make himself a legend in his own right. He had 3,419 career hits and 452 homers. And his 1967 Triple Crown season, leading the Red Sox to the AL pennant, might have been the greatest one-man show in the history of the game.

Here is a link to his stats.

 

A good read: Jeff Pearlman recalls short life of Ricky Bell

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I’m going to try to do this more often. For all the 140-character blasts and edgy blog posts, there is a ton of good, thoughtful and expansive sports journalism occurring on the World Wide Web.

SB Nation Long Form has been a leader in this area. Highly recommend you check out the site.

This piece on Ricky Bell comes from Jeff Pearlman. Earlier this week, Pearlman attracted some attention for a F-bomb filled post/tirade against Alex Rodriguez.

This story on Ricky Bell shows Pearlman’s true talents:

It was obvious. But, in a way, not so obvious. Ricky Bell still looked like Ricky Bell — the high hips, the miniature Afro, the letters B-E-L-L stitched atop the number 42 on his creamsicle-and-white jersey. He walked with a regal gait, signed one autograph after another, spoke of better Sundays to come. And yet, Bell was … iffy, and his teammates and coaches knew it. Back in 1979, when quarterback Doug Williams handed off to his halfback, Bell burst toward the line with the force of a cue stick slamming into the ball. All power. All energy. Now, he seemed sluggish. Bell still ran hard, but minus the speed and power. More often than not, he reached the first defensive player and fell backward. John McKay, the Buccaneers’ head coach, had coached Bell at USC, and often compared him to a young O.J. Simpson. He selected him over Pittsburgh’s Tony Dorsett with the first pick in the 1977 Draft, and knew what type of weapon he could be.

This wasn’t that Ricky Bell.

“Me and Ricky lived in the same apartment complex on Dale Mabry (Highway),” says Lewis, a former teammate USC. “That last year in Tampa, I spent a lot of time helping him into his apartment. I didn’t think anything of it. I just thought it was soreness and wear and tear. He played a tough position, and got hit a lot. It never occurred to me that something might be wrong with him.”

Well worth the time.

 

 

Weekend wrap: Chris Fowler wants to do more games; annoying in-game commercials

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Spanning to the globe to give you the constant variety of sports media…

Chris Fowler: Richard Deitsch of SI.com has an interesting interview with one of the best in the business. Fowler wants to expand his horizons at ESPN.

SI.com: Generally speaking, are you happy at ESPN?

Fowler: I have been very happy — more than happy. Fulfilled, satisfied and challenged, and as long as that continues, I would expect to stay there. But what I think is important to know for anyone in this business is people sort of view you in a static state. For me, anyway, you want to be continuously challenged. Professionally, you don’t want to coast into the sunset. I am 50. [He turns 51 on Friday]. I have a lot more to do and there are other things I want to do that I have not done. I don’t think it is anything secret internally what I want the next step for me to be at ESPN. I don’t think that is a mystery given the landscape. It’s why GameDay is a unique standalone thing for me. It doesn’t act or feel like a studio show. But the live events are the most inspiring, unexplored thing for me.

SI.com: How so?

Fowler: I really have a passion to document live events as they happen. Hosting is wonderful and remains really satisfying but the joy for me is calling big matches and it was very hard for me to give up calling Thursday Night Football on ESPN. It became too much to manage with GameDay’s increased schedule and travel. But giving up calling football in the booth was the toughest decision I have had to make. That remains something I am drawn powerfully to.

In game commercials: Richard Sandomir of the New York writes about those in-game commercials, “drop ins,” that clutter up radio broadcasts of baseball.

The phenomenon, playing out on airwaves around the country, is most pronounced in Yankees broadcasts. The first Yankees walk prompts, “Just walk into any of CityMD’s six convenient locations.” The announcement of the game’s umpires is brought to you by Levy Phillips & Konigsberg, a law firm specializing in asbestos exposure cases. The personal injury law firm Cellino & Barnes gets a plug when the announcers explain the broadcast’s copyright violation policy. A call to the bullpen comes with a nod to one of three sponsors: Aamco Car Care, Hyundai and the Tri-State Ford Dealers.

The postgame wrap-up show? That’s brought to you, naturally, by Reynolds Wrap.

“They’re not tough to do, but does it feel like it slows the pace of the game?” said Charley Steiner, a Los Angeles Dodgers announcer who previously called Yankee games. “Of course it does. From an announcer’s point of view, less is more.”

Fox Sports 1: Eric Deggans of the National Sports Journalism Center thinks the new network got off to a good start.

Here’s a secret about new TV programs any experienced critic knows: Often, when evaluating the first episode, you can’t judge the content, you gotta judge the framework.

So in the case of new cable sportschannel Fox Sports 1, you can’t jump to conclusions just because its one-on-one interview series looks like a half-hour hagiography, or the smart alecky anchors on its “SportsCenter” clone “Fox Sports Live” sound like the announcers on ABC’s parody of a sports competition, “Wipeout.”

What matters most, is the framework. And on that score, Fox Sports 1 mostly gets positive marks in its first weekend on air.

Regis: In this week’s NPR commentary, Frank Deford takes a knock at Fox Sports 1 and Regis Philbin.

To get in on this sports TV humbug, Fox just opened its new all-sports network. The centerpiece is a talk show hosted by Regis Philbin, who says his credentials for the job are that he’s a fan.

I hate to tell the Fox people this, but the last thing sports fans want to listen to is another fan. If you are a fan, you don’t want to hear jack from another fan, because, hey, you know more. Instead, you want to hear from experts and analysts, and fired ex-coaches and washed-up ex-players, the artless in-the-know crowd.

Premier League: Joe Lucia of Awful Announcing was impressed with NBC SN’s first weekend of coverage.

NBC presented the Premier League more like it presents the Olympics as opposed to how they present the NHL: like a major event. The commentators and studio crew used a technique that more American commentators could learn from: silence letting the crowd tell the story. The very first Premier League match on NBCSN pitted Liverpool against Stoke City. Although they were using a syndicated feed, NBC let the crowd at Anfield take over with their rendition of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” instead of talking over it. From then, I was almost immediately hooked.

Sportsdash: Steve Lepore of SB Nation has a Q/A about NBC Sports SN’s new show.

Steve Lepore: Where did the idea come from? I know NBC had partnered with Yahoo! a while back, had they been looking to collaborate on a show?

Dan Steir: The concept came from expanding our news gathering, and taking advantage of this great relationship with, and the asset of, Yahoo. We said let’s go ahead and extend the window of Dan Patrick, play off that and do an hour at noon where a lot of people are sort of transitioning into the real time and relevant news of the day during their lunch timeframe.

To your original question, it was sort of “how do we maximize this relationship with Yahoo?” and let’s start getting our feet wet in the news and information department.

Hal McCoy: Rick Reilly at ESPN.com writes about the legendary Cincinnati baseball writer who continues to cover the Reds despite failing eyesight.

“The worst part is people think I’m ignoring them,” McCoy says. “I have to get up on a guy to two feet before I know who it is. So people will say hello to me and I won’t say anything. They probably think I’m an arrogant jerk.”

Ali documentary: Dave Zirin with Edge on Sports is very high on a new documentary about Muhammad Ali.

I write all this so it’s understood that when I say that The Trials of Muhammad Ali is the best documentary ever made about the most famous draft-resister in human history, you know that I choose those words with extreme care. What makes The Trials of Muhammad Ali, by Academy Award–nominated director Bill (The Weather Underground) Siegel so special, is that it succeeds where so many have failed. Finally we have a film that presents an honest, thorough excavation of Ali’s politics in the 1960s. Siegel, perhaps because he has experience chronicling the often messy movements of that era, is able to communicate Ali’s journey of rebellion against racism and war with nuance and without a hint of condescension.

Sports Journalism: With school starting again, Michael Bradley of the National Sports Journalism Center has sage advice for prospective sports journalists.

Last week, I had the opportunity to speak to a pair of students who will be starting their collegiate journeys this semester. Each, like so many other young people, was interested in sports journalism and wanted to know what they should do. My answer, in a word, was “everything.” I referenced comments by Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who said that anybody interested in being in sports had better have a strong resume in place before they leave college. I told them that they should be involved in every possible media opportunity available at their schools and then look for more off campus. They had better blog and establish a presence on Twitter.

Pro! Magazine: Remember the vintage NFL magazine? Classic Sports TV and Media revisits a 1976 edition that featured Ken Anderson on the cover.

My favorite piece is the PRO! Talk feature which has a conversion with Tom Brookshier who was in his second full season as the #1 analyst on the CBS telecasts. That article focuses on Brookshier’s broadcasting career which started on Philadelphia radio in 1962. It includes a detailed recap of his infamous Duane Thomas “Evidently” interview during the Super Bowl 6 postgame show. The story also covers his TV partnership with Pat Summerall which began with the syndicated NFL Films highlight show This Week in Pro Football. The interview also delves into the decision by CBS to pair this duo together midway through the 1974 season and Brookshier shares his perspective on their early days as a booth tandem. Brookshier incorrectly recalls their first telecast together as being a Giants-Cardinals game in St Louis. (The opponent that day in St Louis was actually the Redskins.) Brookshier also describes the day that he and Summerall were awarded the Super Bowl 10 booth assignment and spends several paragraphs recapping that telecast from January of that year.

Podcasts:

Awful Announcing: An interview with Sam Ponder.

Sports-Casters: Interviews with Mike Tirico, and Doug Farrar with Chris Burke, co-authors of the Audibles Blog at SI.Com.

 

 

Major hit to ESPN journalistic integrity: New York Times story says NFL pressured network to quit concussion film

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Update: ESPN just released a new statement this morning:

“The decision to remove our branding was not a result of concerns about our separate business relationship with the NFL. As we have in the past including as recently as Sunday, we will continue to cover the concussion story aggressively through our own reporting.”

However, as I say below, all of ESPN’s spinning won’t change the perception issue.

*******

If it indeed went down this way, ESPN just gave itself a severe blow to its journalistic integrity.

Here are the details from James Andrews Miller’s story that was posted this morning in the New York Times.

He writes:

Pressure from the National Football League led to ESPN’s decision on Thursday to pull out of an investigative project with “Frontline” regarding head injuries in the N.F.L., according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation.

Miller wrote the league turned up the heat on ESPN after a trailer of the film ran in early August.

Last week, several high-ranking officials convened a lunch meeting at Patroon, near the league’s Midtown Manhattan headquarters, according to the two people, who requested anonymity because they were prohibited by their superiors from discussing the matter publicly. It was a table for four: Roger Goodell, commissioner of the N.F.L.; Steve Bornstein, president of the NFL Network; ESPN’s president, John Skipper; and John Wildhack, ESPN’s executive vice president for production.

At the combative meeting, the people said, league officials conveyed their displeasure with the direction of the documentary, which is expected to describe a narrative that has been captured in various news reports over the past decade: the league turning a blind eye to evidence that players were sustaining brain trauma on the field that could lead to profound, long-term cognitive disability.

Greg Aiello, a spokesman for the N.F.L., said the league had no involvement in ESPN’s decision.

Chris LaPlaca, an ESPN spokesman, said Thursday that ESPN’s decision was not based on any concerns about hurting its contractual relationship with the N.F.L. Rather, the network said in a statement, it was ending its official association with “Frontline” because it did not have editorial control of what appeared on the public television public affairs series.

However, as the story points out, and as everyone else is pointing out, ESPN knew of the conditions for a long, long time.

“We’re obviously disappointed because the partnership has been a phenomenal one and we don’t totally understand what happened,” Fainaru-Wada said. Referring to ESPN, he added, “Nothing we’ve been told by anybody suggests that they’re backing off on the journalism.”

Aronson-Rath said that until last Friday, there had been no hint of trouble between “Frontline” and ESPN. She said that “Frontline” had worked “in lock step” with Vince Doria, ESPN’s senior vice president and director of news, and Dwayne Bray, senior coordinating producer in ESPN’s news-gathering unit.

But in conversations last Friday and Monday with Doria and Bray, she was first told that ESPN did not want its logo to be connected to the films.

“It didn’t appear that it was their decision,” she said.

This morning, the ESPN PR crew continues to maintain it was a “branding issue” and not an editorial decision due to pressure from the NFL.

Here is the statement from last night.

Because ESPN is neither producing nor exercising editorial control over the Frontline documentaries, there will be no co-branding involving ESPN on the documentaries or their marketing materials. The use of ESPN’s marks could incorrectly imply that we have editorial control. As we have in the past, we will continue to cover the concussion story through our own reporting.

The PR staff continues to maintain, “in hindsight, we should have reached this conclusion much sooner.”

The PR staff also has compiled a list of its coverage of the concussion issue. Outside The Lines did another report last Sunday. This occurred after Skipper’s meeting with Goodell.

“As far back as 2006, ESPN has taken a leading role in reporting on the effects of concussions on athletes.”

However, ESPN can spin all it wants. It won’t wash away the perception that ESPN caved in to the NFL. Miller is the author of the bestselling book about ESPN, and his story appeared in the New York Times. Both carry considerable weight in the credibility department.

Also, the fact that Skipper recently had lunch with Goodell is a smoking gun, so to speak. I don’t care if they were talking about Goodell’s flower garden. The timing of ESPN’s withdrawal makes it seem like it was tied to that lunch.

And to compound matters, the film’s producer and the Fainaru brothers seem confused about what happened. It appeared as if everything was proceeding on track.

You can reach the logical step that ESPN concocted “the branding issue” as an escape route to pull out of the film. And let’s for a minute believe that branding was indeed the real motivation here. What a colossal mistake coming to that decision so late in such an important game.

Yes, ESPN can spin all its wants, and it will. This so-called “branding issue” will result in the perception that the network has compromised its journalistic integrity in the name of avoiding a fracture in its relationship with the NFL.

I’m sure this is not a good day for the many fine journalists who work at ESPN.