Yankees' COO Lonn Trost said that he has "already been
in touch with an ESPN attorney" regarding ESPN's "Outside
The Lines" edition featuring agent Jeff Moorad's contract
negotiations for free agent OF Manny Ramirez, according to
Bob Raissman of the N.Y. DAILY NEWS, who notes that Yankees
GM Brian Cashman was not aware that his phone calls with
Moorad were being taped (see THE DAILY, 12/21). Raissman
writes, "This is all about questions of ethics and fairness.
No reporter ... should be in the business of protecting
Cashman, any team executive, or player. However, the fact
that Cashman was blindsided, having no idea his words were
being recorded, is not fair." ESPN VP/News Vince Doria, on
the issue: "I'm satisfied we met an ethical reporting
standard with our story. Given the same set of
circumstances I'd do it again. I wouldn't expect [Cashman]
to necessarily be thrilled with it. ... But the legal issue
wasn't the driving force here. There were issues of
fairness, issues of relationships that we wanted to consider
in this whole thing. ... One thing I wanted to make sure of.
I wanted to put conversations on that would advance the
story, but not embarrass the people who were on the phone
calls." Raissman notes that "if the call -- as Cashman's
was -- is made from New York, it is permissible for the
caller to be taped without his knowledge, ... [but] there's
no doubt ESPN was operating in unchartered territory."
Moorad "allowed" the net "inside what ... was sacred
territory," but there was "probably no way" someone would
not "be hurt in the process" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 12/22).
