Menu
Media

Poynter Faculty Fault ESPN For Not Breaking News On Jalen Rose DUI

In their latest contribution to ESPN.com for the Poynter Review Project, McBride & McCombs wrote Detroit's WDIV-NBC breaking the story of Jalen Rose's alleged DUI, and not ESPN, looks bad "on the journalism front, with the perception that ESPN is willing to report on the failings of current athletes but sweeps the failings of its own staff under the rug." Rose, an NBA analyst for ESPN, "apparently didn’t tell anyone at the network about his run-in with the police for almost three weeks." ESPN encourages its talent to "tell their bosses about potentially embarrassing personal issues that might become public," but no written policy "explicitly requires them to come forward." ESPN officials said that they "learned about Rose's arrest" when his agent called Senior VP/Talent Development & Planning Laurie Orlando Tuesday afternoon as WDIV was "preparing to air the story and publish it on its site." ESPN.com posted news of Rose's DUI around 8:45pm ET that night, nearly three hours after WDIV first reported the incident. McBride & McCombs noted a "number of fans have already questioned ESPN’s loyalties on this issue in letters to the Poynter Project mailbag." It was "obviously a story ESPN should have reported first," but until there is "clarity in contracts and policies, this likely will happen again, given the number of on-air and online talent that ESPN employs." McBride & McCombs added, "In addition to creating policy, ESPN’s response to Rose’s concealment of the DUI citation will go a long way in communicating to other ESPN personalities what the network’s expectations really are" (ESPN.com, 3/31).

ROSE EXPLAINS THE INCIDENT: Rose in a statement released Wednesday said that "his blood alcohol content was above the legal limit" last month "when his car went off an icy Detroit-area road and he was issued a citation for drunken driving." Rose said, "I regret the decision to drive home that evening and am grateful that no one was hurt in the accident. I apologize to my family, my employer and each and every one of my supporters for my lapse in judgment. ... I accept full responsibility for my actions and look forward to a resolution of the legal matter as soon as possible" (ESPN.com, 3/30).

BANNER QUARTER: ESPN announced that the network had its best ratings and viewership numbers ever for the quarter ending March 28, according to Nielsen. ESPN also set record highs for its 24-hour rating each of the months in Q1. ESPN averaged a 0.9 rating, representing an average of 1,076,000 viewers, up 17% from the previous record set last year. The net averaged a record 854,000 HHs, up 14% from last year's previous best. ESPN attributes the boosts to the addition of the BCS and larger audiences for the NBA (ESPN).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2011/04/01/Media/ESPN-Poynter.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2011/04/01/Media/ESPN-Poynter.aspx

CLOSE