ESPN Public Editor Jim Brady in his latest filing examined the "two-year effort to restructure the network's news desks." That project, co-managed by ESPN Exec Editor/News Operations David Kraft, "resulted in new job descriptions for virtually all news desk employees," soft-launched in December and "fully rolled out in January." The creation of the "new unit -- internally called the Universal News Group -- was crucial, if not sexy or even known by most people outside of ESPN." Historically, ESPN has had two "major news operations: the digital desk, which managed news distribution on ESPN’s websites, mobile products and social accounts, and its TV desk, which communicated with on-air reporters out in the field and supported SportsCenter and ESPN’s other television shows." In recent years, however, the "rise of mobile and social media has largely erased the line between platforms." ESPN consumers now "stream SportsCenter over their phones," and tweets are being "fed on-screen onto ESPN’s broadcast shows." The network’s TV reporters also "tweet out stories mere minutes before going on the air to discuss them." ESPN VP/Editorial Operations Jill Frederickson said, "It became really clear that fans don’t care whether they’re getting news on TV or an alert or on ESPN.com." Network execs said that there was "no one incident that prompted the restructuring decision -- just the march of time and constantly changing consumer behavior." The explosion of digital platforms in recent years had "created an environment in which communication was suffering." But there is "still more work ahead." ESPN's international news desks "remain separate," with some international soccer news being "handled by the news desk" (ESPN.com, 4/25).
