ESPN Ombudsman Tackles Conflict Of Interest In Latest Column
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Schreiber Addresses Conflict
Of Interest Issue At ESPN
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In her latest contribution as ESPN Ombudsman, Le Anne Schreiber wrote the “most
common category of complaint I receive ... is about perceived conflicts of interest”
at the net. Hockey fans “complain about the diminished presence of hockey
on SportsCenter” since ESPN dropped NHL rights, non-motorsports fans “complain
that NASCAR suddenly has too large a presence on SportsCenter” this year,
and football fans wrote there is “too much out-of-season NFL coverage.”
One wrote, “When did football become a 12-month sport?” ESPN acquired
the rights and an equity stake of the AFL last December, and Schreiber noted the
net has begun including league injury updates on the news crawl. One fan wrote,
“Funny how intricate details of Arena Football teams suddenly become newsworthy
as soon as ESPN obtained a stake in the league, isn’t it?”
WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY: “SportsCenter” VP/Studio Production
Craig Lazarus said the net’s research found that in March ’04, when
ESPN still had NHL rights, hockey accounted for 20% of the Top Ten highlights
on the 1:00am ET edition of the show, and in March ‘07, the percentage was
18%. Schreiber reported there were “29 fewer minutes of standard, daily
NHL coverage” in March ‘07 than in March ‘04 on the 1:00am show,
a 28% decline.
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Many Viewers Questioning ESPN’s
Increased Coverage Of AFL |
ESPN RESPONSE: ESPN Senior VP/News Vince Doria said, “Without
rights, there may be limits on the event footage we can use. With rights, we may
get expanded footage usages, such as in-progress highlights for certain shows,
like Baseball Tonight.” Lazarus said the net began increasing NASCAR coverage
on “SportsCenter” before re-entering the sport. Lazarus: “We
were under-delivering to those fans.” ESPN Exec VP/Programming & Acquisitions
John Wildhack said, “When we passed on renewing NASCAR rights beyond 2000
and Fox picked it up, our access to the tracks was curtailed by NASCAR.”
Lazarus added the net increased NFL coverage “across the board, because
our research tells us it is the single biggest draw, and because we have competition.”
Doria said of more attention being devoted to the AFL, “I could lay it all
off on the resources that come with rights, but when we are trying to grow a sport,
it means we get a little ahead of the curve to drive the interest up.” ESPN
Exec VP/Program Planning & Development David Berson said, “Nothing from
the programming end dictates or even influences news decisions.” “Around
The Horn” and “PTI” Exec Producer Erik Rydholm added, “Nobody
ever talks to us at all about content” (ESPN.com,
5/10).
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