ESPN Ombudsman Criticizes "Onslaught of Opinion" In Coverage
In her latest contribution as ESPN Ombudsman, Le Anne Schreiber writes that fans, coaches and athletes "are sick and tired of being subjected to a relentless media onslaught of opinion that is simultaneously overheated and half-baked." The videotape of Oklahoma State head football coach Mike Gundy's outburst toward Daily Oklahoman columnist Jenni Carlson was played "a dozen times a day" on ESPN outlets, and also created "the perfect storm for the entire week's opinion cycle." While some commentators "dumped on Gundy," others "faulted Carlson for criticizing an amateur athlete so harshly," and ESPN.com's Gene Wojciechowski "raised questions about the accuracy of her observations." However, Schreiber asks, "Why did I hear no one at ESPN explicitly note that the column that so enraged Gundy was based on rumors and rumblings and the sayings of 'insiders?'"
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Ombudsman Blasts ESPN's Reporting
Of Belichick's Videotaping Scandal |
SPEAKING OF VIDEOTAPE: On the Patriots' videotape scandal, Schreiber writes it "was clear [Patriots Coach Bill] Belichick had violated a league rule, but what kind of 'cheating' did that amount to, what kind of unfair competitive advantage could it bestow? Reporting might have answered that crucial question, but the question was tossed to the realm of opinion." The "extremes of opinions varied from Sean Salisbury's 'the media is making way too big a deal of it' ... to columnist Gregg Easterbook's inflammatory piece, prominently played on the front page of ESPN.com," in which he wrote "the situation with the [NFL] is a lot worse than people realize." Schreiber writes that after Easterbrook forecasted "the demise not only of Belichick but the entire NFL," in his next piece "he accuses NFL [Senior VP/PR] Greg Aiello of trying to pull off a sneaky Nixonian 'non-denial denial.'" Easterbrook said, "I had reason to think that the parties involved were trying to keep something off the public record that should be on it," to which Schreiber responds "get the proof, or at least sources whose reliability you are willing to characterize and vouch for, before you publish. Until then, you keep your rumor-based speculations to yourself." One ESPN.com reader commented: "ESPN used to be a place where sports news was reported. Now it's just a factory for controversy."
QUARTERBACK CONTROVERSIES: Schreiber writes that after Eagles QB Donovan McNabb's comments on HBO that black QBs face more scrutiny than white ones, ESPN "did not create the McNabb controversy, not directly, but it fed on it." And after Giants QB Eli Manning was injured in a September 9 game against the Cowboys, Chris Mortensen reported that Manning "would be out for at least a month." Schreiber writes, "Rather than reporting a divergence of medical opinion ... Mortensen created a controversy with two sides that required stance taking." ESPN.com "acknowledged the mistake," and ESPN Senior VP/Dir of News Vince Doria "issued a memo on how to handle injury reports properly in the future" (ESPN.com, 10/10).
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