ESPN Ombudsman Discusses Net's Use Of "SportsCenter Specials"
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Ombudsman Cites Special Around Goodell's
Spygate Meeting As One Example Of Misuse |
In her latest contribution as ESPN Ombudsman, Le Anne Schreiber wrote under the header, "'SportsCenter Specials' Too Often Just Hot Air On Hot Topics." ESPN plans to launch in August a daily block of live "SportsCenter" episodes from 6:00am-3:00pm ET, which will replace the "unwieldy, artificially bloated, overused mechanism for handling major and not-so-major breaking news." The liabilities of "SportsCenter Specials" were evident most recently during a "SportsCenter Special" on May 13, the day NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell met with former Patriots video assistant Matt Walsh. There was a "dangerous amount of air time to fill, live and unscripted," as host Trey Wingo and NFL analysts Cris Carter and Mark Schlereth "focused on the handiest new Spygate topic, the eight tapes from 2000-02 that Walsh had turned over to the NFL." The show for an hour and 15 minutes preceding Goodell's news conference was a "runaway train of inflammatory speculation that had Schlereth and Carter placing asterisks on all the Patriots' Super Bowl wins under" coach Bill Belichick. Wingo on several occasions "tried to remind viewers this was simply the analysts' personal opinion, but Schlereth resisted the notion that his opinion was debatable." Schreiber: "Nothing short of a flashing red 'speculation' sign filling half the screen for a full 75 minutes would have had any chance of counteracting" Schlereth and Carter. Wingo eventually "succumbed as well," saying, "We would be naive to think (Belichick) did not tape the Super Bowl." Schreiber: "It is an anchor's job to remain neutral, even at the expense of seeming naive." When the special continued after Goodell's news conference, Schlereth and Carter "still spoke with impassioned conviction about the game-changing, Super Bowl-changing use of tapes during games."
UPON FURTHER REVIEW: Wingo said of the perception that the analysts went too far, "That's not on them. That's on me. Their job is to give opinions, and if there is a perception by more than Pats fans that we went too far, then I didn't do my job as well as I should have." Schreiber: "I agree that you can't blame Schlereth and Carter for offering their honest opinions, however impassioned and precipitate. And I don't blame Wingo either. The fault lies with the misuse of the 'SportsCenter Special' to fill a vacuum of airtime by pumping it with hot air on a hot topic." ESPN Senior VP & Dir of News Vince Doria said of Schreiber's perception of the show, "I can't tell you your characterization is incorrect." Schreiber wrote when a studio crew such as that of "Baseball Tonight" or "NFL Live" is "given the responsibility of managing major breaking news, whether the coverage is called a 'SportsCenter Special' or not, ESPN should make sure the anchor always has a reporter sitting at the desk." Schreiber wrote of the May 13 special, "Balance required the presence of a reporter ready to uphold the importance of sticking to the known facts" (ESPN.com, 6/12).
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