Ombudsman Analyzes Perceived Bias In ESPN's Coverage Of MLB
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ESPN Exec Cites Increased Cubs Coverage
In Refuting Claims Of East Coast Bias |
In her latest contribution as ESPN Ombudsman, Le Anne Schreiber wrote under the header, "Breaking Down The Bias In ESPN's Coverage." Schreiber wrote the charges of "East Coast bias" in ESPN's MLB coverage are "many-pronged, aimed sometimes at ESPN's event programming, sometimes at its news and analysis shows." ESPN Senior VP/Programming & Acquisitions Len DeLuca provided a chart "showing how often teams appeared on ESPN's scheduled Sunday, Monday and Wednesday Night Baseball broadcasts." When compared to ESPN's '07 coverage, the "most notable changes, by far, are in the frequency" of Cubs and Yankees appearances. Up to the All-Star break in early July, ESPN "had telecast 10 Cubs games this year, eight more than in 2007, and seven Yankee games, eight fewer than in 2007." DeLuca: "It is long proven in NBA and NFL and MLB that spreading the wealth to 30 or 32 teams is a prescription for deflating ratings. ... And to maximize ratings, get the best stories, we are going to go where teams that have performed for us reside. The reason that the Mets, Yankees and Red Sox have been on is because they perform for us, as do the Cubs, the Cardinals and, recently, the White Sox." ESPN's Integrated Media Research team "offered all sorts of charted ratings information to back up DeLuca's words." The chart showed the "three highest-rated 'Sunday Night Baseball' games so far this season were all Yankees-Red Sox." Also, when national ratings for "Sunday Night Baseball" are "broken down by region, Yankees-Red Sox games show stronger drawing power in most regions than games involving a region's team." In its telecasts, "especially on Sunday nights, especially in the first third of the season, ESPN tilts toward perennial high-drawing teams like the Red Sox, Yankees, Mets and Cubs, with seasonal variations in the relative prominence of those teams based on their pennant prospects."
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ESPN Features "High-Drawing" Teams
Like Red Sox On MLB Telecasts |
LACK OF EVIDENCE: Schreiber for two weeks analyzed the 12:00am ET edition of "Baseball Tonight" and the 1:00am broadcast of "SportsCenter" to "compare how they sequenced MLB highlights." Schreiber noted "both shows tended to cluster highlights of games that included the top three teams in a division, but the sequencing of those clusters was often significantly different, so that the same game might be the first highlight on one show and the 11th on the other." Schreiber: "The fact that 'SportsCenter' and 'Baseball Tonight' sometimes make such different calls, and that there is no consistent pattern of favoring one division over another in the sequencing of highlights on either show, should put to rest the notion of an ESPN-wide collusion to promote certain MLB teams. But the notion persists." Schreiber wrote the "root of complaints about bias on ESPN derives not from the selection and sequencing of highlights on news shows, not even from ratings-based telecasting decisions, which most viewers grudgingly understand, but from the disproportionate attention given to certain marquee players on programs across the ESPN board." If there is "collusion at ESPN across platforms and programs, it is in the creation, maintenance and promotion of superstars with the potential for crossover appeal among diehard and casual fans and followers of popular culture" (ESPN.com, 8/14).
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