SportsNet N.Y. Thursday aired a special look at the year in sports media that featured two separate media panels. A national panel consisting of SI.com's Richard Deitsch, USA Today's Michael McCarthy, the N.Y. Times' Richard Sandomir and THE DAILY's John Ourand addressed the media’s coverage of the Jerry Sandusky child sexual assault allegations, with SportsNet N.Y.'s Chris Carlin asking, “This was clearly a dominating story in 2011, but from a media standpoint, was it the biggest?” McCarthy: “Absolutely it was the biggest story. It was a horrible story in so many different ways, and what was also horrible about it was the way that the media was slow to pick up on this. I hate to say it, but the national media got beat by the Patriot-News in Pennsylvania on this story. ... Now, we're covering the story, and the next story is, how many Penn States are out there?” Deitsch said, “Once the national media picked up on it, there’s been a tonnage of coverage from all the people on this panel.” Ourand: “Nobody broke really anything until the police came out and actually talked about it.” McCarthy noted, “After Penn State, everybody jumped on Syracuse.”
COLLEGE'S CHANGING LANDSCAPE: The panel also discussed the changing landscape of college athletics, with schools jumping from one conference to another. Carlin asked, “How much in television contracts is really controlling this seismic shift that we're seeing?” Sandomir: “You could make the argument that ESPN is the most influential factor in many things, including the college sports. ... They are influential in many ways, and the media wants good products.” McCarthy: “The fact is that Texas A&M went to the SEC because they were outraged at the Longhorn Network. There’s a very slippery slope of being the rightsholders, being in the business of the college football, and then trying to report on it. Any athletic director who says that ESPN is not an important part of who they are or any president, is just flat-out lying.” Ourand: “When we're talking about the TV deals, we're talking about a ton of money. And we are talking about colleges that are chasing this money, regardless of whether it’s coming from ESPN or Fox or NBC." McCarthy said people "have to wonder” about regional college networks. McCarthy: “How much they are news organizations and how much they are basically brochures for this school?” Ourand replied, “They’re not news organizations at all.”
NEW YORK STATE OF MIND: A separate panel consisted of three N.Y.-area media writers -- Newsday’s Neil Best, the N.Y. Post's Phil Mushnick and the N.Y. Daily News’ Bob Raissman -- discussing local issues from the past year. The topic of media coverage around Bernie Madoff and his relationship with Mets Owner Fred Wilpon was discussed. Mushnick said the Mets “are broke," and SNY "is going to have nothing but 'Mets Classics' on.” Best said SS Jose Reyes leaving the Mets and signing with the Marlins was “tangible evidence of the limited funds the Mets have that in a way fans could care about and understand because a lot of the rest of it, it’s hard to wrap around.” Mushnick said Wilpon “initially says this does not affect us at all." Mushnick: "It's a drop in the bucket and then a couple months later, I'm out half a billion dollars.” Raissman said, “One newspaper is saying the Mets are doing this, another newspaper saying they’re doing this. It’s a side battle going on.” Best: “The coverage affects people like it affects people on every story" (“SportsNite Special: The Year in Sports,” SportsNet N.Y., 12/15).
