ESPN Ombudsman Robert Lipsyte's latest column discussed the various "affinity" sites under the ESPN.com umbrella and wrote the proposed project fronted by Jason Whitlock has the "potential of becoming the media empire’s signal social achievement." The "as-yet-unnamed African-American-centric site," which has been informally called "black Grantland," has been "highly anticipated since it was announced almost a year ago." The rewards for success "are enormous, for ESPN, Whitlock, the staff and the audience." But it also is "the riskiest of the affinity sites." Race is America’s "greatest historical problem and its deepest divide." To open "a meaningful, ongoing discussion while giving opportunities to a new generation of journalists of color would be an incalculable contribution, well beyond sports." ESPN President John Skipper said, "We want to be a birthplace for careers. It’s also a commercial move. African-Americans believe ESPN is their TV network, but they are more ambivalent about ESPN.com as their site. We want to be the place to go when the community wants some conversation about Jay Z becoming an agent, about the racial aspects of Richie Incognito and Jonathan Martin. African-Americans are big sports fans, and we want that audience." Lipsyte wrote much of the "anticipation for the Whitlock site has to do with the big question: Will the network learn from those issues with the espnW site and allow the new site to confront the highly nuanced African-American reality in a sports industry that has progress and shortcomings open for endless debate?" Lipsyte: "Whitlock’s 'maturation,' as Skipper calls it, will be a critical factor of his success or failure on his own site." Skipper said of Whitlock's endeavor, "I am not deterred, I am not ambivalent, I am fully supportive. We’ve had good, frank conversations. He has a chance to enter a new phase of his career and get beyond feuding, be more mature. Maybe I was impulsive in my choice of Jason, but you have to go with talent" (ESPN.com, 7/9).
