ESPN has faced recent criticism for allegedly leaning left politically, but a recent study found that "about 64% of those responding" believed the company is “getting it right” in terms of mixing sports news and political issues, according to Jon Lafayette of BROADCASTING & CABLE. The survey, conducted May 3-7 by Langer Research Associates, found "about 10% said they had no opinion" of the company's political leanings and 8% said ESPN "does not cover enough politics in its programming." ESPN said that the survey found that the portion of viewers who "see political bias in ESPN programming is unchanged since the survey was last conducted" in October '16. Since the presidential election, numerous press reports have "tied ESPN's declining subscriber count and lower ratings for its studio shows to a left-wing bias, indicated in part by the number of women and minorities it employs as anchors" (BROADCASTIGCABLE.com, 6/5). In N.Y., Mark Sanchez writes the most important takeaway for ESPN from the survey is that "both Republicans and Democrats rated the network highly." On a scale to 10, Republicans "gave the Worldwide Leader a 7.1 (up .5 from October) and Democrats rated ESPN as a 7.0." (N.Y. POST, 6/6). SPORTING NEWS' Michael McCarthy noted in the survey of 1,423 adults, about 30% of the respondents said that they "detect bias" in ESPN's coverage. Within that group, 63% said that it is a "liberal bias" while 30% said that "it's a conservative bias." The remaining 7% said that they "detect bias but declined to categorize it one way or the other." McCarthy noted the 63% liberal bias statistic "was missing from ESPN's press release announcing the survey results, but the network emphasized" the 30% who think the network "swings too far to the right" (SPORTINGNEWS.com, 6/5). Deadspin's Tom Scocca countered McCarthy by tweeting, "If you throw out the majority of people who told the survey they didn't consider ESPN biased, the survey says people find ESPN to be biased" (TWITTER.com, 6/6).
SONG REMAINS THE SAME? ESPN yesterday announced it was bringing back Hank Williams Jr.'s "MNF" song, which it had "played for more than two decades" and was "closely identified with the show" for a generation of fans. In N.Y., Victor Mather notes ESPN "never really tried to replace Williams and the popular song with anything as flashy." It "mostly stuck with the longtime 'Monday Night Football' instrumental theme known as 'Heavy Action'" (N.Y. TIMES, 6/6). USA TODAY's Charles Curtis noted as "great as it is to see the theme back" on "MNF," he "can’t divorce it from" Williams' controversial comments about President Obama that ended his initial stay with the show. Curtis: "The song is a classic. But ESPN is still hiring back someone who compared the (now former) President to Adolf Hitler." More Curtis: "Why bring him back in the first place? Why even start up a controversy when it’s unnecessary? ... Even if we want to separate the song from the singer, it’s absolutely impossible" (USATODAY.com, 6/5). ESPN’s Tony Kornheiser said Williams’ song is “nostalgic, a lot of people like it." Kornheiser: "It’s fine to have” (“PTI,” ESPN, 6/5). ESPN’s Field Yates said the “previous version was terrific” from Williams. Yates; "If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” ESPN’s Tedy Bruschi said, “You’ve heard of good sequels, ‘Godfather II.’ ... This will be the one. It’s going to be the theme that’s famous all over the world again for ESPN ‘Monday Night Football’” (“NFL Live,” ESPN, 6/5).
