ESPN President Jimmy Pitaro is "asserting his leadership of ESPN at a time of internal division at the network, which is caught in the crosshairs" of President Trump's "culture wars and the worsening economics of cable TV," according to Marisa Guthrie of the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. The net's "detractors on the right have executed a misdirect -- framing the network's market challenges as a culture problem." Some employees "express concern about the network's direction." One on-air talent said of the mood at ESPN, "It's a demoralizing place to be." Guthrie notes ESPN "presents a big and juicy target," but there have also been "unforced errors." Internal discord over Jemele Hill and Michael Smith's "SC6" "still lingers." The "irony" of ESPN being "cast as a target of the right is that much of the leadership in Bristol is actually conservative." One ESPN exec said, "At this point, Bristol, Connecticut, is not a bastion of liberalism. And it's laughable that that's the perception." However, employees feel the "focus on right-leaning agitators is frustrating." Author James Andrew Miller said, "Anybody who is getting an ESPN paycheck right now -- outside of the communications department -- who is spending their time trying to debunk the narrative that ESPN is losing subscribers because of a political agenda should be punished. ... There is absolutely no definitive correlation that has ever been presented." It is "no coincidence that some of the network's perception problems have stemmed from its reporting and commentary on the NFL." ESPN's "OTL" was "leading reporting on the domestic violence and concussion issues." Miller said, "You have people saying how much is it worth to do a minute-thirty package on a show that is seen by less than a million people and yet pisses off the league" (HOLLYWOODREPORTER.com, 6/20).
