Meet the new boss; same as the old boss.
It’s been a month since Vince Doria retired after 23 years in ESPN’s news department, but the new regime says it will continue to run the group in much the same manner.
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BENGSTON
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In his first extensive interview since taking over for Doria, ESPN’s vice president and managing editor of newsgathering and reporting, Craig Bengtson, says his group will keep the same focus on news and reporting stories, which is always thornier in Bristol compared with other outlets given ESPN’s billion-dollar business relationships with some of the leagues it covers.
“We are a news organization at our core,” Bengtson said. “Whether you’re cutting a highlight or picking a sound bite or checking a script or researching a fact, we’re all responsible for the credibility of this company from a journalistic standpoint.”
Doria officially retired from his job as ESPN’s senior vice president and director of news at the end of February. Over 23 years, Doria played a big part in shaping ESPN’s editorial mission, including overseeing ESPN’s most notable journalistic series, “Outside the Lines.”
Bengtson will continue that legacy. He oversaw “SportsCenter” for about eight years. He stepped into his new role about a year ago, but his main focus remained with “SportsCenter” through June, when ESPN’s flagship news program moved into new digital studios. Doria remained to help during the transition.
Bengston said ESPN will remain committed to covering leagues closely.
“This past year was historic in that area,” he said. “In the past year, we’ve done serious and sensitive stories involving league partners on everything from concussions to alleged domestic violence and child abuse, to racism, all the way down to how footballs are inflated.”
One change viewers can expect under Bengtson will be on the visibility of feature stories. Bengtson said one of his priorities will be to share these types of stories across more shows and more platforms than before.
“The group creates an incredible amount of quality work that we don’t always take advantage of from a business standpoint,” he said, referencing “E:60,” “Outside the Lines” and “SportsCenter.” “I’m trying to make sure that from a ratings standpoint, a programming standpoint, from an ad sales standpoint, that we’re taking advantage of that material. I’m not sure we’ve done a great job of that in the past.”
