Ethical Reporting in Sports

Scott Thomas 

st610417@ohio.edu 

 

It's not a secret that ESPN gives a lot of money to the leagues that it covers. ESPN owns the SEC Network, and the PAC-12 Network. It televises the National Football League on Monday nights. It gets several tennis tournaments and basketball games and more. In 2013, Dean Starkman of the Columbia Journalism Review wrote a scathing column on the problems that ESPN reporters might have due to the financial ties that ESPN has to the sports world. His story was flawed and used false logic to justify his argument. 

 In the beginning of his column, he talks about how the parent company of the Boston Red Sox now owns the Boston Globe. He compares this relationship to the one that ESPN has with the NFL and college football. This is flawed because in this example, the people that supply the money to the Red Sox also supply the money to the journalists that are supposed to cover the team. ESPN itself has no say in the actions of college football or NFL programs in the same way that the parent company might have a say in the Red Sox. Starkman also says that in a traditional media landscape, the media company makes its money in advertising. He says of ESPN, "The media company's main source of income is the very thing its newsroom is supposed to cover." He says this as if the NFL or college football teams are directly paying ESPN. 

Picture source: The Spun

 

ESPN gives money to the organizations for the right to broadcast their games. It then makes its money on advertising during the time that it is broadcasting those games. Similarly, advertisers give money to television stations to advertise during more highly watched television slots, like during a premiere of a popular show. 

One of the principles of ethical journalism, according to OpenPR is asking journalists to act on their own accord. The spots companies are not putting money directly into the pockets of ESPN and other sports journalists. While it is impossible to completely absolve ESPN of conflicts of interests since its money lies in these companies, but it doesn't trickle down to the individual level. ESPN reporters are able to cover and report on the teams they cover fairly and balanced, just like other reporters from other publications.