Final week, my colleague Sean Beckwith wrote concerning the NFL presumably shopping for a stake in ESPN, and the potential for the self-proclaimed Worldwide Chief in Sports activities to change into nothing greater than the PR arm of the most well-liked league in America (a minimum of, greater than it already is). Yesterday, over at The Nation, Dave Zirin wrote of the issue of the dearth of important protection of the NFL and what meaning for one of many greatest and most worthwhile companies in America, which already owns a day of the week. Think about this: About 25 million Americans attend church on Sundays; 22 million Americans watch the NFL on Sunday Nights alone, and the league averages over 17 million viewers per game. By way of sheer numbers, we’re speaking about an organization that’s practically as standard as God.
What does it imply, then, to have fewer and fewer reporters protecting the NFL critically? In his wonderful piece yesterday, Zirin wrote:
“Good journalism was already in danger at ESPN, but it is one thing to hide important reporting at the bottom of a website, and it is another thing to spike any efforts to investigate the NFL at all. If the NFL has decision-making power at ESPN, that is probably an inevitability. We have seen this with the NFL Network, which hired stellar reporters only, according to journalist and former employee Jim Trotter, to limit the extent to which they can ply their craft.”
Trotter goes on to recount the time the NFL Community shut down his reporting on the league’s response to Damar Hamlin’s damage in early 2023. And Zirin makes the case for why, if the NFL does purchase a stake in ESPN, sports activities journalism as we all know it might stop to exist. The complete piece is properly value your time. As a result of not solely does the league shopping for into sports activities’ greatest media outlet imply much less investigative protection of Roger Goodell et al, nevertheless it additionally means a decrease high quality of journalism for the plenty.
Yesterday, a reporter bought warmth from all sides for asking Tampa Bay head coach Todd Bowles if he was doing something particular to organize his staff for taking part in in chilly climate in Detroit, apparently not realizing that the Lions play at Ford Discipline, a domed stadium. And whereas everybody had an excellent snigger on the reporter who was too dumb to appreciate that the Lions play indoors, the scenario in all probability shocked nobody, as newsrooms have been decimated throughout the board, and reporters are, too typically, having to cowl a number of beats, a few of which they aren’t well-versed in, to maintain their jobs. Seems, the outlet the reporter was representing not has a sports activities division.
Does the NFL investing in ESPN imply fewer reporters? Perhaps, perhaps not. It’s laborious to examine a situation the place it means extra reporters, particularly as ESPN has just lately subjected a few of its top-tier expertise to layoffs. I wrote last week about ESPN’s pivot to extra screaming heads, like Pat McAfee and Stephen A. Smith, rather than packages that showcased precise journalism, just like the dearly departed Exterior The Strains. It’s in all probability a secure guess to imagine that, ought to the NFL acquire a seat on the ESPN desk, they aren’t going to need the calls about The Protect’s many flaws to be coming from inside the home.
However one factor that nobody is speaking about in relation to ESPN promoting out to the NFL is the impact of the merger on reporters — and what meaning to followers who flip to these reporters for data the league would quite suppress. The variety of reporters employed within the sports activities media trade is shrinking by the day, as sports activities journalism turns into much less about precise reporting and extra about aggregation and AI-generated slide reveals, regardless of vigorous and sustained pushback from journalists. However worse, practically half of working journalists within the US say they’ve been harassed on-line, with 45 percent saying they’ve acquired threats of precise bodily hurt. Folks of coloration and girls in journalism obtain a disproportionate share of on-line harassment; a separate study discovered that 73 p.c of girls journalists worldwide have skilled on-line threats and harassment.
Talking from private expertise, there are few issues that fireplace up the trolls on X (previously Twitter) like reporting on one thing a couple of league, or a staff, or a participant that their followers don’t wish to hear. Ask anybody who has coated athletes accused of violence or NFL house owners who’ve dedicated malfeasance. That’s when journalists are pressured to decide on: Do you wish to see all of the folks threatening you within the feedback/replies? Or would you quite defend your psychological well being and be blissfully unaware of whether or not somebody intends to hurt you? There isn’t any third choice. Go forward, go submit concerning the allegations towards Tyreek Hill or Ben Roethlisberger, and see what occurs to your mentions.
On the identical time, reporters who regurgitate staff press releases and chorus from commenting on wrongdoing by gamers and groups are rewarded with extra entry, probably higher assignments and, maybe better of all, an absence of vitriol from the fan base. The extra journalists that select that path, the less who stay to solid a important eye over the league. And when there are only some reporters protecting allegations towards gamers, coaches, and house owners, they could as properly sew an enormous goal onto the again of their winter coats. As a result of they’ll be sitting geese for retaliation from the league and the web trolls. There may be security in numbers, and in the present day, there are valuable few sports activities reporters left to cowl the “difficult” tales.
And outdoors of private conviction, why would any reporter wish to take the street much less traveled? It’s much more enjoyable to stay your head within the sand and cheer to your favourite gamers than it’s to topic oneself to reporting on home violence, sexual assault, racism, and proprietor misconduct. Most reporters bought into this enterprise as a result of they love sports activities. However somebody needs to be prepared to ask the laborious questions.
In 2022, the NFL and its 32 groups generated $18.6 billion in whole income, a billion greater than it had the yr earlier than. That places the league on par with firms like US Metal, Aramark, Colgate-Palmolive, and Kohl’s, firms we’d by no means contemplate leaving exterior the purview of investigative journalism. Think about if there was a scandal at US Metal and there was nobody to cowl it as a result of US Metal purchased into the Pittsburgh Publish-Gazette or Philadelphia Inquirer? Most Individuals would say that’s a foul thought, as a result of it’s the media who sometimes holds giant companies accountable.
The NFL isn’t any totally different. It’s a world group that brings loads of pleasure to lots of people, nevertheless it’s not with out its faults, and it’s just too massive and too influential to depart uninvestigated. It has the potential to do an excessive amount of hurt to too many individuals.
