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John Walsh, Executive Editor of ESPN appeared on the Dan Patrick radio program Thursday morning. He chose to address the hoopla in the media about the network's decision not to report the story about the civil lawsuit filed against Steelers' quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
Leave it to Patrick, an employee for 18 years at the Worldwide Leader to get the scoop. It's apparent that he left his job with a minimum of bad feeling and his listeners are all the better for it.
Walsh said that they have seen too many athletes' reputations lose their luster after lawsuits are filed, discussed in media and then dismissed or dropped at the request of the complainant.
He believes the network has been consistent with applying its standard but the individual merits of a case are judged on a case by case basis.
Ironically, Walsh said that the blogosphere has forced ESPN to re-think how they cover cases. ESPN is part of the blogosphere of course, but I think Walsh was speaking about bloggers that aren't affiliated with mainstream media empire.
Walsh went on to debunk the notion that it didn't want to offend Roethlisberger solely because he is scheduled to appear on an episode of another Disney owned company's (ABC) television program.
What was interesting was the last bit of conversation between Patrick and Walsh about ESPN's decision to ban any writer from the New York Post from appearing on its programming. The network acted as a result of the Post's decision to include photos of a naked Eric Andrews (all offending parts blacked-out) in its coverage of the peeping-tom video that has been circulating on the Internet. Pretty strong stuff.
Listen to the interview here. New York Post site, here
Comments
Didn't ESPN and other media practically bury Randy Moss 2 years ago when a bogus allegation came out about him the WEEK of the Super Bowl!?!?!
CD: they certainly covered it. Walsh left a lot of room to wiggle when he said he takes each situation on a case by case basis
yeah randy moss is black though.. so he deserves it... Roethlisberger is amazing
man oh man, mike vick gets 23 months in prison and publicly crusified for some dogs,daunte stallworth gets 24 days in jail and minimal media coverage for killing a man while drunk practicly a slap on the hand, and ben rothlisberger gets a free pass when a woman acuses him of RAPE because they dont want to offend him?! give me a break dog fighting is worst than murder and rape? espn is ecxactly what i tought it was a bias and no class company.espn get your act 2gether
NYC25 leaves out facts in his ramblings...he doesn't mention that Vick & Stallworth were convicted of crimes. Ben has not.
i guess theres no Lakers fans on this message boards. You know the ones that would remember that KOBE BRYANT was accused of the same ridiculousness and it was a breaking story from the start and on going and they still try to tear Kobe down but forget Big Ben, and thats just strange becauase Kobe was just as much of a Golden Boy in the media as Big Ben is, so there is a constant in here, and only one diff between Kobe and Ben and thats one is black and the other is white
I dont like Bias Coverage,the truth will prevail.
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