ESPN, Ben Roethlisberger, and keeping a sacred trust.

There are those who will insist that I am about to commit professional broadcast suicide.

I would prefer to think of it as one man’s effort to convince those in a position of authority to do what is right in the spirit of every reputable news reporting organization and those who believe in what those words stand for.

R

eport the facts without prejudice, bias, or possible conflict of interest.

ESPN has been for some time, and will remain, the 30,000 pound gorilla in the middle of the broadcast media room. It will sit where it wants to sit, eat when and what it wants to devour, flex its considerable muscle in any way, shape or form it desires. There will be no one willing or able to stop it.

Save the will and whim of the viewing public. And in this case, the public should speak loudly and clearly.

Report the news as it happens. Not what you believe your version of it should be. Or in this case, when you believe a version should be told.

Pittsburgh Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger was recently accused of raping a woman while staying at a Lake Tahoe hotel-casino in 2008. The 31-year old woman was a VIP host at the hotel and claims Roethlisberger lured her to his hotel room under the pretense of a broken television set, and then proceeded to force him upon her and sexually assault her.

Thru his attorney, Roethlisberger vehemently denies the allegation, as one would expect. The woman, despite more than a few media reports about her alleged mental instability, insists she was raped.

Allegations such as these must be taken seriously under any circumstances. According to statistics from the “Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network” (RAINN), someone is sexually assaulted every two minutes in America. Other numbers reveal only 37% of all rapes are ever reported to police, which speaks to the humiliation and time it takes to muster enough strength to even talk about the act. The fact her reporting the alleged attack took one entire year is questionable but not unheard of.

On the other side of this coin, high profile individuals, especially athletes, are easy targets for such allegations. These in spite of the fact more than a few of them are foolish enough to place themselves in situations where events such as these can happen or can be fabricated. We have seen too often where accusations such as these are nothing more than “shakedown” attempts by very convincing con-artists.

The woman involved never went to the authorities with her story, and has waited until now to file a lawsuit seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages. Thus, police in Nevada have no intention of beginning a criminal investigation at this time.

At first blush, the story does indeed seem more than a little shaky. However, it is still a story, and must be reported as such. This is the job of every legitimate news-reporting organization.

I received a call from a colleague who works for ESPN, informing me there was a strict order from management this story was to receive no airtime on any ESPN program and would not be mentioned on their website. No exceptions. As far as ESPN was concerned, the story never happened. Their reasoning was that, according to “reliable sources”, they were told the story was untrue and reporting it would mean airing an erroneous story.

In the scope of reporting the news in a fair and balanced manner, and in the arena of every journalistic ethic, this is very poor and questionable excuse.

The news value here is exactly what was contained in that memo. If indeed ESPN had solid and reliable information that the story was false, that is exactly what every news organization leaps at. An “exclusive”. Information refuting a story that was carried on every legitimate news wire service and reporting organization.

I have since spoken with several colleagues at ESPN, and all have expressed the exact same dismay with management. Each one said that without a doubt, this was a solid news story to begin with, and their information made reporting the story with that source material all the more important. As one person said, “we really come off looking like idiots hiding something”.

ESPN finally relented and placed a “status alert” on Roethlisberger’s fantasy stats section of their web offering noting that, according to “the Pittsburgh Channel”, whomever that is, he had been accused of “sexually assaulting a Nevada hotel employee”. And I am told this note was added apparently only to inform fantasy players that because of this incident, Roethlisberger’s status for week one of the NFL season might change.

ESPN should now explain itself to those legions of viewers and loyalists. The brand name is one that must be respected, but in this case seriously questioned. ESPN owes not only the viewers, but their own employees an explanation about conflict of interest. And certainly about whether they can be trusted in the future to honestly and without fail tell those stories it may not agree or have a fiduciary connection with.

ESPN and ABC are both owned by the Disney Corporation. Roethlisberger is set to appear on Shaquille O’Neal’s new show, which is carried by ABC. ESPN is also in a very lucrative arrangement with the NFL, and this could be seen as seeking to contain any damage that might befall Roethlisberger, the Steelers, the NFL, ESPN, and everyone’s bank account.

The excuse remains transparent and poorly handled. The reasoning behind it not sound under any circumstance for any news organization. And the stain it leaves on hard working journalists both in and outside the scope of Bristol, Connecticut is tough to remove.

Are you really delivering the news, or your version of it?

How ironic this happens within days of the death of Walter Cronkite, a broadcast journalism pioneer who always said the most important thing for a news reporter was to be honest and forthright at all times.

Lessons, it would seem, that still need to be taught and learned well beyond his passing.

 

 

Veteran network sportscaster Ed Berliner can also be heard interviewing sports reporters,coaches and commentators in unedited comments about every sport at "Stone Cold Sports".

Press conference to announce Roethlisberger's appearance on Shaq show cancelled.

ESPN showing bad judgement and selective memory in Roethlisberger case.

Why is ESPN giving Ben Roethlisberger a pass when they have shown no such leniency in other instances?