ESPN Drops All Pretense That It Does Journalism With NFL Deal | Zaksheske

ESPN doesn’t do journalism anymore. I get it — everyone already knows that. But the deal with the NFL makes it clear that the network isn't even trying to pretend at this point. 

Look, ESPN made a decision after George Floyd’s death: left-wing talking points mattered more than sports coverage. As a result, the network hemorrhaged viewers that it's desperately trying to get back. Still, ESPN is more than just its cable channel. Remember ESPN The Magazine? That was a legitimate journalistic endeavor. Where is that now? The closest thing ESPN has to a "magazine" is the website "Andscape", which is just an anti-white publication dressed up as a news source. That site doesn't even try to do news – it exists solely so ESPN PR can claim the company checks the DEI box.

There used to be something called "The Sports Reporters." That show gathered real journalists each week to dive into stories through a news lens. That's essentially gone, although there is a version currently on YouTube. At least that show is hosted by Jeremy Schaap, one of the most respected sports journalists in the business. 

ESPN has legitimate journalists, like Jeremy Schaap, but it's clear that entertainment is far more important to the network than adhering to journalistic standards.

(Mark J. Rebilas/Imagn Images)

Of course, I'm a bit biased since I worked with Schaap extensively when I was at ESPN and I consider him my mentor. Almost everything I learned about journalism came from him (shocking, I know — my "journalism" degree wasn’t much help in actually learning journalism). 

Schaap is a legitimate journalist who follows an ethical code. Again, this is something I know firsthand. I’ve seen Schaap turn down several interviews, with very prominent figures, because they refused to answer certain questions.

But how often is Jeremy Schaap on ESPN airwaves anymore? Rarely. Think the network is going to send him to investigate the NFL after the new partnership? Of course not. 

Of course, Disney management said all the right things. 

"Nothing in this deal in any way changes ESPN’s approach when it comes to journalism," CEO Bob Iger insisted in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. 

To be fair to Iger, he's not wrong. ESPN's approach to journalism won't change at all following the deal with the NFL. The company didn't do journalism last week, and they'll continue not to do it moving forward. It’s not that the NFL deal means ESPN will stop doing journalism — it just means they’ll have to stop pretending they’ve done it for the past five years (if not longer).

ESPN doesn't do journalism, and the NFL deal proves it 

Not only has the network become a propagandist for left-wing politicians, but now they're completely in bed with the most important sports league in America. How can a company pretend to do sports journalism when the NFL owns 10 percent of the network? The answer is simple: it can't. 

Yet, in a weird way, this might be the best thing to happen to ESPN since SportsCenter became popular. Because the NFL isn't going to want the network that it's heavily invested in to keep pushing liberal narratives. Why? Simple, the NFL audience is majority conservative. 

The league learned the hard way when it tried to lean into left-wing politics itself years ago. Remember Colin Kaepernick? Does anyone think he was good for business? Of course not. The difference is, the NFL quickly realized alienating half its audience was bad for business. ESPN decided that it didn't care about what the audience wanted. 

ESPN's transformation from legitimate sports journalism to propagandist network became crystal clear with the announcement of a partnership with the NFL.

(Denny Medley/Imagn Images)

Plus, ESPN is now going to cover the NFL a lot more (if that's possible). And I don't mean cover as in critically dissecting the league, but cover as in constantly talking about the NFL on all of its programs. That's actually good news for most sports fans. 

I worked at ESPN Radio for nearly a decade. No matter what time of year, no program director ever said the phrase, "Hey, you've got too many segments about the NFL in today's show. Let's mix in something else." If anything, the directive would be, "Hey, I know it's the middle of May, but you've got to work some NFL into today's show." 

That's what the fans want: sports talk. Especially football. There's a reason that the NFL is the most-watched sports league in the country and NFL games are, by far, the most-watched live programming of anything on American television. 

The combination of more NFL talk and less political pontificating is ultimately extremely beneficial to ESPN. Sure, ESPN doesn't do journalism anymore – or pretend to do it – but so what? Who needs journalism when the league you’re supposed to cover signs your checks? Journalism’s dead, replaced by a branded content factory in Bristol.

The only thing ESPN needs to investigate moving forward is how to keep the NFL happy.