Leftists are killing ESPN and the media is defending the politicization of sports
In April Linda Cohn was asked whether ESPN had lost viewers because of politics and she replied “…That is definitely a percentage of it. I don’t know how big a percentage. But if anyone wants to ignore that fact, they’re blind. That’s what I meant about the core group that made ESPN so successful …”
Sports and politics: No happy bedfellows over at ESPN Photo by Pete Souza/White House
The next day, Clay Travis of Outkick the Coverage and Ben Koo of Awful Announcing reported that after the comments, ESPN told Cohn not to come into the office — Koo reported it was a day off, while Travis said it was a suspension.
Politics and sports have appeared over the decade, most memorable are Muhammad Ali, Olympic boycotts or even the horrific Munich Massacre of 1972, but these are the exceptions and didn’t seem to consume the regular coverage by the sports reporters.
In September of 1979, ESPN changed sports and coverage of sports.
Now in 2017, we are witnessing ESPN change and as Cohn accurately stated: losing viewers due to their bias and ignorance.
Business Insider published analysis showing 13 million less subscribers since 2011, adding that ESPN charges more, “by far the most expensive cable network, and up 54% from what they were charging in 2011.”
The Atlantic published an article titled “Why ESPN Is More Political Than Before” which defends and attempts to give cover to ESPN trolling Twitter for juicy TMZ style stories about major sports figures instead of just covering the games. It defends Bryan Curtis’ article on Jemele Hill:
“Curtis’s piece clarifies the degree to which an uptick in political content on ESPN isn’t a function of cultural elites deciding to politicize sports or to fight injustice, depending on your perspective; it is a matter of SportsCenter trying to remain what it has always been, a nightly sports show with hosts who are so up on what sports fans are talking about that they can distill the zeitgeist multiple times every evening; what’s changed is that many of those sports obsessives have spent all day in the milieu of social media, where sports is mashed up with politics and culture as never before.”
No one is disputing that there can be coverage of these stories, but the NETWORK is now the problem.
In addition to the Cohn story, Jemele Hill never endured a penalty for tweeting “Donald Trump is a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists” (@jemelehill) September 11, 2017
Keith Law is debating evolution on social media, Curt Schilling is fired for his reactions to Islamic extremists and people with gender dysphoria. Then there is the tweets from Britt McHenry:
For those saying “that’s not a true statement.” Yes, it is. I worked there and was reprimanded for conservative-leaning tweets I favorited.
— Britt McHenry (@BrittMcHenry) September 12, 2017
Before he even takes office, Trump is Hitler to the left
Liberal bias has quickly evolved into volatile leftism, reacting hourly to President Trump and the current version of political correctness. One big example was the perspective that the Redskin name is racist, despite being a tribute to history and is supported 90% of Native Americans.
ESPN has the right to move to the left, joining TIME Magazine who have attacked Trump with Hitler and Nazi references and viewers have the right to turn to the Internet for SPORTS.
ESPN can keep Jemele Hill, but expect the MILLIONS of viewers who voted for Donald Trump to be disgusted by her “white supremacist” remarks.
Was the network willing to tolerate “socialist” or “Marxist” labels for President Obama during his tenure? Doubtful. Let’s ask Curt Schilling what he thinks.
I don’t care about Curtis’ fluff piece and biopic on how great these anchors are….I care about the SPORTS.
IT’S ESPN.
Trump tweeted about ESPN “paying a really big price” for their politics, prompting ESPN president John Skipper to issue a statement, which proclaimed: “ESPN is about sports.”
Lately John, it seems like it’s the “Entertainment Sports Political Network.”
The Atlantic concludes that “the uptick in political content on ESPN is not political in motivation; it is a response to the world that the audience outside the network, including large swaths of its core audience, has created together.”
Well I believe the “uptick in political content on ESPN” is motivated by RATINGS and TRUMP hating is something these journalist are doing at their cocktail parties and they couldn’t see their own bias if we pointed it out to them in print…oh wait.
[…] escaped formal suspension after calling Trump a “white supremacist,” it remains to be seen what the sports network might do now that she has gone after the most […]