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The Rise and Fall of ESPN (1 Viewer)

If she was actually reporting that would be one thing. Actively campaigning against sponsors out of the blue on social media has nothing to do with "real journalism" . 
I think that's overstating what she was doing and I think what ESPN did is really chilling for any other ESPN employees. She was giving her opinion that - if you disagree with JJ's stance - the best way to hurt him is to hit him in the pocketbook. I think that's pretty obvious and shouldn't have even caused a second glance by ESPN. But the fact that they suspended her means - as people have stated - that ESPN will bow to the NFL and its sponsors. 

And therefore, ESPN has lost any integrity it once had. Also shows (again) why ESPN has treated Goddell with such kid gloves the last couple of years.

 
I think that's overstating what she was doing and I think what ESPN did is really chilling for any other ESPN employees. She was giving her opinion that - if you disagree with JJ's stance - the best way to hurt him is to hit him in the pocketbook. I think that's pretty obvious and shouldn't have even caused a second glance by ESPN. But the fact that they suspended her means - as people have stated - that ESPN will bow to the NFL and its sponsors. 

And therefore, ESPN has lost any integrity it once had. Also shows (again) why ESPN has treated Goddell with such kid gloves the last couple of years.
I think if she left it at this (the first tweet that advocated for this, or I guess technically it was the 3rd or 4th of a series), she would be fine. It was the follow-up of actually saying "if you feel strongly, boycott his advertisers" and then the actual retweeting or whatever of the companies that advertise with Jones that was either a) dumb for not expecting the fallout or b) quite intentional because she knew what it would lead to. 

 
why would a sports journalist give any tips on "hurting someone's pocketbook?"  How is that reporting?  that is making news. 

 
Anyone watching SC right now, Michael Smith acting like a 5 year old all pouty and monotone doing the show on his own. Proving ESPN right. Get em off the air. No network needs to deal with this much attitude from its hosts.

 
Hill and Smith think they are bigger than what reality would show.     Does anyone know someone that would say, "F ESPN, they got rid of Hill and Smith!!! I ain't never going to watch ESPN again!"     Nope 

 
Anyone watching SC right now, Michael Smith acting like a 5 year old all pouty and monotone doing the show on his own. Proving ESPN right. Get em off the air. No network needs to deal with this much attitude from its hosts.
Hard to imagine we went from Stuart Scott, SVP, and Patrick making highlights funny and enjoyable to this crap. 

 
Anyone watching SC right now, Michael Smith acting like a 5 year old all pouty and monotone doing the show on his own. Proving ESPN right. Get em off the air. No network needs to deal with this much attitude from its hosts.
What a joke, they both suck. But now that they used the race card they are here to stay so get used to them. 

 
why would a sports journalist give any tips on "hurting someone's pocketbook?"  How is that reporting?  that is making news. 
It is the reality of today's world where everyone with and access and liking of social media at all are compelled to "create their own brand". Media has quickly devolved from reporting the news to manufacturing the news based on bricks and mortar made of personal opinions instead of observations of actions.

 
It is the reality of today's world where everyone with and access and liking of social media at all are compelled to "create their own brand". Media has quickly devolved from reporting the news to manufacturing the news based on bricks and mortar made of personal opinions instead of observations of actions.
How many times can you run the Bears-Vikings highlights and say the baseball game has been rained out?

 
How many times can you run the Bears-Vikings highlights and say the baseball game has been rained out?
I get that but ESPN seemed to have creative ways around it the past 20 years or so. On the flip side, how many times can you mix up a cocktail of "young, hip attitude with opinions purposely brushing up agains the common theme of the land?"  I get it: nobody wants to watch a bunch of middle-aged-criss white dudes 24/7 anymore but, at the same time, nobody wants 100% of their tv viewing experience to be a constant roller coaster ride of political debate with not-so-subtle undertones.

 
The TV was on ESPN in the gym today, and they must have spent a good 45 minutes talking about the National Anthem BS.  Show some freaking sports already.  Apparently ESPN stands for Endless Star spangled banner Pontificating Nutjobs now.

 
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I think that's overstating what she was doing and I think what ESPN did is really chilling for any other ESPN employees. She was giving her opinion that - if you disagree with JJ's stance - the best way to hurt him is to hit him in the pocketbook. I think that's pretty obvious and shouldn't have even caused a second glance by ESPN. But the fact that they suspended her means - as people have stated - that ESPN will bow to the NFL and its sponsors. 

And therefore, ESPN has lost any integrity it once had. Also shows (again) why ESPN has treated Goddell with such kid gloves the last couple of years.
Chilling? Come on already. You obviously have some kind of ax to grind here. She is a sports network employee. Stick to sports and don't actively campaign on twitter against sponsors. To try and paint it as anything other than actively campaigning against sponsors is BS. She instructed people to boycott them(twice) and posted a list. How is that not actively campaigning. 

Those tweets have zero to do with her job as a sports journalist. She is free to actively campaign on her personal time, she just has to be able to live with the repercussions of doing so. Especially when it is a really stupid way of going about it. She thought she was being coy by saying she wasn't advocating boycotting the NFL. AT&T is the official sponsor of wireless at disney parks.Oops.  

 
Strongest man/woman competition. Let's watch people uproot trees with their bare hands.
I feel like this thread has been down this path multiple times already but studio talking head shows are (a) cheap to produce, (b) garner decent ratings considering the production costs and (c) can be used to promote other network content. 

ESPN has multiple sub-networks that require programming 7/24.  Studio shows are the best way to feed that beast.

 
How many times can you run the Bears-Vikings highlights and say the baseball game has been rained out?
Idk, about the same amount as they can recite the same anthem protest debate each day.

If there were sports on CNN/Fox or there were music videos on Cartoon Network or sitcoms on Discovery, then I could accept what ESPN is doing and that's just the messy tv world we live in where every channel shows everything.

But to my knowledge, ESPN is the only one doing this right now, calling themselves a network for one thing and spending at least 50% of its air time on something else.

 
Idk, about the same amount as they can recite the same anthem protest debate each day.

If there were sports on CNN/Fox or there were music videos on Cartoon Network or sitcoms on Discovery, then I could accept what ESPN is doing and that's just the messy tv world we live in where every channel shows everything.

But to my knowledge, ESPN is the only one doing this right now, calling themselves a network for one thing and spending at least 50% of its air time on something else.
Like it or not, it's the biggest story in sports right now :shrug:

 
I feel like this thread has been down this path multiple times already but studio talking head shows are (a) cheap to produce, (b) garner decent ratings considering the production costs and (c) can be used to promote other network content. 

ESPN has multiple sub-networks that require programming 7/24.  Studio shows are the best way to feed that beast.
There needs to be a place for showing people pulling 23 rail cars uphill.

But seriously, maybe the problem is the multiple sub-networks that require programming - are they all making profits? I assume they must be since they exist. And if that's the case it'd be hard to say ESPN is falling. Maybe it's not as profitable as it used to be, but until I see channels getting canned from their lineup, I'm not thinking they're in dire straights.

 
brohans i want to say thank you for the tips on no more autoplay videos now i can go to sportsline and not have my speakers blast off my ears when some dope starts talking about zeke eliot because i left them at 11 for brandy by looking glass last night so good on ya me mateys and take that to the bank 

 
Gr00vus said:
There needs to be a place for showing people pulling 23 rail cars uphill.

But seriously, maybe the problem is the multiple sub-networks that require programming - are they all making profits? I assume they must be since they exist. And if that's the case it'd be hard to say ESPN is falling. Maybe it's not as profitable as it used to be, but until I see channels getting canned from their lineup, I'm not thinking they're in dire straights.
My guess is you'll see channels get canned when WatchESPN or whatever the next version of their de-bundled streaming service gets adopted more widely. A couple of those channels basically exist only so they have a spot to show the 3rd or 4th tier Big Ten or ACC games each week. 

 
I think that ESPN is hoping people don't stop watching because of this stuff with Hill. What they don't realize is that people have already stopped watching. It had nothing to do with Hill. It had everything to do with a bloated network spread too thin over too many channels without enough content or commentators to go around. 

 
Used to watch the pre game on ESPN for football, but I just can't watch with Rex Ryan on there. That freaky dude just creeps me out. You know he spends the whole show looking at Ponder's feet.

 
Not sure anyone ever watched this show but Dhani Jones did a Travel Channel reality show where he went around and trained for a week or so, then did regional athletic competitions.  

It was actually really fascinating to see the competitions and locations, but Dhani didn't bring much to the table personality wise imo.  There were a few events that he just clowned the locals, but for the most part he was not competitive. 

I know it's not in their makeup to do elimination style reality shows but it's just one idea.  :shrug:  Get a mix of 10-12 retired athletes and have them battle it out like that.

 
Why on earth would politically-correct ESPN want to be partners with a site whose entire existence is based on being anti-PC?
They must have thought they were just getting PFTC and Big Cat, who are really funny without crossing any lines. Guess they didn't consider the entire operation Portnoy runs over there. 

 
Ponder's refusal to admit she was wrong (even after doubling down, and being told she was wrong again) about going after Big Cat was amazing. 

 
Why on earth would politically-correct ESPN want to be partners with a site whose entire existence is based on being anti-PC?
And vice versa...not a good look for Barstool doing anything with ESPN...kind of goes against everything that has made them successful...

 
And vice versa...not a good look for Barstool doing anything with ESPN...kind of goes against everything that has made them successful...
Everything they have said - forever - is about being as big as they can be and how happy they would be to "sell out".

 

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