ESPN’s mea culpa to the West
| August 31, 2009 | 10:24 AM
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So it isn’t really an apology. In fact, ESPN’s Steve Berthiaume goes out of his way to say that ESPN doesn’t have an East Coast bias while introducing this piece to make up for ESPN’s East Coast bias.
In this farce of journalism, ESPN seems to think it can prove it has been paying attention to teams like the Colorado Rockies just because someone happens to notice that the Rockies bullpen lost three key relievers this season and rebuilt around pitchers like Franklin Morales and Rafael Betancourt.
What is most absurd is that ESPN, as usual, doesn’t dare let the facts get in the way. This piece likely was written before Sunday’s games, because only in an afterthought is it mentioned that the two relievers held out as examples of this great turnaround were responsible for the bullpen meltdown in the Rockies’ 9-5 loss to the Giants. If it wasn’t written before Sunday’s games, that’s worse because it proves the notion they’re trying to dispel: they don’t pay attention to games in the West. The Rockies bullpen cost the team a win in San Francisco on Sunday, so don’t write about how great the Rockies bullpen is the next day to prove you’re paying attention. If you are, prove it by writing analysis that shows you actually watched instead of studied statistical splits for the last month.
ESPN has a bias, although it is not limited to East Coast. Their bias is a little more insidious. We can understand a regional bias. People in Denver care more about what happens in Denver than in Miami. ESPN is a national network, but it is based in the Northeast. The newspapers its journalists read cover the teams in the area, so it’s understandable if not quite forgivable to have that sort of bias.
But ESPN’s bias is something else. The network cares most about stories that will have — or what they think will have — a large national interest to please advertisers. ESPN’s bias, when it comes to baseball, favors these subjects over others:
- New York Yankees
- Boston Red Sox
- New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox
- New York Mets
- Philadelphia Phillies
- New York Mets vs. Philadelphia Phillies
- New York Mets vs. New York Yankees
- Ryan Howard
- Pedro Martinez
- Curt Schilling (yes, even now)
- Chicago Cubs
- Los Angeles Dodgers
- Manny Ramirez
- Tim Lincecum (but not the San Francisco Giants)
- Albert Pujols (but not the St. Louis Cardinals)
There are more, but you get the idea. It’s the Northeast, the Dodgers, the Cubs, players who say loud and stupid things, players who hit home runs and players who strike out batters. The network likes news it can report in shorthand because you already know most of the story. Never mind what happened in the Cardinals game; if Pujols homers it’s easy to understand in a 15-second clip. Never mind how the rest of the Giants played; Tim Lincecum struck out a bunch of guys and that’s easy to edit. ESPN’s “news” is aimed at a large market and it’s uncomplicated, like a Disney movie.
It’s probably a good sign that ESPN is starting to hear the grumbling about its ignorance of nearly all things Middle America, not that it will change anything. ESPN is what it is: a division of a multinational conglomerate that approaches news the way its movie divisions approach film. If you’re a baseball fan and you want baseball news on TV, watch the MLB Network. You’ll be happier and much better informed.
Journals, Sports, Steve Foster
albert pujols, boston red sox, chicago cubs, colorado rockies, curt schilling, espn, los angeles dodgers, manny ramirez, new york mets, new york yankees, pedro martinez, phildelphia phillies, ryan howard, tim lincecum
