3) Finally come up with some consistent policies on discipline and attribution
Let’s run through a thought experiment…
Commentator A calls Roger Goodell a “liar” and calls out his bosses and gets a three week suspension. In said suspension, ESPN publicly condemns Commentator A by talking about their “journalistic standards” and is shocked and appalled that someone would dare voice a controversial opinion.
Commentator B alleges that Roger Goodell “framed‘ Tom Brady in the DeflateGate saga with no evidence at his disposal to support that claim and…. nothing happens. No statement, no discipline, no furious huffing and puffing about journalistic standards and the sanctity of the brand. No nothing.
It might take you about five seconds to realize that Commentator A is Bill Simmons and Commentator B is Skip Bayless. It might take you less time to realize that this is just another example of ESPN’s hypocritical, nonsensical discipline policy. About the only thing you can deduce from ESPN’s litany of suspensions over the years is that Skip Bayless is secretly the most powerful person at ESPN.
Look at the history of ESPN suspensions and you’ll find little rhyme or reason to the length of discipline or when it is put into action. Colin Cowherd is another example. He ran roughshod over common sense and decency for years and only until he was a week away from leaving the network did ESPN finally do something about his offensive remarks.
It shouldn’t be this difficult. Either you don’t suspend people for expressing opinions on the air, or you institute a real conduct policy that says the first strike is one week, second is one month, and the third one you’re out the door. Oh, and it should be applied to everybody at the network, and not just everybody but Skip Bayless.
For that matter, let’s stop the obfuscation of “ESPN & Media Reports” and years of sourcing attribution nonsense and just try to do the best we can to credit who broke a story first. ESPN is a multi-billion dollar corporate conglomerate, we don’t need to be stealing scoops from Cleveland Scene.