Wednesday, March 19, 2008

ESPN Coverage

Today I noticed something that really bothered me about ESPN's front page. Buried among the seasonal NBA, NCAA Men's Basketball, and Spring Training stories was a story about a University of Central Florida football player who passed away during conditioning drills at practice. Obviously it didn't bother me that they ran the story. The part that bothered me was its position in the headlines. It sat seventh in a list of 10 stories that were the "headlines" of the day. Directly below a pathetic Barry Bonds sympathy story and above the opening game of the NIT. Judging from the story, the only detail that remains to be filled in is the cause of death. So you're telling me that the MLB Players Association looking into why Barry Bonds hasn't been signed by anyone is more important than this? How about the other stories that were deemed more important by ESPN...1. A Pistons regular season win, 2. An owner blaming an ex-player for tanking, 3. The trade of an NFL loudmouth, 4. An NFL prospects pro day. Honestly? I think there is a lack of respect for the fallen player and this story is much more of a headline than any of the others. Being a huge sports fan, I expect to read about newsworthy items when I visit ESPN, and to me, this players death is much more newsworthy than stories that resemble those which they run every single day.

1 comment:

Sue Burzynski Bullard said...

Great post, Josh. I agree completely. Some names - I'm guessing Barry Bonds is one - drive web traffic. Much the same is true for say Britney Spears. But in this case, I think you are right about assessing the story's newsworthiness. It was unusual. It was sad. It clearly was more newsworthy than many of the stories that topped it. Good point.