All Things Sports Media Thread!!

http://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/21766966/disney-fox-deal-add-22-regional-sports-networks-espn

The Walt Disney Company reached an agreement with 21st Century Fox on Thursday to acquire the entertainment giant, including its 22 regional sports networks.

As part of the deal, 21st Century Fox retained the Fox television network and stations, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Channel, FS1, FS2 and the Big Ten Network. They will be part of a newly listed company after the close of the deal.
 
Boston Globe Report On ESPN Reveals Pregnancy Discrimination, Other Gendered Horrors

Notes:

Some women said that the environment at ESPN can be so hostile — and plum positions for female sports journalists so precarious — that they hid pregnancies and felt pressured to take short maternity leaves in order to protect their positions. One anchor even did her scheduled broadcast while she was having a miscarriage to prove her commitment to her job, according to former employees.

1. In her complaint, Adrienne Lawrence describes a toxic environment at ESPN headquarters where men make unwanted sexual and romantic advances under the guise of networking or mentoring, and “mark” women as their own by spreading false rumors about sexual relationships with female employees. Lawrence accused John Buccigross, a longtime SportsCenter anchor whom she viewed as a mentor, of sending unsolicited shirtless photographs of himself and calling her “dollface,” “#dreamgirl,” and “#longlegs” in messages from 2016 reviewed by the Globe. Lawrence said she tried to remain cordial in the messages but at one point responded: “You need to wear clothes, sir.”

2. Jenn Sterger, a writer and actress, felt she had been sexually harassed at ESPN when she tried out for an on-air position in 2006. During her months-long audition, Sterger said an executive showed her a copy of a Playboy magazine that she had modeled for and then she was taken to a strip club by Matthew Berry, who was interviewing as a contributor for The Fantasy Show. The strip club outing was not a formal ESPN activity, but it followed a dinner with company employees and involved several male job candidates. Sterger said she initially did not realize where they were going and she was teased about being uncomfortable once there. Sterger said she had another uncomfortable encounter with Berry two years later, claiming that Berry made sexual comments when she visited ESPN to talk about a potential job opportunity — an accusation that Berry denies.

3. Shortly after Mike McQuade took over as vice president of SportsCenter in 2014, he questioned Sara Walsh’s commitment because she also worked for The Fantasy Show during the football season. Walsh was shocked that her new boss was raising concerns, according to three former employees briefed on the matter at the time. Walsh was so worried about her job that she decided not to call in sick when she started bleeding from a miscarriage during a work trip to Alabama. Instead, she went to the studio and anchored the show. Former employees said that Walsh was also upset that McQuade did not respond to an e-mail she wrote from the hospital about the miscarriage, and she was soon sent back to the same Alabama set where she had miscarried.
 
Weren't there a couple stories similar in the ESPN book that came out awhile back? At least in regards to the whole hostile work environment thing and harassment issues in the workplace. It's been a long time since I've peeped that book.
 
Surprised stuff at nfl network got exposed before espn. I know they’ve been hit with sexual harrassment cases before but that was when the public didn’t care to hear about.
 
Weren't there a couple stories similar in the ESPN book that came out awhile back? At least in regards to the whole hostile work environment thing and harassment issues in the workplace. It's been a long time since I've peeped that book.
I own the first book (ESPN Uncensored), it's a doozy. There are a lot of harassment stories out of Bristol over the years people have forgotten about.

In 2015 ESPN settled a sexual harassment claim filed by a former makeup artist at the network. The complaint centered on Chris Berman, a longtime ESPN announcer and host of the network’s highest-profile NFL studio shows.

According to TBL’s Jason McIntyre, Sue Baumann had worked as an independently contracted makeup artist for six or seven years and had become the favored makeup artist for ESPN’s “NFL Countdown” show, which is hosted by Berman. Her allegations — lodged after she was fired this past summer — involved comments Berman “allegedly made in the makeup room and text messages going back a few years,” McIntyre reports.

ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz said in a statement to TBL that the network settled with Baumann to avoid a costly trial.

2006: Harold Reynolds, one of ESPN's most visible analysts and a long-time member of the "Baseball Tonight" show, has left the cable television network in the wake of one or more incidents of sexual harassment.

Three people who work at ESPN and familiar with the case said the cause was a pattern of sexual harassment, apparently culminating in a recent incident involving a young production assistants.

"This was a total misunderstanding," Reynolds told The New York Post. "My goal is to sit down and get back. To be honest with you, I gave a woman a hug and I felt like it was misinterpreted."

ESPN NBA reporter Jason Jackson was fired in 2002 for what he admitted were inappropriate comments, sexual in nature, that he made in e-mails.

Jackson, speaking to the Miami Herald in May of 2002, said he was another victim of a misunderstanding.

In 2007, a makeup artist on the network’s “Cold Pizza” morning show sued the network for sexual harassment after she was fired, alleging she was fondled by commentator Woody Paige and subjected to crude sexual remarks by host Jay Crawford. Paige and Crawford denied the allegations and the lawsuit was thrown out in 2008, with a federal judge ruling that the makeup artist had agreed to take such claims to an arbitrator instead of court when she was hired by ESPN.

The makeup artist claimed Paige once grabbed her backside so forcefully, she was "propelled forward and into the air."

On February 26, 2008, Sean Salisbury's contract was not renewed by ESPN. Deadspin amongst others, had reported numerous times that Salisbury had been fired in part for an incident where he photographed his genitals in a Connecticut bar. On September 23, 2009, Deadspin published emails in which Salisbury promised to sue the site for defamation and to "get his reputation back." Salisbury later admitted that the incident was true. The former quarterback said the flashing only happened once, and that it was a "sophomoric mistake."

2009: Erik Kuselias has solidified his reputation as "the biggest douchebag in the place," according to multiple sources.

According to sources, Mr. Kuselias became a little too friendly with a female ESPN employee at a recent Super Bowl Monday Night Football party, where he drunkenly blurted out to her, "I would like to **** you." The woman, skeeved by his advances, declined. She notified HR and, according to a source, Kuselias was suspended. The HR person allegedly told the woman, "I'm not supposed to tell you this...but he's been warned before."

Kuselias, by the way, was married at the time (shocker) but apparently is no longer because...

His wife hired a private investigator and found out he was having an ongoing relationship with ESPN personality Stephania Bell.

The first Mike Tirico story involves him hitting on a woman and stalking her after a house party in fall 1992. The woman was a production assistant and "considered an up-and-coming talent," and the married Tirico went up to her at the party and said "you're the most beautiful woman in here." She walked away, but he kept following her around the party until she finally snapped, "Why don't you ****off? Get away from me." As she and friends hopped in their car and pulled out of the party, Tirico stepped in front of the car and made the woman stop. "You're the most beautiful person I've ever seen and I think I'm in love with you," Tirico said. She tried to roll up her window and take off, but Tirico stuck his hand in and tried to wedge it between her thighs. She got away, and the next morning, when they saw each other in the ESPN parking lot, he walked up to her, and she expected him to apologize. Instead, he said, "all I did all day was think about you."

In another story, one female producer — who had been to dinner with Tirico and his fiancee — was startled to receive an email from him saying that he wanted to sleep with her. Later, when the staff went to a bar after a late night covering the NCAA tournament, Tirico approached her and said, "I wish I was single. If I were, I'd throw you on the table right here and **** your brains out." After she tried to excuse him as drunk, he persisted: "I know you want to screw me. So let's leave." Later, he followed her on the highway and tried to get her to pull over, unsuccessfully.

Tirico was ultimately suspended for three months and calls the incidents "misunderstandings."
 
john skipper a big reason why espn been failing
overpaid for the nba and nfl (bid against themselves), too much focus on nfl
did not embrace new media/tech. leadership still think folks watch on tv, instead of mobile

was listening to coach, he was shooting hard on skipper and leadership.
SportsCenter talent dont even have meetings with the people that run the shows. no appreciation or direction for anchors. ideas get shot down when thrown out
 
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The network is going to crash and burn when all their programming is just nfl shows and people debating about the same topics for 12-16 hours.
 


this can be applied to wayyyyy to many folks in the sports media.. even the smarter folks who claim to "watch film" when they start talking about your team and more specifically the players on it, that's when things become more apparent

i dont knock the national guys for it, because it's a difficult task being asked of them.. but i wish more were like say dominque foxworth, who is obviously a smart guy and very knowledgeable about football and more specifically knowledgeable about the NFL, but he doesnt pretend that he knows every single detail 2 seconds after it happened
 
this can be applied to wayyyyy to many folks in the sports media.. even the smarter folks who claim to "watch film" when they start talking about your team and more specifically the players on it, that's when things become more apparent

i dont knock the national guys for it, because it's a difficult task being asked of them.. but i wish more were like say dominque foxworth, who is obviously a smart guy and very knowledgeable about football and more specifically knowledgeable about the NFL, but he doesnt pretend that he knows every single detail 2 seconds after it happened
Foxworth is cringeworthy. Him and Will Cain on a show together is some of the worst TV ever. Both have poor presence.
 
Foxworth is cringeworthy. Him and Will Cain on a show together is some of the worst TV ever. Both have poor presence.

i watch zero of will cain.. and dominque i keep to lebatard, bo's show, the morning roast and now the nickel package pod with him and mina
 
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