ESPN
Poynter’s Kelly McBride weighs in on ESPN’s new endorsement guidelines as part of the “Poynter Review Project.” In short, people who do journalistic work can’t make deals that would create even an appearance of a conflict of interest, but analysts can. The “whopping exception” affects more than half of the 1,000 public-facing “talent,” McBride notes. She predicts:
“ESPN’s critics will continue to question the loyalties of the most famous folks at the network. In the coming months, network executives may need to further tighten the boundaries in order to combat the persistent public perception that ESPN is compromised. In particular, whenever ESPN chooses to let a story that could potentially involve some level of conflict go uncovered, doubters will assign ulterior motives and no one will be able to change their minds.”
McBride suggests something like endorsement term limits, in which analysts would have to cut off their deals after a certain period with ESPN. Related: “ESPN always wants it both ways.” || Earlier: ESPN releases new endorsement guidelines.
