Understanding ESPN's News Cycle
by KevinHD on Sep 5, 2008 8:17 AM EDT
in Football
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PrintWhile tuning in to catch Orson live on Scott Van Pelt's radio show yesterday, I stuck around for an interview with Bruce Feldman. Although not covered at ESPN.com (the site Feldman writes for) or as a headline on Van Pelt's show (hosed on ESPN Radio), the discussion eventually lead to the current Penn State situation.
Keep in mind this was live at 3:30 yesterday, about an hour before Paterno announced that three of the players involved would be sitting out the game against Oregon State.
Really...awkward. I was originally struck by Van Pelt's heavily conditioned opening, only to be upped by Feldman's maybe-sorta-kinda-mighta been involved description of Evans (Van Pelt simply grouped him with the others as the nameless "big names"). I'm probably making too much of this, but still, why such hesitation?
This had me thinking back at the recent timeline:
Wednesday, 4:59 am - The Daily Collegian reports that police obtained a warrant to enter the apartment of four Penn State football players. Wednesday, ~10:00 am - Penn State bloggers pick up the story. Wednesday, ~Noon - Local papers, including the CDT, run their own reports. Wednesday, 3:30 pm - National blog Deadspin post about the incident. ... Thursday, 3:30 pm - Van Pelt and ESPN writer Bruce Feldman discuss the incident on ESPN radio. Thursday, 4:13 pm - ESPN finally picks up the story in their Big Ten blog. After a short delay, it makes it up on ESPN's front page. It is eventually covered on the network and runs on the "bottom line" on a seemingly continuous loop during the Thursday night game.
I'm not suggesting anything in particular except that I don't understand why ESPN waited so long to publish the story. It was determined with confidence that a search warrant was issued for a Penn State football player residence 36 hours before anything was reported at the WWL.
Whether a re-evaluation of policy, or simply a knee-jerk reaction to the apparent harsh backlash they received from Penn State faithful, the time lag, and hesitant approach on the radio show, are curious.
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I think they waited for confirmation of who it was that might have been in the possession of the weed and what PSU was going to do. The Collegian had to make so many corrections to their story throughout the day where ESPN, CDT and others waited for more concrete info.
JoePa in '09
I just think
they could have run something Wednesday regarding the warrant. They didn’t have to speculate. The CDT ran with it over 24 hours before ESPN did.
To be clear I don’t have a problem with this, it just seems to be a bit out of character for the network.
Kevin @ Black Shoe Diaries
Let's think about this...
they waited to air the news for many reasons….nationally televised game (a ton of people watching), SEC game (more grounds for Big Ten bashing), and maybe (unlikely) they took so much heat from the “witch hunt” conducted a few weeks ago they wanted to make sure they had all the “facts” before running the story.
by PSUfanSTUCKinSECland on Sep 5, 2008 8:39 AM EDT reply actions
The heat
It’s just conjecture on my part, of course, but I agree with your suspicion that ESPN took A LOT of heat for their ridiculous Outside the Lines piece. As a result, they’re now being really careful about how they approach all things Penn State.
outsider's viewpoint
Goes back to the old idea of which do you want to be – fast or accurate?
You’re putting a lot of value in being fast. Is it worth that much?
Go Big Red Nebraska!
Our Cobs Are Bigger Than Yours!
Corn Nation!
they could have been both
All the local papers were reporting what was known…it was publicly released by the SC police and the chief was even giving interviews. If they would have posted that information, cleanly and objectively, they really had nothing to lose.
Kevin @ Black Shoe Diaries
I think that opinions on that vary from person to person.
I personally feel that the first days stuff was nothing but rumor based on reading between the lines of a police report and who people might have saw come in and out of the apartment. It only became national news when there was finally official word from Joe on who was suspended, etc.
JoePa in '09
The town has 3 head shops on 2 streets...
I 2nd this motion
"For every moment of triumph, for every instance of beauty, many souls must be trampled"- Hunter S. Thompson
PTI
In a few minutes, the PTI talking heads are going to chime in with their 2 cents on whether or not Joe has lost control of the program.
Gee, I wonder what they’re going to say.
He’s really old…blah blah…team record last 10 years…blah blah…apartment fight…blah blah…he’s really old…
Luring recruits with my new "Posting HD" scheme since '08.
There we go...
…obligatory PSU vs Miami reference from the 80s. Now I remember why I quit watching these dicks.
I can’t believe Wilbon just said this is worse than going 3-9. What a dipshit.
Luring recruits with my new "Posting HD" scheme since '08.
I wonder....
My PVR already goes & marks all the commercials so it can jump over them when I watch the shows I record. I wonder if I can program it to do the same whenever “ESPN Analyst” is displayed on the screen.
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