ESPN sent a memo to staffers on Wednesday urging its on-air talent (and some contract employees) to avoid being “influenced by political pressures” as the November election approaches.
The memo, which was flagged by Deadspin on Wednesday, was first posted on the company’s corporate blog about two weeks ago.
The memo tells employees that “we should refrain from political editorializing, personal attacks or ‘drive-by’ comments regarding the candidates and their campaigns (including but not limited to on platforms such as Twitter or other social media).”
Exceptions were granted to staffers at FiveThirtyEight, the Nate Silver-founded property that regularly covers politics and sports using data.
ESPN recently waded into political commentary when analyst and former MLB star pitcher Curt Schilling retweeted a meme likening Muslims to Nazis. Schilling was later suspended.
If an employee is covering a candidate who appears at a game or live event, they are to avoid “political commentary or prolonged references,” according to the memo.
I suppose this means they won’t be showing the 30 for 30 film Small Potatoes: Who Killed the USFL? again anytime soon.
I guess they won’t be mentioning the consequences of the Rams moving back to LA anytime soon.
I guess Jonathan Coachman can’t say anything about his past acquaintance with Trump.
Telling the sports talkers to avoid talking politics presumes they know what they’re talking about and having listened to them, their opinions will be taken to heart and shared with other people…
Seriously. These are some of the most mindless people on the planet…but still, this is a good rule, because nobody wants to hear them opine about politics, policy or anything other than the sports we’re watching at the time. I even have nick-names for some of them because their commentary is so utterly devoid of coherence. Chris Collinsworth is the best example (altho I think he’s NBC, not ESPN)…I call him “Pills” for obvious reasons…some of the shit that falls out of his yapper is downright Palinesque.
Sometimes I watch My Beloved watch ESPN and I see they are a talkative lot and opinionated. But the visuals are great, lots of razzle dazzle, and Shaq and Barkley seem to be the most appealing.