Jim Brady, public editor at ESPN, addressed the intersection of sports and politics at the network in response to inflammatory tweets about President Trump posted by an ESPN host Monday, and called on the sports network to embrace more ideological diversity to counter its liberal bias.
Brady wrote in a blog post Friday that Jemele Hill, “SportsCenter” anchor at ESPN, was in the wrong and put her employer in a difficult situation.
“In the past year, ESPN’s internal and external political issues have been a hot topic, and one I have written about a few times,” Brady wrote in a blog post Friday. “Yet it remains clear that the network is still publicly struggling to navigate the increasingly complex intersection of sports, politics and culture.”
Hill posted a series of tweets criticizing Trump and calling him “unfit” and unqualified” for the presidency.
“Donald Trump is a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists,” Hill said in one tweet. “He is unqualified and unfit to be president,” she said in another. “He is not a leader. And if he were not white, he never would have been elected.”
Although ESPN shortly after responded and said Hill’s remarks did not reflect those of the network, she was not punished by the network. Brady said that while Hill has a right to her opinion, he believed she did not meet ESPN’s company guidelines.
“Let’s dispense with the suspense: I think Hill made an error in judgment in those tweets,” Brady wrote. “And, no, it’s not specifically because of what she said; she is, of course, entitled to her opinions, and Hill’s opinion of President Trump is a mystery to precisely no one who has ever read her Twitter feed. And, no, it’s not because of the truthfulness — or lack thereof — of her statements, since, despite the claims of some, whether President Trump is a white supremacist is not something that can be stated with the same factual certainty as the sky being blue. It’s an opinion.”
Brady continued: “But even though Hill has a right to her opinion, and even though, as a commentator, she’s allowed to express opinions as part of her job, I still believe she erred by ignoring company guidelines and, as a result, putting her employer in a difficult position.” “These were not tweets that served her or her employer well,” he added. “And that’s why — as someone responsible for judging decisions like this through a purely journalistic lens – I think she made a mistake. It doesn’t have anything to do with my personal feelings about the president, my own life experiences, my opinion of Hill (who I think is a terrific talent) or anything else. I’m a public editor, not a public activist. In journalism, we’re expected to be cautious, thorough and thoughtful. And even though she is a commentator and not a news reporter, she’s still a journalist, and I don’t think she met that standard here.”
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Friday it was “hypocritical” for ESPN to not punish Hill and that the tweets were a “fireable offense.”
Additionally, President Trump said people were dropping ESPN as a result and requested an apology.
“ESPN is paying a really big price for its politics (and bad programming),” he tweeted Friday. “People are dumping it in RECORD numbers. Apologize for untruth!”
Brady said that the intersection of politics and sports is becoming even more difficult to navigate and sometimes the line separating the two can be hard to differentiate.
“But in defense of Hill, she and all of ESPN’s public-facing employees have been put in a tough situation,” he wrote. “ESPN, like all media companies, is grappling with new issues: Objectivity seems to be a dying ideal, and, in a crowded media environment, keeping your editorial volume at a moderate level isn’t always good for business. And, as I’ve written before, media companies are simultaneously asking many of their personalities to be active and engaging on social media but not partisan or opinionated. It’s a line that is, at best, blurry and, at worst, nonexistent.”
