ESPN’s high-profile layoffs this week come just days after its public editor assured readers the company had no intention of backing away from political commentary.
“Sports has always intersected with culture and politics. It isn’t a recent phenomenon; it’s been true for more than a century,” ESPN’s Jim Brady said in an editorial this month. “There is no denying that culture, sports and politics are fused together more today than at any time in recent memory, and there’s an argument to be made that ESPN is rightfully taking advantage of that trend. But there’s also no denying the presence of a fervent fan base that prefers the ESPN of old, meaning these worlds will continue to collide.”
“One thing is clear: Those of you who have not held your tongue about ESPN’s move away from an all-sports-all-the-time mantra also should not hold your breath waiting for a change,” he added. “ESPN has made it clear: It’s not sticking to sports.”
Brady’s remarks came shortly after the sports media group published updated company guidelines making it easier for its on-air and online talent to wade into political and cultural commentary.
“We have the convergence of a politically charged environment and all these new technologies coming together at once,” ESPN’s vice president, Craig Bengtson, said at the time. “Based on that, we wanted the policy to reflect the reality of the world today. There are people talking about politics in ways we have not seen before, and we’re not immune from that.”
On Wednesday, ESPN announced it had let go more than 100 reporters and on-air personalities, including longtime National Football League reporter Ed Werder, Major League Baseball reporter Jayson Stark, SportsCenter anchors Jaymee Sire, Chris Hassel and Jay Crawford and many others.
The most recent round of layoffs comes after months of sharp declines in subscriptions. It also comes amid criticism that the network has become too political in recent years.
ESPN raised eyebrows, for example, in April 2016 when it fired former major league pitcher and commentator Curt Schilling after he shared a cartoon on Facebook criticizing the pro-transgender side of the bathroom law debate. The network also drew fire in 2015 when it awarded Caitlyn Jenner its annual Arthur Ashe Courage Award, considered by many to be the “most prestigious” award in sports.
The media group is aware of the criticism, and has commented on the issue in the past. Brady’s editorial this month merely marks ESPN’s latest iteration of its promise to be both culturally and politically aware.
Though there’s an argument to be made that the decline in the company’s subscriptions has been motivated partly by the increasingly political tone of its coverage, a simpler and more likely explanation is that the company has simply fallen victim to the growing trend of Americans moving away from cable bundles.
ESPN has experienced a loss of roughly 10,000,000 subscribers in the last five years, according to Nielsen Media Research.
