<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1654808346185,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"0000017a-8cb2-d416-ad7a-beb7278f0000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1654808346185,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"0000017a-8cb2-d416-ad7a-beb7278f0000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_54528443", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1026847"} }); ","_id":"00000181-4a43-d1f1-a1c3-7ac376dd0000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedSports media have recently honed in on Saudi Arabia using sports to whitewash its regime. It is a worthwhile story to pursue, but it is an indictment of sports media that they have not examined China’s sportswashing with similar enthusiasm.
Outlets across the sports media landscape have keyed in on Saudi Arabia’s LIV Golf series. Golfer Phil Mickelson was browbeaten into an apology for downplaying Saudi Arabia’s human rights violations. At the Washington Post, John Feinstein said that there is “no excuse” for Mickelson chasing Saudi money, while Barry Svrluga accused him and other golfers joining the series of accepting blood money.
ESPN has taken notice, publishing articles highlighting the backlash to the league and comments that are critical of the league’s supporters. USA Today, through its sports offshoot For The Win, highlighted the “dumbest” comments made at the event’s “pathetic” press conferences. SB Nation, the sports network of Vox Media, went after golfers joining the series, asking if “reforming golf is worth selling your soul.”
All of these outlets and writers are right to hold professional golfers to account for this. The outrage is warranted, as is the media spotlight. Yet, the sports media industry has not kept that same intensity for the athletes and sports leagues that have tied themselves to the Chinese Communist Party, the world’s worst regime when it comes to human rights abuses.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has repeatedly been able to dodge scrutiny from sports media about the league’s ties to China, fielding only light questioning in softball interviews with no follow-ups. Silver once again fielded questions about China as the NBA Finals tipped off, and he once again launched into his rehearsed answer without facing any pushback from the outlets questioning him.
When ESPN published a bombshell report about the NBA running basketball camps in China, where Chinese coaches were abusing young athletes, the league told all current and former employees not to talk about it. Sports media have followed suit: Silver hasn’t had to field questions about the camps or the league’s response to them, and ESPN and other major outlets dropped the story just hours after it broke.
The Golden State Warriors also have dodged all questions about China, even as one of the team’s owners mocked people concerned about the genocide of the Uyghurs. The Warriors want to be China’s team in the NBA, and no one in the sports media world seems all too concerned about asking them what that means.
The NBA has been in China’s pocket for years now, and the problem has been extending into combat sports as well. The same goes for Major League Baseball, and the NFL is going to follow suit. The intense focus on athletes bending the knee to Saudi Arabia is welcome and warranted, but it is wildly disproportionate, given the lack of interest in major sports leagues doing the same for money from the Chinese Communist Party.
