ESPN continues to make a commitment to journalism and storytelling. It has announced that it has hired Sam Borden, formerly of the New York Times to be a global sports contributor. Borden who used to be based in Paris for the Times and cover various soccer tournaments including the World Cup, European Championships, Champions League and others.

For ESPN, Borden will work on enterprise stories and also be an investigative reporter about international sports. In addition, he’ll cover the Olympics, cricket, rugby, golf and tennis. He’ll write for ESPN FC and ESPN.com. And Border will make appearances on SportsCenter, Outside the Lines, E:60 and ESPN FC.

Borden has an extensive career in sports journalism including the New York Daily News Florida Times-Union and the New York Times. For the Times, Borden was top of the FIFA corruption scandal as well as other global sports stories.

From the official announcement, Borden said he couldn’t be happier to join ESPN:

“Having the chance to work with such a dynamic group of people that has such grand ambition about impact journalism and rich storytelling is inspiring, and I’m really excited to jump into the mix. ESPN is committed to that excellence across TV and digital, and I’m looking forward to contributing.”

Borden’s work has been featured in The Best American Sports Writing series and won several Associated Press Sports Editors contest awards.

ESPN continues to major in journalism and the hire of Sam Borden shows that the network is still committed to storytelling while rivals continue to embrace debate.

[ESPN]

About Ken Fang

Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013.

He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television.

Fang celebrates the four Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.