ESPN reporter Kaylee Hartung decided to address a critic during a game broadcast Monday, and did so in an interesting way. Hartung regularly works for ESPN’s SEC Network, but was part of the broadcast team covering Monday’s College World Series game between LSU and Cal State-Fullerton. That (and potentially Hartung’s status as a Baton Rouge native) had the unaffiliated fan site Twitter account @CSFbaseball griping about her presumed bias, and Hartung responded:
Make no mistake, this is another SEC informercial. Kaylee Hartung is just an embedded LSU reporter.
— Fullerton Baseball (@CSFBaseball) June 16, 2015
Does Hartung need a map to get to Fullerton's dugout? Might as well be an LSU intrasquad game to her.
— Fullerton Baseball (@CSFBaseball) June 16, 2015
@CSFBaseball There's usually reporter in each dugout.
— Shotgun Spratling (@ShotgunSprD1) June 16, 2015
@ShotgunSprD1 Not at the CWS. Let's face it, Hartung works for SEC Network. She knows where her bread is buttered.
— Fullerton Baseball (@CSFBaseball) June 16, 2015
@CSFBaseball @ShotgunSprD1 found it, thanks pic.twitter.com/KAMFA80yLx
— Kaylee Hartung (@KayleeHartung) June 16, 2015
That’s a pretty good response by Hartung, but it’s interesting that she saw this. She wasn’t tagged in the initial tweet, so it’s possible she has a search open for her name; it’s also possible that she looked at the @CSFbaseball account after it followed her, which happened today. It’s also notable that she took the time to respond during a game. Granted, sideline reporters aren’t called on during every at-bat or even every inning, so this didn’t interfere with Hartung’s broadcast work, but it’s still somewhat unusual to see someone involved in a broadcast talk to critics during the broadcast. All in all, that’s a reasonably-measured response from Hartung; it addresses the criticism without getting into a name-calling fight. It’s debatable how much she’ll gain from addressing someone whose opinion of her already seems clear, though.
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