When ESPN went all-in on its staff of insiders about a decade ago, it changed sports media forever. The ripple effects from that decision continue to this day, and Pardon the Interruption host Michael Wilbon believes it reduced those reporters to shells of themselves.
Insiders are unique from traditional reporters in that the majority of their focus is on transactions: signings, trades, team sales, and the hirings and firings of coaches and executives. This type of work and the cast of people who do it for ESPN — Adam Schefter, Pete Thamel, Shams Charania — are often working in pursuit of social media engagement, push notifications, and web traffic rather than deeper truths about the sports they cover.
Wilbon, a longtime reporter and columnist at The Washington Post before starting his television career, said this week on The Awful Announcing Podcast that he believes ESPN’s insiders could do far more if their job called for it.
“Bristol turned everybody in this profession into a silo. Everybody’s a one-sport person. Do you think that Schefty and Woj, do you think they couldn’t report on everything? They could,” Wilbon said. “These guys are great reporters. They can cover everything. ESPN turned it into one sport, all the time, 24/7; most of it’s transactional. That’s on ESPN.”
In a previous generation, the best sports reporters were often renowned specifically for their breadth. Wilbon likened today’s sports insiders to athletes who specialize in one sport from too young an age. And, he said, he’s not sure if what they do still counts as journalism.
“They could do whatever you ask them to do. They could go weeks and do long-form things. They could do investigative, they could do live from anywhere. They can do everything you ask to do, those guys,” he explained. “Now is what they’re doing now journalism? It’s in part. But what I’m doing now, it ain’t journalism. I’m paid to be a know-it-all on TV every day.”
As Wilbon notes, many media figures have moved from day-to-day journalism into commentary and hosting. Going from reporter to insider is a similar jump, but it is complicated by the fact that the job’s outline remains the same.
“Does the transactional nature of what you have to do to be an insider, does that negate journalism? I don’t want to say that,” he said. “I think that it calls on all the journalistic skills.”
Wilbon was not specific about which part of covering transactions might “negate” the old-school job description of a journalist, but many have long viewed the information trading necessary to break news about trades and signings as crossing an ethical line not customary for pure reporters.
The full episode with Wilbon drops on Friday, August 7. Make sure you’re subscribed to The Awful Announcing Podcast wherever you listen or watch.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.