Medill Media Watch, the blog for Broadcast Issues 403, argues that NASCAR’s recent broadcast deal with ESPN has slanted the news organization’s coverage:
Prior to the new deal with NASCAR, panelists on ESPN’s afternoon sportswriter screaming match known as Around the Horn made fun of stock car racing. Now the panelists pretend to talk seriously about the sport. It’s a joke. And how about NASCAR popping up on ESPN’s most popular afternoon show, Pardon the Interruption. Both Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser, the two hosts, admit to knowing nothing about racing yet they have a contrived, forced discussion about it.
At least a few other ESPN watchers agree that the network has suddenly become flooded with NASCAR coverage that isn’t particularly good. Some commenters on the post point out that car racing is a big sport and deserves more coverage overall.
I’m not a huge sports fan or a regular viewer of ESPN, but it struck me as that kind of controversy that’s going to become more common in the coming years.
Newspaper executives and professional journalists are demanding business skills from journalism students, and news organizations trying to pay for an online world where ads alone may or may not be enough. Even as online news readership is leveling off and newspaper circulation continues to decline [PDF], newspapers’ print ads still bring in 18 times more money than their online ads. So where’s the money going to come from? We’re going to have to find the line between finding sponsors and playing favorites, selling ads and cheerleading, and thinking about audience without becoming marketers.
In any case, all you sports fans – have you noticed a change in ESPN’s coverage of NASCAR?