Published on Counterpunch, www.counterpunch.org, July 14/15, 2007 (slightly adapted version)
July 11, 2007: ESPN reports that NFL player receives three traffic tickets in one of its headlining website stories.
June 17, 2007: NBA player pledges four million dollars to the policemen, firefighters, teachers, and EMT workers in his community. ESPN chooses not to report story on its website.
It sincerely hurts to write this column. Once upon a time, before traffic tickets became headlining stories, before souls were sold to the highest advertiser, and before it became the “Pacman-as-Black-Man Network”, I was one of ESPN’s biggest fans. When cable TV was still considered "new", when Chris Berman had no comb-over, when Bob Lee was his Sports Center sidekick, and when Australian Rules Football was their biggest sport going, I was there. After 25+ years, through all the ups and downs, I’m still here. But these days this former loyal sailor only has mutiny on his mind. As former NBA star Michael Ray Richardson once famously predicted: "the ship be sinkin'".
ESPN Wednesday Recap: Yes, it's true... Pacman Jones received some traffic tickets. But wait, it gets juicier: he was driving an orange Lamborghini! I know this because it was mentioned in the story title. Not a big web surfer? No worry. ESPN's Wednesday afternoon TV show “Outside the Lines”, “NFL Live”, “Rome is Burning”, “Around the Horn”, “Pardon the Interruption”, and of course, "Sports Center" all had the story covered. Didn’t watch TV either? Well, ESPN came back with a brand new update Thursday . Surprised? Well, you shouldn't be. ESPN has been baking this cake for an awful long time. You don’t agree? To members of the jury, we offer exhibits A - E:
EXHIBIT A - Stephon vs. Stephen
.
A1) Stephon Marbury: In a recent column, we detailed why longtime community activist Stephon Marbury is an American hero. He has donated millions, given his time and heart (go to video 3 min marker), and his effort to revolutionize the exploitative sneaker industry through his $14.98 “Starbury” sneakers may be the beginnings of a social movement. The Saturday before last was just another day at the office as he hosted "Starbury's Give Back Day and All-Star Game" in his New York City hometown of Coney Island. Marbury arrived with two 18-wheelers filled with 75,000 items of free merchandise from his Starbury line. This came less than two weeks after Marbury announced a pledge of FOUR million dollars, $1 million each to the NYPD, Fire Department, NYC teachers and EMT workers. Marbury stated: "I have been blessed, …and I think it's important to bless others." Unfortunately, neither of these last two stories were enough for ESPN to bless its readers with one single article on its website.
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25 comments:
Eton Thomas' comments re: baseball & hockey brawls are brilliant. Also, the Steve & Barry 'Marbury Project' needs continued , consistent marketing and awareness campains a la 'An Inconvenient Truth' - otherwise it will sadly fade.
wex, I agree about your "An Inconvenient Truth" point but keep in mind that the reason Marbury's sneaker are so low is because there is absoulutely NO MARKETING BUDGET! Marbury went on a 36 city unpaid tour last summer to get it to jump off. After that, it has been free media and word of mouth.
Great post, Charles. I've been on "the Marbury needs to get more press for his good deeds" tip for a while, and it always surprises me to hear about other athletes that do good. Like last week reading about Kermit Washington's Project Contact. Derrick Brooks - I knew nothing of all his work until this article. The least I can do is bring some attention to the good athletes are doing, even if it is just a drop in the bucket....
By the way, if you want to add another "ESPN searching the minor leagues" type player, look at how they have reported on OJ Mayo. They have already villified him before he's even played his first college basketball game. Keep an eye on their coverage of him next season... once they get the ball rolling, they generally don't stop.
Oh, and with regards to Marbury's sneaker movement... it was reported earlier this month (I forget where, maybe True Hoops?) that one of Kevin Durant's sticking points on deciding which sneaker company to endorse - Adidas or Nike or whoever - was that he wanted his signature sneaker to be affordable, sold at midrange prices ($39-69). It remains to be seen if that is for real, or just a rumor, but one hopes that it is a sign of Marbury's influence....
sml, thanks and every single drop in the bucket counts! We've just gotta keep pumping up the good guys like ESPN pumps Pacman. You didn't know about what Derrick Brooks has been doing and I didn't know about Kermit Washington (except the Rudy punch of course).
And I'll be watching the OJ Mayo thing closely. The press doesn't like that he doesn't "know his place" because he recruited USC instead of the other way around.
Finally, i hope that you are right on the Kevin Durant thing. That is EXACTLY what is supposed to happen. If everything works out right athletes will be shamed into doing the right thing. Thanks for stopping by.
I can't see the Durant thing with lower-priced shoes happening now that he's signed with Nike.
No media entity has any stake in propping up the good deeds. It doesn't draw eyes for headlines; Marbury's shoe thing is a "feature" as opposed to hard news (this is the mentality). You'll have to keep propping it up yourself to get any traction.
Great post. I'll be sure to keep stopping by.
As an FSU alumnus I'm hip to the good work that D. Brooks has done and am consistently impressed by him as a good guy.
I think we could all go for a bigger dose of this stuff.
Ever since the steroid scandal - they are trying to be seen as serious journalists as apposed to teleprompter readers who make cheap jokes during sports highlights. At the end of the day, its difficult to place all the blame on them due to the fact that stories about "making it rain" sell a lot more copies than a free shoe giveaway.
signal- you might be only HALF right about your Durant point. Stopmikelupica (worlds greatest website name!) saif that Durant still wants to keep it affordable. If the "Marbury Effect" will have other stars cut their prces in half and sell for $75 instead of $150, then half a battle is won. I defintitely think that Marbury is getting into other folks heads. But a side of this that I don't think should happen is that we just focus on the players selling shoes instead of the big companies...
right...ESPN, the network that shoves an obscure gay (and black!) former NBA b-ball player down our throats, is bigoted...right...
This makes a lot of good points, but it doesn't make a case. Granted, sports media (like all media) tend to go where the public interest is - and we the public are, sadly, more interested in strip club shootings than social responsibility. That's a sad indictment of our society. But how is it bigotry?
I'm not naive, and I'm not pretending that the negative perception of black athletes isn't a significant current in the public racial forum. That said, I don't see how you can convict ESPN of bigotry on the strength of these cited instances. If criminality by white athletes was getting less coverage than Pacman's shenanigans, or if charity-work by white athetes was perennially on the front page, you'd have a discrepancy and a case. But as of now, I don't see bigotry - I just see sensationalism and a general lack of responsibility. Am I wrong?
camp tiger - i had a chance to go down to Tampa Youth Opportunity Program a few years ago (since another unknown federal budget casualty) and saw firsthand some of the great work that DB does as part of his "Brooks Bunch". I think it was the same year Brooks took his "Bunch" to Africa on his own dime. I know that he does some kind of trip every summer. how he stays fit and make the all-pro team every year, i have no idea.
To the first anonymous and rand. Thank you for your comments. Firstly, no "all the blame" should not be placed on ESPN. I think that every single sports fan has to look directly in the mirror and ask themselves why they get so much pleasure out of covering, discussing, and dissecting, laughing and piling on African-American athletes in a way that is not comparable to white athletes. And I don't bring up race out of recklessness. This can be quantified very easily when checking out the extraordinarily high comment totals whenever a Pacman, Vick, Owens, messes up vs a Brett Myers domestic violence case or a Brett Favre throwing his teammates under a bus without any "me-first" commentary. In an upcoming column I will detail many comparative examples in a way that should satisfy all but those not in perpetual denial.
Now as for institutional bigotry, ESPN practices "retail racism" as a matter of everyday practice. They know that "black-man-as-Pacman" sells so they play it up to maximize their profits. ESPN must take social responsibility for that business decision. Even TODAY I saw Pacman again as a website headliner. At what point does Pacman stop being news? To ask "is ESPN racist" misses the larger point which is that ESPN creates a haven for bigotry to flourish. ESPN gets no pass if their INTENT isn't racially-biased in nature. It is the RESULT that needs to be focused on. Do you think that if Michael Wilbon (picked-out-of-a-hat; and I like him) tried to move into a white neighborhood but was rejected not out of racism, but because of "property-value concerns" that he would be comforted by that fact? I don't think that he would be, and I don't think that we should really give ESPN's intent a second thought if the RESULT is just as damaging.
I agree, in principle, to this argument, but I can also think of a possible explanation (which I don't buy into in full, but it probably has a place).
Another factor is that (at least in theory) ESPN covers sports first and foremost, not the athletes' lives. While philanthropy has a place in the media, ESPN has a responsibility to talk about the teams and the news stories that will shape the upcoming season.
Fact is, all the crimes committed by Stephen Jacksons, Ron Artests and Pacmans has a direct impact on the sports they play - they'll be suspended for their behavoir, impacting the sport they play. ESPN has to cover that.
Now, as for the extent to which they obsess over this story, you're absolutely right.
This article highlights ESPN ignoring good works in the community and focusing on unsavoury situations involving athletes.
All this proves is that ESPN prefers to focus on bad news rather than good news. I would like to see more good stories and less bad stories but until there are examples of white athlete misdemeanours being ignored there is not a case for racism here.
I disagree, I think there is a case for racism, just not in the most obvious way. I think what the writer is pointing out is that by constantly focusing on only negative images of black athletes, ESPN is subconsciously reinforcing some Americans' views of black men as "gangstas", "ghetto fabulous", etc. All one has to do is read some of the comments listed in the Exhibit E section. References to "growing up hood", "you can't take the ghetto out of the thug", "he fits in nicely with that crowd" (referring to rap groups), he'll be "cooking up crack and trying to slang it on the streets" - and that is only an excerpt!!
For every Pacman there are at least 50+ other NFL players that have never been in trouble and would fit none of these stereotypes put forth in ESPN user comments!
To wrap it up, I agree with the writer that media outlets such as ESPN, whether it's purposeful or not, are reinforcing negative stereotypes of black men, especially athletes. It's okay to cover these stories when they occur, but by failing to balance those stories with the many examples of black athletes doing extraordinary things for other people and their communities, those who are POSITIVE role models and are using their good fortune to help others, they do a grave disservice to our society and black people as a whole.
And that, my friends, is most certainly a form of racism and perhaps even more damaging than more blatant examples.
baseless, all in your mind, id say your the one with the problem
Brilliant use of the race card! We all know the problem is not the individuals who are breaking laws and being a nuisance to society. Oh, and where are all the links to the stories on “white” athletes’ charitable contributions and stories of ESPN not covering crimes committed by “white” athletes?
Keep up the good work and don't let these guys play the "race card card" on you.
Thanks Jay, I have come to expect "race card" charges like I expect the sun rising in the morning since we live in a society where you now need more evidence to make a claim of racial bias than you do to send someone to the electric chair (BTW, that statement is not really hyperbole: check out Troy Davis who was a hair away from being executed this past Tuesday http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070717/ap_on_re_us/georgia_execution and still might be dead in 3 months.)
But moving on, Mr anonymous is still correct that race bias claims would be strenthened with black-white comparisons on media treatment, so future columns will address this point in greater depth. In this particular article, the focus was to be on a more hidden and insidious form of media bias which is: "Racism-by-Omission" (RBO). RBO in sports has a disproportionate effect on athletes of color because so much of the white readership do not get exposed to reference points that might offset the damage done by one-sided media portrayals. Again, if one disagrees with this statement check out an "ESPN Conversation" chat room to see the number of people who believe that "white suffer from the most racism in 2007". People are really saying this (especially after the Duke coverage).
Charles I agree with you that every single drop in the bucket counts! Thank you SML!! I firmly believe, as Rand does, that the public is more interested in the horrific tales than social responsibility so I appreciate and applaud every effort we make to correct and expose that fact. We are taught to accentuate the positive but we find it easier to capitalize on the negative. Let's continue to take the high road and in exposing these disturbing facts about our society and offer solutions to one another. As an African American woman it disappoints me to hear the younger generation of my culture believe they would never be as good as others. They even express opinions like, “It doesn’t matter how well a “black man” does in life he is still a “N” word. I have taken responsibility to help each one I come in contact with personally and bring them along with me to inspire an entire community of varied cultures. Please understand my philosophy there only ONE RACE... THE HUMAN RACE IN A KALEIDOSCOPE OF CULTURES.
I am not an avid sports fan or ESPN watcher so please forgive my lack of knowledge on who these athletes are but thank you for considering my opinion anyway.
This is a great blog, but I'd like to say this isn't racism - it's just the media doing what it always does: sensationalizing people behaving badly. The only time ESPN even mentions hockey is when there's a brawl or a player has been arrested (proof: the Rick Tocchet arrest got more press on ESPN then the 2007 Finals!). Is this proof that ESPN are racist against Canadians? No, it's just proof that they are blood-sucking leaches that feed on misery. For every misbehaving athlete (Black or White), there are 10 doing something great for their communities. But we never hear about those 10 b/c the powers that be in the media don't think we care - and judging by the number of comments on these stories, we prove that right. Marbury has done a LOT of great things for charities in NY, but once the sotry gets told once, people don't care. I'm not defending this, it's just an unfortunate by-product of American culture. We love train wrecks and can't get enough about them; charitable acts = low readership and low ratings. We use racism as a crutch too often, when in fact these issues are a sad reflection of us and our culture. And so you all know, I'm a black man - and as such, I get agitated when racism is used as an excuse for things we don't like. When racism does really exist, will we even care as much as we should? And, racism works both ways - Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton declared those white boys from Duke guilty on every television show they could, but when the story turned out to be a lie, they said nothing. To me, that should be construed by Black America as racism too - but unfortunately it isn't. Peace - T
Mr. Anonymous, your assessment about sensationalism and blood sucking leaches is HALF right. Yes, it is true, the public loves train wrecks, but I would argue that the public loves black trainwrecks much more than white train wrecks. This can often be quantified by looking in the number of posts in ESPN comment sections for black athlete misbehavior vs. white athlete misbehavior. I've been meaning to write a colum on this.
I would also argue that white community service is more likely to be highlighted than black community service. A few weeks ago Steve nash had a charity basketball game and CNNSI picks up the story. The day before Dikembe Mutombo had the ribbon-cutting ceremony for his brand new hospital in the Congo. No story. Most people don't have time to pay attention to these sorts of things. But I do. Now that may be an admission that I have no life, but that is an entirely separate discussion!!!
IMO, ESPN is fully aware that black train-wrecks sell more than white trainwrecks and that is why they ran a story on Pacman's venture into hip-hop yesterday, his venture into wrestling the day before, and his venture to the corner store tomorrow. There is a reason why it is places ALL Pacman stories on the OPENING web page and not just in the NFL section like so many others. If you start paying attention on a daily basis, you will start to notice the trend, and I am confident that you would retract your statement about race not being a factor.
I never recall Sharpton or Jackson declaring the Duke boys guilty. But to your larger point about "racism working both ways", in theory you are right, but as far as applied by the mainstream media (and virtually every other institution), it works 95% in ONE direction. There may be a very rare exception to the rule like the Duke coverage, but it is no where close to arbitrarily equal, and thus does not deserve anywhere close to equal time.
Finally, please excuse the belated response and check out www.COSELLOUT.com for sports media coverage.
Your Blog is the Complete Antithesis of "Lazy Liberals that Make My Ass Itch".
Salute.
ESPN IS RACIST AND TRYS TO STIR UP RACISM ALL THE TIME, THEY WILL GO TO ALL LENTHS TO TRY AND GRAB HEADLINES BY GOING TO THE RACECARD, I WONT WATCH IT ANYMORE. THEY TAKE A STORY AND INSERT RACISM WHERE THERE ISNT. GOOD LUCK ESPN YOUR A SICK NETWORK.
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