Following the controversy over ESPN anchor Jemele Hill tweeting that President Trump is “a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself with other white supremacists,” an internal memo issued by ESPN president John Skipper has found its way into the wild on Friday.
"ESPN is about sports. … ESPN is not a political organization." ESPN president John Skipper's memo to staffers: https://t.co/dlXDWzeqFN pic.twitter.com/PCRYHckXHz
— CNN (@CNN) September 15, 2017
https://twitter.com/CaseyMattox_/status/909140830564253697
In the memo, Skipper writes that “ESPN is about sports,” but adds that “sports is intertwined with society and culture, so ‘sticking to sports’ is not so simple.”
From John Skipper: pic.twitter.com/wEofFfhCC3
— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) September 15, 2017
Skipper's message: Let's cover the news — sports & "the issues that intersect with sports" — and stop BEING the news https://t.co/gCRhTAUYFR
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) September 15, 2017
Thanks, Brian.
So, is there any actual guidance for ESPN employees in that memo? Skipping to the bottom suggests the answer is a big fat “maybe.” Skipper writes, “we need to remind ourselves that we are a journalistic organization and that we should not do anything that undermines that position,” while also shifting some blame for ESPN’s current troubles onto the rest of the media: “Let’s not let the public narrative re-write who we are or what we stand for.”
Which is?
This…is pretty bad. https://t.co/WsNYqthr56
— B. ? (@knicks148) September 15, 2017
It's past 5 pm ET on a Friday
also this is one of the most vanilla statements in recent memory https://t.co/1RXRrGUwXW
— Dylan Jenkins (@THEDeeJenks) September 15, 2017
This is a nicely, lawyer looked over worded "stick to sports." https://t.co/uRA3bMQ4E9
— Frank Santos (@FrankSantosNLP) September 15, 2017
TLDR: I'm not saying stick to sports, but stick to sports. https://t.co/QjqmUHTwdO
— Stephen Pienciak (@stephenpienciak) September 15, 2017
Amazed that this is the guy chosen to run ESPN. What a meaningless word salad. https://t.co/cZSJlJ0xdr
— Trevor Barnhill (@tsbarnhill) September 15, 2017
Are you sure the ombudsman didn’t write this? https://t.co/9cYcG4hT6e
— Allen Kenney (@BlatantHomerism) September 15, 2017
I call bullshit. This is a nice fluff piece to try and stem the flow of bad PR, but #ESPN will continue to push the same agenda. https://t.co/tvHkvqaWhB
— Jeremy Kespohl (@clamswan) September 15, 2017
Umm @espn is 100% about politics. https://t.co/W7V7Bw69Ig
— Derek (@Boro_Boy90) September 15, 2017
https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/908868269007949824
https://twitter.com/Warden_AoS/status/909049669459816453
https://twitter.com/cehoskinson/status/908879508911951872
Yeah about as much as @cnn is about unbiased news https://t.co/iHrkUeGQhS
— sardine latté (@UA_Ed2) September 16, 2017
ESPN is about sports just as much as Amy Schumer is about being funny. https://t.co/BjyHjAagbT
— Brian Nichols (@BNicholsLiberty) September 16, 2017
ESPN is that 7 year old kid who just cannot stop picking at its own scabs. https://t.co/KAkjNTring
— Micah A. ? (@LetMicahDown) September 15, 2017
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Related:
‘That’s it?’ Here’s how ESPN’s handling Jemele Hill’s ‘white supremacist’ smears https://t.co/SvJwTautqm
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) September 13, 2017
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