Former Miami Marlins president David Samson was a guest on The Dan Le Batard Show this week and had an interesting perspective on the ongoing debate over how ESPN has covered the controversial Protect College Sports Act.
When asked whether ESPN has a responsibility to show dissenting opinions on the bill making its way through Congress, Samson stated that it’s “not their job” at ESPN to let the audience know what they’re doing and that they have the right to present whoever they want to speak about it without showing balance.
“I am not at all concerned that there’s no dissenting opinion or that there’s no mention on GameDay of what they’re doing behind the scenes. It’s not their job to let the audience know what they’re doing in order to protect their broadcast agreements, in order to protect their position in the market. They don’t have to say that on GameDay. And by the way, if they want to put Ted Cruz on and not someone from the other side, that’s also not their job to present both sides equally,” Samson said.
Le Batard and Mike Ruiz pushed back on Samson’s comment and likened it to the Jimmy Kimmel-James Talarico controversy from earlier this year, but Samson asserted that the situations are not similar.
“But that’s completely different than what you’re talking about, which is requiring that there is some sort of disclosure to fans, or to other businesses, or to dissenters of the Protect College Sports Act. I don’t exactly know who the injured party is here,” Samson said.
Doing what you can do vs. doing what you should do
Nobody has debated whether ESPN has a “job” to show balanced argument surrounding the Protect College Sports Act. The debate has centered on whether the Worldwide Leader in Sports “should” be presenting it in such a way if they want to maintain credibility and confidence from fans.
There’s no shortage of things that people are allowed to do that they shouldn’t do and given that there have been so many complaints about misinformation around the PCSA, fans have been hoping that ESPN would clarify some of those issues.
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If ESPN refuses to show the other side, the risk is that fans will start going to alternative websites and stations to get their news and information, which would potentially hurt ESPN’s ratings on all non-sports content in the long run.
ESPN is gambling all of their credibility with the audience with their gamble on the PCSA. Some analysts believe isn’t even guaranteed to be passed in its current iteration and might even wind up being opposed by some current supporters if it’s amended significantly before it goes to a vote in the House of Representatives.
If the gamble doesn’t pay off, all they’ll have to show for it is fan backlash and a lot of wasted time and energy.
