ESPN Hires Robert Lipsyte As New Ombudsman
Media Bistro
Why did ESPN hire one of its most prominent critics to be its ombudsman?
Marc Tracy, co-editor of Jewish Jocks and writer for The New Republic, got an exclusive interview with ESPN’s new ombudsman, Robert Lipsyte, that was published Tuesday. In the interview, Lipsyte, a longtime sportswriter for the New York Times, dished candidly about his concerns about “the Worldwide Leader” and made clear that he won’t be pulling punches.
As Tracy notes:
Lipsyte, who has contributed to The New Republic, told me that he is fairly sure of what his central theme will be: “the interface of ESPN’s fiduciary relationship with the leagues and its commitment to coverage, to journalism.” In other words: conflict of interest. “I’ve spent 50-odd years in the business, believing that sports is one of the main currencies of communication in America, and still an important moral and social crucible, and that the media is critically important in the way it presents that,” he told me. “So here you have the most important presentation and media organization—and they both happen to be the same entity.”
While Tracy is somewhat skeptical of this—he thinks Lipsyte should be as concerned about the poor quality of some of ESPN’s journalism (i.e. Skip Bayless) as conflict of interests but others have fewer qualms.
John Koblin at Deadspin hails Lipsyte’s appointment:
There’s finally someone occupying that role who can comprehend ESPN’s absolutely monumental role in the sports world—an outfit that isn’t comparable in size, reach and infuence to any other industry (politics, business, Hollywood, you name it). If you want a sense of how Lipsyte operates, then go read this great account from his son, Sam Lipsyte, about growing up with the famous sportswriter.
Lipsyte starts in June and his term lasts until the end of 2014. This could be really good.
Regardless of what Lipsyte focuses on, his presence is a big step for ESPN. Lipsyte is one of the most important sports writers of the second half of the 20th century and he is one of the few people with sufficient gravitas to be taken seriously by company bigwigs in Bristol.
It shows that ESPN is truly taking itself seriously. It’s one of the indispensable media institutions of modern American life and has a media monopoly that has been unparalleled in American life since NBC was forced to sell off its Blue Network in the 1940s. The hiring of Lipsyte is a sign that the network feels the need to scrutinize itself appropriately. It doesn’t matter if Lipsyte focuses on conflicts of interest or Skip Bayless (conflicts of interest are far more important than Bayless, who is simply a troll with a television show), his presence is important enough to make a real difference.
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