ESPN has issued new political and election guidelines for its employees that loosens the restrictions of political discussion on their platforms. It also separates guidelines for those that work on news and those that work on commentary.
“Given the intense interest in the most recent presidential election and the fact subsequent political and social discussions often intersected with the sports world, we found it to be an appropriate time to review our guidelines,” said Patrick Stiegman, ESPN’s vice president of global digital content and the chairman of the company’s internal Editorial Board, which drafted the new guidelines.
Craig Bengtson, ESPN’s vice president and managing editor of newsgathering and reporting, said, “We have the convergence of a politically charged environment and all these new technologies coming together at once. Based on that, we wanted the policy to reflect the reality of the world today. There are people talking about politics in ways we have not seen before, and we’re not immune from that.”
As ESPN’s Public Editor Jim Brady pointed out, not all believe that the previous policy was enforced. Regarding the new policy he says, “It’ll be interesting to see whether this new policy has an impact. These changes appear to be designed to remind employees of ESPN’s invaluable and lucrative connection to sports while also acknowledging — rightfully, in my opinion — that sports, culture and politics overlap in ways that cannot be ignored. But, in the end, the effectiveness of policies is usually related to the intensity of the enforcement.”
Here is the full policy:
News
At ESPN, our reputation and credibility with viewers, readers and listeners are paramount. Related to political and social issues, our audiences should be confident our original reporting of news is not influenced by political pressures or personal agendas. News reporting on political or social issues should be consistent with these guidelines:
- News reports should be accurate, appropriately sourced and approved through normal editorial channels. Original news reports should not include statements of support, opposition or partisanship related to any social issue, political position, candidate or office holder.
- Writers, reporters, producers and editors directly involved in “hard” news reporting, investigative or enterprise assignments and related coverage should refrain in any public-facing forum from taking positions on political or social issues, candidates or office holders.
- Those writers, reporters, producers and editors who nonetheless publicly involve themselves in political or social advocacy may be reassigned to preserve our objective reporting on such subjects.
Commentary
Outside of “hard” news reporting, commentary related to political or social issues, candidates or office holders is appropriate on ESPN platforms consistent with these guidelines:
- The subject mattter should merit our time, space and resources as well as our audience’s interest; we should be in position to discuss the issue with authority and be factually accurate/
- The topic should be related to a current issue impacting sports. This condition may vary for content appearing on platforms with broader editorial missions – such as The Undefeated, FiveThirtyEight and espnW. Other exceptions must be approved in advance by senior editorial management.
- Commentaries on relevant sports-related issues are appropriate, but we should refrain from overt partisanship or endorsement of particular candidates, politicians or political parties.
- The presentation should be thoughtful and respectful. We should offer balance or recognize opposing views, as warranted. We should avoid personal attacks and inflammatory rhetoric.
- Communication with producers and editors should take place prior to commentary on any political or social issues on ESPN platforms to manage volume and ensure a fair and effective presentation.
These guidelines act in concert with all ESPN editorial standards & practices, including those governing social media and commentary, and apply on ESPN, Twitter, Facebook and other media.