ESPN Public Editor Calls Out Network For 'Lack Of Transparency' In DeflateGate
By Matt Dolloff, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- Patriots fans often get accused of being overly sensitive to criticism, which is an unfair blanket statement on a large, diverse group that wouldn't be fair to any fanbase - but it's not entirely untrue.
Sometimes, the "manufactured outrage" of this social media era bleeds into Patriots Nation, even if the perceived slight is nonexistent. Many have demanded apologies for the handling of DeflateGate, which in my opinion isn't necessary when ESPN wasn't the only network to run with inaccurate or biased, dishonest reporting in an effort to denigrate the Patriots.
But, in the case of ESPN, skepticism is justified and apologies are warranted. Their new public editor, Jim Brady, posted a column Thursday morning offering a mea culpa - sort of.
The piece leads with SportsCenter's infamous tweet during the Patriots-Bills Monday Night Football game that referenced the excessive amount of replays and stoppages but was perceived by already-venomous Patriots fans as a reference to both Spygate and DeflateGate. Brady accuses Patriots fans of "paranoia" but also called it a "fair reaction" to how ESPN handled the story from the get-go.
Brady claims that the numerous "missteps" in DeflateGate (and even SpyGate) reporting in the past year were isolated incidents and not related to a greater effort to appease the NFL and "impugn" the Patriots. One of the most maligned passages in the column is sure to be the part where Brady refers to Outside the Lines' investigative story on Spygate and DeflateGate as "excellent journalism" - the story that used 90 anonymous sources.
But of course, the poster child for ESPN's mishandling of DeflateGate is easily Chris Mortensen, a veteran NFL reporter who prior to DeflateGate had a deservedly impeccable reputation as a reporter. He probably retained much of the respect he had among fans of the other 31 teams, but in New England Mortensen is viewed as a pariah, a coward who wouldn't back off a story that had long been proven false - or even address that one tweet at all.
Brady pushed for ESPN to amend Mortensen's original report that jumped off from the initial '11 of 12 footballs' tweet, which amazingly had not been updated to reflect the now-deleted tweet and inaccurate information - until just as Brady's column was published.
ESPN vice president of global digital content Patrick Stiegman was asked why it took so long to update the story - one year, one month and thirteen days, to be exact - he admitted they could have done things better, but barely so, and certainly did not apologize.
"Typically, we wouldn't revise a story more than 6 months old in our archives, but after Mort clarified his reporting and removed the tweet, for transparency reasons, we should have updated our online version," said Stiegman. "We did thoroughly cover the deflation issue, including Seth and Don's in-depth reporting, Mort's on-air reports, and subsequent coverage of the Wells report - and its detractors. But given the attention to the story, could the clarification have come sooner? Certainly."
The column also references the false Spygate reporting that SportsCenter did apologize for - but just once, at 12:30 a.m. ET. There's also the Mike Reiss column that was edited after publishing to remove two pointed, but harmless, takes that defended the Patriots and painted the league in a negative light. One of them had a longtime Boston sportscaster comparing the desire to tear the Patriots down to Red Auerbach's Celtics. Even worse, the website did not acknowledge the post-publishing edits that were made even though they were obvious to everyone who read the initial story.
Reiss explained to Brady: "On the last item about Auerbach, I was told it made me seem like too much of a booster ... On the other one, what I received was feedback that it was questioning our own work, casting doubt on what another reporter was reporting, and if the roles were reversed, to consider how that might be received."
Whoever said that to Reiss was apparently ignorant to New England's perception of ESPN as a "booster" for the NFL, and to the fact that their own work deserved to be questioned or doubted, considering the false reporting that had come out. If anything, it's ESPN who should be asked how they'd feel if the roles were reversed.
ESPN senior deputy editor Mary Byrnes also offered up a half-assed admission of a mistake, sans apology: "In hindsight, I wish we had [acknowleged the edits]," Byrne said. "It's something I feel like we should have done."
An unnamed editor at ESPN admitted that the network mishandled much of its DeflateGate reporting and understands the perception that they are biased toward the NFL (which has a $1.9 billion-per-year partnership with the network) and against the Patriots. But, he still denied that any such bias exists.
"The bottom line is it's been our lack of transparency and accountability with the Mortensen report that's been our biggest mistake in the reporting of Deflategate," the editor said. "In my opinion, ESPN does not have an institutional bias against the Patriots. It was just editors - in most cases well-intentioned - making hasty decisions. Had we corrected the Mortensen report, been more up front about stating something as fact that was found to be untrue and been honest about why a reporter's piece was mysteriously cut eight hours after it was posted, I think we'd be better off as a company when it comes to the perception in New England."
The realest thing said in Brady's column is the ending "New England will need to be convinced," followed by a disclosure that he is a Jets fan who tweeted negative things about the Patriots before he became public editor at ESPN. These unapologetic, inadequate admissions of mistakes will not undo the year-plus of reporting that, whatever the intention, came off as the work of a lead crusader for Roger Goodell and the NFL against the Patriots. Even if they did give a formal, sincere, direct apology for all the missteps, it probably would not be accepted. I know for sure that Dave Portnoy at Barstool Sports won't accept this article as an "apology," nor should he.
If ESPN wants to deny any kind of bias or that none of the false reports, delayed corrections, and buried apologies were related, so be it. But regardless of their connection, the mistakes have conflated into what looks, sounds, and smells like a blatantly one-sided campaign orchestrated by NFL puppetry.
Personally, I don't need an apology from ESPN, but it's understandable if you do. And if this column is meant to be ESPN's "apology" for the DeflateGate dumpster-fire of the past 14 months, it's bound to be rejected worse than an appeal from Goodell. And it should.
Matt Dolloff is a writer for CBSBostonSports.com. His opinions do not necessarily reflect that of CBS or 98.5 The Sports Hub. Have a news tip or comment for Matt? Follow him on Twitter @mattdolloff and email him at mdolloff@985thesportshub.com.
