ESPN's double standard shows when hosts speak out

[Boiler 46,120]

2 hours ago, Bill & Katya said:

I did not watch it, but from what I heard, the one shining item was Beth Mullins doing play-by-play.  I have heard her do many college games as she worked her way up the ranks and I always thought she was very good.

http://nypost.com/2017/09/12/espn-reporter-explains-monday-night-football-debacle/

 

I did not actually see this and do not really care, just thought the overall coverage was bad.

 

Anyway Spurs Swansea calls.

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

On 9/13/2017 at 6:31 PM, Il Mango Dulce said:

I would pin Michele and the President atop my twitter feed any day over Trump.  So I am not sure what that shows.

Not sure whom this Michele you refer to is.  However, pinning the president atop your twitter feed IS putting Trump at the top.  Redundancy, I guess?

[Dashinka 24,799]

ESPN's President sends out a memo.  It really doesn't say much and appears that they will keep doing what they are doing.

 

http://ijr.com/the-declaration/2017/09/976130-espn-may-finally-learned-political-mistakes-president-addresses-employees/

[jayjayj 571]

On 9/16/2017 at 6:09 AM, bcking said:

As far as I was aware all of them made comments on their own twitters, not in ESPN.  To me it just comes down to what you find appropriate or not, which I realise is going to be impacted by personal political opinions. The comment Schilling made I found to be ignorant and offensive. I happen to agree with Hill so for me personally I'm okay with one and not the other. ESPN can make the same decision, they just have to deal with the potential loss of revenue but that can be their call. 

 

Is there political commentary while watching football games? I don't watch so I have no idea.

I think the uproar is more in regards to free speech being treated differently, depending on the person's political views.  Many people believe both Schilling and Hill made equally ignorant and offensive comments on their Twitter accounts - arguably equally reprehensible comments by two on-air talents, treated completely differently by ESPN.  I would suggest neither of them should be or should have been punished.  They both have a right to voice their own opinions, no matter how objectionable another person finds it to be.  Our country is going to be in a bad place when one side of the political spectrum has a monopoly on free speech.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

6 minutes ago, jayjayj said:

I think the uproar is more in regards to free speech being treated differently, depending on the person's political views.  Many people believe both Schilling and Hill made equally ignorant and offensive comments on their Twitter accounts - arguably equally reprehensible comments by two on-air talents, treated completely differently by ESPN.  I would suggest neither of them should be or should have been punished.  They both have a right to voice their own opinions, no matter how objectionable another person finds it to be.  Our country is going to be in a bad place when one side of the political spectrum has a monopoly on free speech.

 

    Schilling had several incidents with inappropriate or offensive twitter posts. He had previously posted anti-Muslim tweets and also a tweet suggesting Hillary Clinton should be killed before the final one he got fired for. Suffice it to say he got off with plenty of warnings.

[Dashinka 24,799]

10 minutes ago, Steeleballz said:

 

    Schilling had several incidents with inappropriate or offensive twitter posts. He had previously posted anti-Muslim tweets and also a tweet suggesting Hillary Clinton should be killed before the final one he got fired for. Suffice it to say he got off with plenty of warnings.

So you are saying if Hill continues with her political rhetoric she will end up with a similar fate?

[jayjayj 571]

22 minutes ago, Steeleballz said:

 

    Schilling had several incidents with inappropriate or offensive twitter posts. He had previously posted anti-Muslim tweets and also a tweet suggesting Hillary Clinton should be killed before the final one he got fired for. Suffice it to say he got off with plenty of warnings.

Nobody has a right to not be offended.  Schilling is a bonehead for sure, his comments are stupid, but he has an equal right to free speech.  

 

Hill was also suspended by ESPN in 2008 for inappropriate comments.  Does that not count as a previous transgression?  

Edited September 18, 2017 by jayjayj

[Steeleballz 7,550]

19 minutes ago, Bill & Katya said:

So you are saying if Hill continues with her political rhetoric she will end up with a similar fate?

 

   Possibly, or if not, I guess your assertion of a double standard may be validated.

[Dashinka 24,799]

2 minutes ago, Steeleballz said:

 

   Possibly, or if not, I guess your assertion of a double standard may be validated.

Well considering as @jayjayj pointed out, this was not Hill's first transgression, maybe the double standard already exists.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

17 minutes ago, jayjayj said:

Nobody has a right to not be offended.  Schilling is a bonehead for sure, his comments are stupid, but he has an equal right to free speech.  

 

Hill was also suspended by ESPN in 2008 for inappropriate comments.  Does that not count as a previous transgression?  

 

    Schilling is not the first to find out that our first amendment rights do no apply to the relationship between employer and employee.

 

   I am not sure how the disciplinary process works at ESPN, but if it's a step process, I think Hill is still a few steps behind Schilling at this point.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

1 minute ago, Bill & Katya said:

Well considering as @jayjayj pointed out, this was not Hill's first transgression, maybe the double standard already exists.

 

   Schilling had 5 incidents that we know of. There may also be events that go on behind the scenes that we don't. You may want to go down the list before you decide. These are not the only two employees at ESPN with misconduct incidents.

 

   I imagine ESPN has internal criteria for all this. They did fire Olbermann twice IIRC.

 

    

[jayjayj 571]

5 minutes ago, Steeleballz said:

 

   Schilling had 5 incidents that we know of. There may also be events that go on behind the scenes that we don't. You may want to go down the list before you decide. These are not the only two employees at ESPN with misconduct incidents.

 

   I imagine ESPN has internal criteria for all this. They did fire Olbermann twice IIRC.

 

    

But if there isn't a double standard at play here, she would have been suspended again - she wasn't.  The comments she made that lead to her first suspension were much less inflammatory than here current comments.  I would think that a first offense would result in a warning and a second offense would possibly result in a suspension, not the other way around.  A stepped process for corporate discipline always goes up in severity - any deviation from that normal trajectory indicates a bias.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

4 minutes ago, jayjayj said:

But if there isn't a double standard at play here, she would have been suspended again - she wasn't.  The comments she made that lead to her first suspension were much less inflammatory than here current comments.  I would think that a first offense would result in a warning and a second offense would possibly result in a suspension, not the other way around.  A stepped process for corporate discipline always goes up in severity - any deviation from that normal trajectory indicates a bias.

 

    Perhaps the first one being 9 years ago vs Schillings all coming over a ~2 year period had something to do with it? IDK really. I would think sports fans are spread somewhat equally across the political spectrum, so I have a hard time thinking they are intentionally trying to alienate half of them. 

 

   

[jayjayj 571]

1 minute ago, Steeleballz said:

 

    Perhaps the first one being 9 years ago vs Schillings all coming over a ~2 year period had something to do with it? IDK really. I would think sports fans are spread somewhat equally across the political spectrum, so I have a hard time thinking they are intentionally trying to alienate half of them. 

 

   

Yeah, who really knows.  To me it just appears to be a double standard.  

 

Hopefully, we will soon get to the point where cable customers can choose exactly what channels they want to subscribe to and support.  Let the free market decide which channels thrive and which channels fail.  

[bcking 3,157]

1 hour ago, jayjayj said:

I think the uproar is more in regards to free speech being treated differently, depending on the person's political views.  Many people believe both Schilling and Hill made equally ignorant and offensive comments on their Twitter accounts - arguably equally reprehensible comments by two on-air talents, treated completely differently by ESPN.  I would suggest neither of them should be or should have been punished.  They both have a right to voice their own opinions, no matter how objectionable another person finds it to be.  Our country is going to be in a bad place when one side of the political spectrum has a monopoly on free speech.

Ah yes, the all powerful "free speech" reasoning.

 

Free speech doesn't mean your employer has to let you say whatever the heck you want. They both had free speech. Neither was arrested for making their comments. They were imprisoned by the government, or flogged etc... Free speech isn't the issue here.

 

ESPN is a private organisations and they can choose to let go of certain people if they feel like their public opinions don't align well enough with their corporate image.

 

They aren't do anything to free speech.