My latest column for the National Sports Journalism Center at Indiana talks about the perception problems ESPN faces in the wake of pulling out of the League of Denial film on PBS.

Here’s an excerpt:

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Often in the game of perception vs. reality, perception is Peyton Manning going up against a nine-man defense.

The news/journalism division of ESPN knows all too well in the wake of pulling out of PBS’ production of the “League of Denial” documentary earlier this year. The perception is that the NFL pressured its TV partner back off on the controversial film about concussions that portrayed the league in a negative light.

At the time, ESPN insisted the issue was over editorial control with PBS and not a case of wilting like a miniature running back being hit by a 325-pound defensive lineman. Few people believed it then. It was as if NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was pulling the puppet strings above ESPN’s headquarters in Bristol.

The repercussions go beyond this one instance for ESPN. Its credibility likely will be questioned whenever the network has to cover a highly charged story involving one of its partners. Bottom line: The whole thing just looked bad.

The reality, ESPN’s Vince Doria insists, is much different. During a recent interview with Sherman Report, the ESPN director of news addressed the fallout from ESPN’s pullout from the documentary. Doria wouldn’t get into the specifics of the network’s decision. However, he stressed repeatedly that it wasn’t a case of ESPN bowing to the NFL.

“People either didn’t do their homework as well as they could have, or maybe didn’t want to do their homework as well as they could have,” Doria said.  “It is an easy enough story if you wanted to, to connect some dots to it and say, ‘Look, they kowtowed to the NFL.’  But if you looked slightly further, and look at what the on‑air product was and what we delivered and the volume of what we delivered, the platforms over which we delivered it and so forth, show me somebody else that comes anywhere near giving that kind of exposure to the concussion issue as it relates to the NFL. I don’t think there is anybody.”

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