Hmm, this is interesting.
Late Wednesday afternoon, David Scott of ESPN’s PR staff did a post on ESPN Front Row, its PR-driven site, outlining the network’s attribution policies.
Why the need for such a post? ESPN has been criticized for being lax in not giving proper attribution to stories from other outlets. Fair or not, ESPN is extremely sensitive to any negative perception about its standards.
In an email, Scott explains:
“One of Front Row’s purposes is to share pertinent information with our users in a transparent manner. This post is part of an ongoing dialogue and was not prompted by one thing in particular. We are always keeping an eye on our processes, particularly with news gathering’s rapid evolution in regards to Twitter and social media.”
In the post, Scott opens:
ESPN has always strived to properly acknowledge where and from whom news stories originate. The company constantly reviews procedures and processes to keep up with the ever-changing media landscape and the revisions that follow are a reflection of that steadfast commitment.
“Attribution has been and remains vital to our users,” said ESPN Senior Vice President and Director of News, Vince Doria. “The context of where information comes from helps further establish the trust we have built in 33-plus years. These guidelines are part of our ongoing commitment to being as clear as we can in providing fans with the latest and most accurate information.”
Among the areas we have addressed with our most recent review is how we present, specifically in graphics, those stories that have been independently reported by our staff in addition to outside entities.
Scott then lays out the various scenarios. An example:
News from outside entities: “Media Report” or “Media Reports”
• We will use the name of the entity where we obtained the information in scripts, on BottomLine, and, where possible, in graphics. We will only use “Report” in graphics if the name of the entity is too long.For example, BottomLine and anchor readers would say: “The Ravens will meet with former Broncos defensive end Elvis Dumervil, the Baltimore Sun reports.” The Topic Bar Header would be “Media Report,” while the body of the bar would read, “Baltimore Sun: Ravens to meet with former Broncos DE Elvis Dumervil.”
Scott then concludes:
In the current environment of blogs and Twitter, it is often difficult to know definitively who was first to report a story, but it is still important to acknowledge how we initially became aware of that news. So, with a few exceptions, scripts and BottomLine entries will state the news was “earlier reported by” or “previously reported by,” rather than “first reported by,” that ESPN reporter or outside entity. It will be at the discretion of the news desk to determine when and for how long a story warrants this treatment on television.
I will have more on this issue next week.