I saw Dan Orlovsky in a Geico commercial the other day and was taken aback.
Who is Dan Orlovsky, you ask? He’s the tall, lanky ex-NFL quarterback who ESPN has groomed into an analyst. On the off chance you’re desperate enough to tune into ESPN’s coverage of the NFL these days, Orlovsky is hard to miss.
Far be it from me to sound like one of those old curmudgeons, even though I wear the hat well, but I can’t recall a time when a network journalist would be seen openly endorsing a product. Of course, Dan Orlovsky is a far cry from Dan Rather. Those people no longer exist. Rather, Dan is a former athlete turned talking head, which means he probably took a journalism class in college, which makes him overqualified to work at ESPN, as journalism is a tenet they no longer practice. Either that or the ESPN campus ran him through their Bristol machine to make sure he says what they want, or more appropriately, what they think will sell.
I’m not sure what ESPN employees have written into their contract about supplementing their income with companies who advertise on their network but apparently its fair game as Orlovsky is not the only on-air personality to cash a check in this manner. As far as we know, it’s an encouraged practice. Perhaps that’s how ESPN can get away with paying its people less, by giving them opportunities to say something kitschy on one of its clients’ commercials.
I just can’t see how this allows me to take them seriously.
If you’ve ever listened to Fly on the Wall, a Saturday Night Live-intensive podcast hosted by Dana Carvey and David Spade, you’ve undoubtedly heard Spade tell the story of how, as he started to make it big on the show, one company approached him about doing a Super Bowl commercial. Spade, whose fame was growing, was struggling to get by on SNL’s menial salary and staring a huge payday in the face.
Lorne Michaels said no.
A lot has changed since then. Michaels has lightened up on his “selling out” stance, which was still a thing in the 90s. Current SNL cast members are now allowed to do as they please, supplementing their show income as they see fit.
Apparently the same is true at ESPN, a network that some of us old heads used to think of as a journalistic source for sports news, a notion that died alongside Tom Mees.
ESPN recently fired one of its more well-versed NBA writer/reporters Zach Lowe, which seems odd considering the network just signed a multi-billion-dollar deal to cover the league. Apparently, Lowe was never in their plans to be a part of the new deal. Lowe was respected in the league but will now be looking elsewhere for work, which shouldn’t be hard to find for a man of his merit.
I’ve discussed ad nauseum with my blogging partner J-Dub the inherent conflicts of a news source hosting a gambling service, or having its anchorpeople cash a check from its advertisers yet on it goes. Can you imagine Walter Cronkite reporting the odds on the outcome of the next big headline then suggesting you wager on it, not that ESPN has ever had anyone on air that remotely resembled the integrity of the nation’s most historic broadcaster.
We’ve also talked about the conflicts of covering leagues that you’ve paid billions of dollars to promote. At a time, more than ever in our nation’s history, when image is everything, can we trust the network to honestly report on what goes behind closed doors? That answer is increasingly no. Let’s say, theoretically speaking of course, that the commissioner of a major sports league is found doing ill-advised things with farm animals. After signing on to carry this league’s product, are we 100% certain we will get fair and quality reporting about these farm animals, or will we just receive a gambling tip on which farm animals were involved?
I’m not suggesting journalists no longer exist, just fewer and fewer at that network as they continue to trade writer/reporters for shouting heads, but maybe the network never intended to be that. After all, the very first letter of ESPN stands for Entertainment.
At a time where most news sources are slanted in one direction or another, I suppose it’s just as wise to continue watching television with the volume down, sift through the bullshit they’re trying to sell us and form our own conclusions.
