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Fifteen months ago, ESPN entered into a partnership with PBS's "Frontline" to produce a hard-hitting documentary on concussions in the NFL to be aired this October.
ESPN is paid millions of dollars in rights fees from the NFL for Monday Night Football and other NFL related programming.
The NFL did not like the idea of the documentary and refused to cooperate in any way. When asked for comments or interviews for the project, they gave neither. ESPN courageously continued their involvement anyway...until last week...
After the trailer to the upcoming documentary was shown to NFL execs, according to multiple sources, they had had enough and pressured ESPN to pull out of the film.
And ESPN acquiesced.
You can find the trailer here: http://gothamist.com/2013/08/23/nfl_pressures_espn_to_drop_out_of_f.php
Lamely, ESPN cited the fact that they had no editorial control over the project as their reason for pulling out. Guess what? They had known for fifteen months that they didn't have editorial control. And, of course, the NFL is denying they applied any pressure on ESPN.
ESPN promotes itself as journalistically independent. It's a self-delusion to be sure, but, still, that's the Kool-Aid they drink. And, actually, during their time involved in this documentary, they were proving to be just that.
But at the eleventh hour, with pressure applied by their largest source of revenue, money won and journalism lost.
Here's my question: If you work for ESPN, how does that make you feel? When the decision came down, what tremors rattled through the organization?
The larger question is this: When, at the top of an organization, a cowardly decision is made that stains the reputation of a company, how does that make people feel that work for it? How does the senior leadership team feel? How about the mid-levels and the frontline supervisors? How about the rank and file?
People tend to have great pride and a feeling of superior professionalism when they work for an organization that does things right, that stands principally strong, that has high standards and a moral compass.
How much is that pride shaken and how much does that feeling of superior professionalism erode when those at the top lower the standards? And how then do these same leaders infuse a sense of professional and organizational pride in its people anymore?
Isn't the whole weakened? Isn't it a hit on morale? Don't decisions like these encourage the individual employee to lower his or her own standards? Doesn't it countenance ethical compromises in those the leaders lead?
Do note: When morale is damaged, lower productivity is never far behind.
On the other hand, maybe ESPN has been so compromised already that this decision didn't have the impact it might have had otherwise. Maybe there were no tremors. Maybe the employees responded with a shrug. Maybe this is business as usual at ESPN so this was no great shock.
If that's the case, then this story is sadder still.
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