Earlier this week, investigative journalist Nicole Noren did something almost impossible for someone who has spent her career behind the scenes.
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who → do → scenes
She made herself the story.
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herself → make → ?
The longtime producer for ESPN’s Outside the Lines used her own experience to shed light on the way sports betting partnerships are warping sports media coverage.
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partnerships → use → coverage
The issue wasn’t how ESPN was covering sports gambling, but that it was doing so less and less.
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it → cover → gambling
Noren was used to pitching hard-hitting stories around leagues, owners and athletes.
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Noren → use → leagues
As a producer for the investigative reporting arm of the sports network, her team had traditionally been insulated from the business concerns at ESPN, but she started to notice a change about seven years ago.
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she → insulate → change
“What was telling to me was that I had pitched numerous stories that would take a harder look at some of the gambling companies and addiction, and none of those stories was greenlit,” Noren told the Columbia Journalism Review in an interview with journalist Danny Funt.
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Noren → tell → Funt
“They ended up doing a show on it around that time, but it became very neutered.
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it → end → time
Some of the people involved intended to make it much more hard-hitting and hold the gambling companies accountable.
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companies → involve → people
Let’s just say the final product didn’t end up doing that.”
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product → let → that
Noren, who detailed a family history that included seeing her grandfather, father and brother’s lives unspool due to gambling addiction, left the network in 2023 after ESPN announced the debut of ESPN BET, a partnership with Penn Entertainment.
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ESPN → detail → Entertainment
“I’m not going to work for a gambling company and have blood on my hands,” Noren bluntly told Funt.
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Noren → go → Funt
When reached for this story, Noren declined to comment further.
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Noren → reach → story
ESPN released a statement in response: “ESPN remains committed to journalism that serves sports fans, holds powerful interests accountable and earns our audience’s trust.
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interests → release → trust
Our editorial decisions are guided by news judgment and journalistic integrity, and we demonstrate this every day through the award-winning content we produce across our platforms.
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we → guide → platforms
Before he retired in 2019, Bob Ley was the venerable face of Outside the Lines, which included a daily network show with deeply reported TV packages and roundtable discussions on the biggest issues in sports.
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which → retire → sports
(Full disclosure: I was a contributor to that show from 2010 to 2017 while working at ESPN.)
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I → work → ESPN
“The greatest luxury in television is time and investigative reporting is the feature of a mature news organization,” said Ley, one of the most respected anchors in sports.
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Ley → say → sports
“It’s not just the box score, it’s the financial pages and the police report.”
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it → ’ → ?
He describes Noren as “passionate, honest and indefatigable”.
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He → describe → Noren
During his tenure at the Worldwide Leader, Ley said, reporters had the leeway to cover entities that had a business relationship with ESPN.
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that → say → ESPN
If that meant uncovering something unsavory, reporters would have editorial support and ask the subjects of those stories for comment.
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reporters → mean → comment
Sometimes, Ley said, the access even improved those stories.
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access → say → stories
The network canceled Outside the Lines as a regular show in 2023, although some content is still produced under the brand.
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content → cancel → brand
A former reporter at the network, who didn’t want to be named since they still work in media, said that the brand is obviously pulling back from investigative journalism, although there are still excellent journalists producing quality work, as ESPN pivots toward entertainment.
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ESPN → want → entertainment
Meanwhile Mike Foss, an ESPN executive vice-president, told a conference last week that popular sports personality Pat McAfee “might be a journalist at heart”.
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McAfee → tell → heart
“This is a dam-breaking moment,” said Brian Moritz, an associate professor at the Jandoli School of Communication at St Bonaventure University.
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Moritz → break → University
“What stood out to me: everything that people assumed was happening around sports media is actually happening.
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people → stand → media
To have a former producer at ESPN say it is eye-opening.”
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producer → say → it
In 2018, the US supreme court overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, allowing states to regulate sports betting markets within their boundaries.
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states → overturn → boundaries
Since then, 39 states and Washington DC have established some form of sports betting, although there is wide variation in what is allowed state-to-state.
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what → establish → state
Last April, St Bonaventure and Siena College released the results of a poll showing that 27% of Americans and 52% of men ages 18 to 49 now have an account with a sportsbook.
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% → release → sportsbook
That’s the same demographic traditionally associated with sports viewership.
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That → ’ → viewership
“ESPN makes a lot of money from promoting sports gambling,” Moritz said.
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Moritz → make → gambling
“And there’s interest in it – a lot of young men want to gamble.
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lot → ’ → men
But that really makes you ask, what is the mission of ESPN?”
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mission → make → ESPN
Moritz noted that the rise in sports betting isn’t without cost to those consumers.
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rise → note → consumers
According to the National Council on Problem Gambling, there has not been a nationwide survey on how addictive sports betting is since the activity became more widely legalized, but the NCPG cited research in recent congressional testimony showing New Jersey, Ohio and Indiana have experienced a rise in problem gambling that tracks with adoption.
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that → accord → adoption
“The young, male population that engages in sports fan activity is a Venn diagram with the demographic at risk for a gambling problem,” said Cait Huble, director of public affairs for the NCPG, which is a nonpartisan organization that advocates for harm reduction.
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that → engage → reduction
The group is lobbying for the Points Act, which would require a percentage of the federal excise tax on sports bets to be allocated back to the states for prevention, treatment and research into of problem betting.
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percentage → lobby → betting
…and 17 more, not listed.
The Aporia
