ESPN has taken some heat for its presenters and reporters’ endorsement deals. As iMediaEthics recently reported, ESPN just issued new endorsement guidelines following criticism of some of its staff’s undisclosed deals with footwear companies.
Meanwhile, ESPN has been criticized for not disclosing its poker endorsements sponsorship relationship with two poker companies that were recently charged by the FBI. We wrote to Poynter’s Kelly McBride, who is a member of the Poynter Review Project of ESPN, asking if the Poynter Review Project would be covering the poker issue or be offering any suggestions for ESPN in its handling of the indictment.
McBride responded by email:
“We are just finishing a column on endorsements. The gambling issue is top of mind, if we can get to it in a timely fashion. But there’s a growing list of topics right now. We are committed to doing a thorough reporting job on all these topics, so it’s a matter of getting the timing down so that we publish while the issue is still fresh.”