More silence, more noise; how a slow reaction did massive damage to ESPN’s brand
Twitter has broken down a lot of the walls associated with how we access and consume media. The micro-blogging site has allowed, among other things, instant reports on the news, sports and other topics of interest, making updates almost instantaneous.
But on the other end of the spectrum, it means that rumours and speculation can spread just as rapidly especially if the story is in any way negative. Such rumours can be as quick and as damaging as wildfire and a slow reaction will result in damage which will take time to recover from.
For those wanting an example of how a slow reaction can damage a company should look no further than ESPN and their sports journalist Bruce Feldman. The College Football writer, who has a massive profile with over 54,000 twitter followers keeping track of his every word, gained more attention than usual when he stopped tweeting.
Feldman hasn’t tweeted since 13 July and the cause of this has been a source of great embarrassment for ESPN, the self-proclaimed worldwide leader in sports.
It all goes back to Feldman agreeing in 2009 to aid Texas Tech coach Mike Leach in writing his autobiography. He did so with the approval of his employers, ESPN. It was a plum role to land as Leach was one of the most high profile coaches in the game, noted for his eccentricities and love of all things to do with pirates. Within months however Leach was caught in a storm of controversy over an incident with Adam James, a player on the Texas Tech team and son of ESPN analyst Craig James.
Bruce Feldman has amassed over 50,000 followers for his work on college football
The subsequent dismissal of Leach and ESPN’s coverage of the affair which involved the son of one of their staff would merit two or three posts to explain. All you need to know for this tale is that ESPN are currently being sued by Leach so when Leach’s book came out last month, with Feldman’s name attached, it got no shortage of attention.
#Freebruce, as the campaign would become known, began with a report on Sportsbybrooks that Feldman had been suspended indefinitely for his role in the book.
The Twitter reaction was immediate and fiery. Feldman’s peers rallied to his cause and he had some heavyweight support. Jason Whitlock (94,000 Twitter followers), Stewart Mandel (40k), Dan Wetzel (35k), Pete Thamel (25k), Gregg Doyel (44k), and Andy Staples (22k), were amongst the torrent of tweeters to lead the charge in support of Feldman. #Freebruce quickly rose to number four on Twitter’s trending topics.
Feldman's involvement with the writing of Texas Tech coach Mike Leach autobiography led people to believe that was the reason for his suspension
ESPN stayed silent for nearly 24 hours. Then came the announcement that caught everyone off guard; ESPN said Feldman had not been suspended. The problem for ESPN was by this stage they had well and truly been painted as the villain in this piece and Feldman still wasn’t tweeting.
The public perception was that ESPN had punished one of their journalists for being a journalist and, worse, they did so after he had asked for and been granted permission.
The actions by ESPN in the weeks since haven’t exactly helped to change that perception. Feldman remains inactive of Twitter and only recently returned to writing articles for ESPN.com. The journalist hasn’t been able to respond to any of the hype surrounding #Freebruce, placing him in a most uncomfortable position.
Irrespective of whether Feldman was formally suspended or not, ESPN erred in two substantial ways.
There was a clear naivety on the part of ESPN if they thought they could keep the benching of Feldman quiet. A journalist with his kind of brand profile and following who stops tweeting is going to be noticed. It was inevitable that investigative bloggers would start digging and do so quickly.
Secondly ESPN’s failure to respond quickly to the firestorm that built up essentially ended any hopes they had at saving face. They showed a lack of flexibility in reacting to Twitter, which for an organisation that prides itself on breaking news caused massive damage to their reputation. ESPN has already fallen behind Yahoo in the online sports media war*, partially because of trust issues and this did little to help.
The long term ramifications for all parties could prove substantial. If an when Feldman and ESPN part company, a conclusion that appears inevitable, he will be a highly prized free agent in the increasingly competitive field of College Football coverage due to the raised profile he has enjoyed.
For ESPN this is the latest in a string of questionable incidents which have hurt their brand reputation and yet another lesson on the need to be better able to judge public reaction.
*Clay Travis has written an excellent piece on this topic which I strongly urge you to read.
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Emmet Ryan is the editor of Action81.com a sports features and analysis site. Follow Emmet on Twitter @Action81
