Sports Media Weekly No. 128

http://sportsmediajournal.com/ Ken Fang of Fang’s Bites and I are riding solo for this week’s Sports Media Weekly. We begin the show by looking back at the sports media coverage of the murder/suicide committed by Chiefs linebacker Javon Belcher. We examine CBS’s decision not to mention the story until five minutes into its NFL Today telecast. We also touch upon the controversy brought on by NBC’s Bob Costas for using his halftime commentary during Sunday Night Football to promote tougher gun control laws. We switch to baseball and news that Fox Sports may be closer to gaining a rights deal with the Dodgers while also showing interest in buying Sports Time Ohio to secure the local rights to the Cleveland Indians. It appears Fox is continuing to seek out more local baseball rights fees as a way to expand its national sports footprint. We move to college football looking at CBS’s strong SEC ratings for the season, especially for the SEC Championship game, which was the most-watched college football game thus far this season. We also look with a critical eye at a press release from ESPN promoting two awards to be won by members of the University of Notre Dame at the upcoming college football awards tomorrow night. For some reason no other award winners were released by ESPN, just winners from Notre Dame. ESPN wouldn’t be using this news as a way to hype its telecast of the BCS Championship game on January 7th would they? Hmmmmmm… We also look at how a Boston TV sports reporter has put himself out on a limb being the only one to report that the end to the NHL lockout may be near. We examine why Sports Illustrated awarded its Sportsman of the Year to LeBron James, and the news that John Kruk will be the new third man in ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball booth. We finish the show with a discussion of ESPN’s inconsistency in crediting reporters who break stories who do not work at the Bristol campus.