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ESPN: The Uncensored History
by Michael Freeman
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Taylor Trade Publishing (2002-01-25)
ISBN: 0878332707
EAN: 9780878332700
UPC: 021692002707
Dewey Decimal #: 384.555
Paperback: 340 pages
SKU: 00-F5IR-0FH9
Condition: Very Good
Comments: No marks or highlights on text. Cover shows some shelf wear such as rubbing and scuffing
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
This book traces the first 24-hour sports network from its inception through its evolution into a slick media outlet reaching more than 60 million homes via more than 26,000 cable providers. ESPN has blazed a stunning path of achievement with its expansive coverage of broadcast sports--spinning off into ESPN2, ESPN Classic Sports, ESPNews, and ESPN Magazine. This paperback reveals the most recent developments at ESPN since the publication of the hardback, including the network's aggressive reactions to the book.
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Customer Reviews
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Good Look at How ESPN Changed the Sports Media
Rating  (4)
Date: 2008-03-09
In "ESPN: The Uncensored Story," author Michael Freeman documents how ESPN revolutionized sports television by introducing hard journalism to the airwaves. Freeman explains that ESPN became the first sports television outlet to acquire experienced print journalists who broke stories as they unfolded and aired critical stories, many of which led to changes that benefited both athletes and fans. In the process, Freeman sheds light on the network's own internal problems including sexual harassment, gambling, and drug abuse by staff. All in all, he offers a concise portrait of how ESPN changed the world of sports, and why so many fans admire the network today.
According to Freeman, the story of ESPN is really the story of John Walsh, the executive who began running the network like a major newspaper's newsroom. Once hired, Walsh immediately expanded ESPN's research department and added former print reporters to the lineups of specialty shows like "Baseball Tonight." For "SportsCenter," which is ESPN's flagship program covering news and highlights of all sports, Walsh moved the most important stories to the beginning of the show to lure viewers in more quickly. He moved commercials as far back as possible to prevent disruption of headlining stories. Walsh also began using more highlights from each contest to allow reporters to present more in-depth analysis.
The book offers many examples of reporters whose abilities to get to the heart of a story make the network's programming as indispensable to fans as newspapers and magazines. Walsh hired Charlie Steiner because Steiner is equally skilled at being an anchor and offering analysis. Upon being hired, Andrea Kremer revolutionized how the NFL draft is covered by breaking down the Chicago Bears' scouting process and offering predictions on who they would take. Chris Mortensen was hired because he had spent years developing contacts in each NFL team's front office, enabling him to learn about late-breaking developments before other reporters. The team of journalists that Walsh assembled offers original research and perspectives that are on par with most, if not all, printed publications.
In addition, Walsh created the show "Outside the Lines," the award-winning series of documentaries addressing off-the-field issues like performance-enhancing drugs, politics, gambling, sportsmanship, and gender equity. The program shines a spotlight on topics that don't ordinarily receive enough media attention. In many ways, Walsh is responsible not only for giving fans access to an unprecedented amount of information about sports, but for encouraging debate about important issues that impact sports.
Regarding ESPN's internal struggles, the breadth and depth of the sexual harassment problem is eye-opening. During the 1980s and early 1990s, the environment was as bad as the Naval and Air Force Academies, which is very disappointing. Freeman explains that the employee gambling problem was noteworthy because the staff has access to information that the public does not, including players hiding injuries, coaches changing game plans, etc. While one must keep in mind that the network is located in an isolated town, requires employees to work extremely long hours, and offers comparatively lower pay than many of its competitors, fans will find the scope of these problems disturbing to say the least.
Why only four stars? Freeman drops the ball on a number of important topics. Despite painstakingly covering sexism within the network itself, he doesn't examine how this problem contributes to lack of coverage of women's sports. The book doesn't address lack of coverage of small market teams, particularly in major league baseball. Freeman also glosses over the prospect of ESPN developing an unhealthy relationship with some of the professional leagues that it covers. He gives examples of anchors Chris Berman and Stuart Scott becoming too close to certain NFL personalities to remain objective, but this problem has become more pronounced in recent years. For example, ESPN Radio broadcasts are now distributed in many cities by radio stations owned by NFL team owners. If this trend continues, some fans fear a loss of the hard-hitting independent spirit that Walsh strived so hard to build.
Overall, Freeman's book is an excellent account of how ESPN changed sports journalism on television. Offering in-depth reporting at the level of newspapers and magazines is still a relatively new idea in sports television, and one that many fans now take for granted. Hearing how Walsh persuaded print journalists, who had misgivings about whether or not hard journalism would work on television, to give ESPN a chance makes the book a fascinating read. "ESPN: The Uncensored History" is highly recommended for any sports fan who wants to learn more about how the network became such a smash hit, and why it remains so successful today.
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Pretty good.
Rating (4)
Date: 2007-08-15
Very good book from a history perspective, providing ample information about the many factors that collided at the right place and time to allow the formation of ESPN. Almost too much information, in some respects. Once ESPN gets underway, though, the history aspect takes a backseat to the various (well-supported) allegations made against ESPN, largely misogyny and sexism. Though important in their own right, and in the context of ESPN's history, perhaps they were featured more prominently than they deserved in this book. Also, significant criticism was leveled by Keith Olbermann, the talented former anchor. While admittedly he provided numerous good quotes and strong counterarguments to ESPN policies and practices, he may have been featured too prominently in the book as well. It also is somewhat suspect featuring him so prominently, when he has such an obvious ax to grind with the organization, as well as a somewhat checkered past himself. All in all though, a very entertaining and informative read, especially for those of us with a strong interest in ESPN. After this, you probably won't ever look at the Worldwide Leader the same again (but at least you'll understand how they're capable of putting out godawful crap like "Who's Now").
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Sensationalist reporter bores readers
Rating  (1)
Date: 2006-01-22
5 out of 23 customers found this reveiw helpful
This writer seems to have the single purpose of pointing out the flaws of ESPN and leaves out all the great and interesting stories I wanted to read about. Again and again he writes about sexual harrasment at the network. Well, yes, that's bad stuff, and worthy of a chapter. But that is basically the subject of the whole book! How about some good stories about the anchors and play-by-play of how they got some of the biggest scoops, etc? This book is all about the internal bickering and problems. At the end he takes a couple more swipes at Berman and ESPN for a few mistakes they and their people made. He just wants to uncover dirt and obsess about it. Basically, it reads as if Keith Olbermann told him what to write and he wrote it verbatim. Had potential to be a great book, but instead it is just another loser reporter taking shots at all the weaknesses of a great American success story, leaving out all the wonderful parts. Yes, we've heard it all before: American businesses are all evil, right? If you think we are so bad, Freeman, move somewhere else.
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not bad, but too much sexual harassment angle
Rating  (2)
Date: 2003-11-01
3 out of 13 customers found this reveiw helpful
I think Freeman's book is a good history of how ESPN became the media giant that it is (I was born in 1982-- i cant imagine life without ESPN), but the book focused WAY too much on the sexual harassment angle, and it bogs down the story.
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Very disappointing...
Rating (1)
Date: 2002-10-09
17 out of 20 customers found this reveiw helpful
I'd read mixed reviews when Freeman's history first came out, so I wasn't anticipating a great book. Unfortunately, ...ESPN: The Uncensored History... fell fall short of even my rather tempered expectations.A large part of the problem is that ...Uncensored... can't decide whether it is a corporate retrospective or a tell-all expose. Freeman spends the first third of the book on a rather dull detailing of how ESPN was founded, the close calls it encountered in finding financing and trying to stay afloat, and the power struggle that ensued among the founding fathers. Only the principals and their family would find this portion even mildly interesting. As the book progresses, it switches into expose-mode, teasing the reader with hints of scandals behind the scenes. However, even though the author spends page after page dwelling haughtily on the personal foibles of ESPN personnel, particularly focusing on a culture which seemingly encouraged sexual harassment, Freeman mostly avoids naming names, with one very notable exception. Freeman then goes back and forth, between a dry rendering of ESPN's corporate evolution from a backwater independent cable channel to the crown jewel of Disney's purchase of ABC, and a bowdlerized tale of malfeasance among the employees of ESPN. Occasionally, Freeman tries to focus on some of the anchors which the so many viewers have seen so often, but even then, the portraits seem two-dimensional. Other than Mike Tirico, who is portrayed as a Jekyll-and-Hyde family man/sexual predator, and Keith Olbermann, cast as the tortured genius, the sketches of the on-air personalities seem rather hollow. All in all, disappointing, and not worth the time.
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