Rest In Peace @JasonSobel Twitter Account?
by Ryan Ballengee on Aug 5, 2009 12:31 PM EDT
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PrintThe Worldwide Leader in Sports has laid down the hammer on its employees that have Twitter accounts. Basically, ESPN has ruined guys on Twitter like Chris Mortensen, Ric Bucher, and their golf editor Jason Sobel. Deadspin has the info on a memo sent to ESPN personnel about what they can and cannot say on Twitter, Facebook, etc.
Bottom line? They can't say anything really provocative. From the memo:
- Personal websites and blogs that contain sports content are not permitted.
- Prior to engaging in any form of social networking dealing with sports, you must receive permission from the supervisor as appointed by your department head.
- Avoid discussing internal policies or detailing how a story or feature was reported, written, edited or produced and discussing stories or features in progress, those that haven't been posted or produced, interviews you've conducted, or any future coverage plans.
- Steer clear of engaging in dialogue that defends your work against those who challenge it and do not engage in media criticism or disparage colleagues or competitors.
In other words, no cool info that would come up in reporting. No talking about breaking news yet to be officially reported. We can still get Jason's good info that he shares on Twitter about pairings, etc., but nothing really breaking or yet to be officially reported. Clearly, that's kinda disappointing.
UPDATE: I heard from Jason on Twitter and, basically, he can still talk golf. The message from ESPN is just to not be dumb when you Tweet.
JasonSobel Rumors of my tweeting demise have been greatly exaggerated. Let's talk golf. RT @waggleroomgolf Rest In Peace @JasonSobel Twitter Account?
Good news for everybody cause Jason is one of the best.
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The first point...
…from ESPN is really valid. Why pay a guy to make widgets, only to have him on his off time go and make widgets that draw people away from your widget shop?
The rest are a bit more draconian. All any company needs to do as far as having a social media policy is to say: “Use your best judgment”
Then when someone does something truly stupid, can ’em.
It won’t take long for everyone to feel out the boundaries after that. But most management and corporate legal departments don’t have the stomach for that sort of approach.
Well said, Ballz – the only question I have is whether these kinds of restrictions are in their employment contracts. It makes sense to ask them to not give the milk away for free, though it seems to cross the lines of free speech – but ESPN is paying these people well for what they do.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
I'm just impressed with myself...
becuase A) I beat you to a 1st comment (probably because you were commenting on our John Daly piece at the time heh) and B) you agreed with me w/out adding a “but you’re dead wrong on…” counterpoint. Though I’m sure you could find one if you wanted to hah.
Well, ESPN is missing the chance to let people get “behind the scenes” with their reporters and thus feel more involved. That in turn leads to a brand loyalty, IMO.
All in all, I think this is an overreaction to the big mess they created themselves with Erin Andrews. ESPN had no problem at all sexing her up, had no problems at all with the lathery “we lust love EA” fanboy sites and posts, had no problem at all with letting her get into the fringes of the gossip scene, all because it raised her and as an extension their programming’s profiles. Then it all went a little too far, and finally, WAY WAY WAY too far with the spy camera photos of her nude.
The so-called WWL is all about self-promotion and cross-promotion, as are any members of the ABCD family. So, at the end of the day, this is spin and image control and little else.
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