Minter: ESPN is gambling with its credibility
ESPN's sports betting partnerships and its rejection of investigative pitches on gambling raise concerns about journalistic independence and credibility.Summary
Nicole Noren, a 24-year ESPN veteran who produced award-winning investigations, told Columbia Journalism Review that the network repeatedly rejected her proposals to investigate gambling companies and addiction, a subject personal to her because her grandfather, father, and brother struggled with gambling addiction. She quit in 2024 after ESPN licensed its name to a sports betting app in 2023. ESPN now weaves DraftKings odds and advertising through its programming, website and app, and the NFL acquired a 10% stake in ESPN in January even as the league partners with DraftKings and other gambling businesses. Gannett, publisher of USA Today, has followed a similar path through a BetMGM partnership, integrating odds and "Bet Now" links into its sports coverage.
The business is enormous: Americans wagered $167 billion at legal sportsbooks in 2025, up 11%, with revenue of almost $17 billion, up 23%. One study found online sports betting reduces household savings, hitting frequent bettors and low-savings households hardest. That would be fertile ground for investigative journalism, but reporters may find themselves investigating an industry their employers profit from promoting — a conflict that endangers journalism's commitment to the public interest. ESPN faced similar questions in 2013 when it withdrew from a PBS Frontline collaboration on player concussions while paying over $1 billion a year to broadcast Monday Night Football.
ESPN said its editorial decisions are guided by "news judgment and journalistic integrity," without addressing Noren's rejected pitches, and its gambling correspondent David Purdum said on X that he has not experienced "neutered betting/gambling coverage." Noren said she respected Purdum's colleague Elizabeth Merrill's work but worried about "what is not being said" given the disconnect at ESPN's executive level between making money and caring about betting's human impact. Long-term, the arrangement could erode the trust journalism requires: fans need assurance that outlets encouraging them to bet will also investigate the companies taking their money and examine their own role in delivering customers to sportsbooks.
(Source：Santa Rosa Press Democrat)