Mashable
A University of Pennsylvania student discovered that one of the topics ESPN fans could comment on was “Commentator – dislike female commentators.” After she tweeted a screenshot to a couple of female anchors for SportsCenter and some blogs picked it up, ESPN removed the option from its website. Mashable’s Sam Laird recounts ESPN’s explanation:
[Megan] Soisson said that later on Wednesday, an ESPN vice president wrote her a longer personal apology in which he explained that the comment field for complaints about female reporters was a a relic from some 10 years ago, when the the network first began assigning female play-by-play announcers to cover college football games and received criticism from some fans.
Related: Kelly McBride sizes up espnW and concludes, “after talking to people inside ESPN, it’s clear that the network’s relationship with women is complex and fraught with peril.” (ESPN Poynter Review Project) | FoxSports.com overtakes ESPN.com for second-most popular U.S. sports site (The Wrap)
