In A Discussion Of The Ups And Downs Of Espn’s Flagship Program, Sportscenter, Network Executive Norby Williamson Reveals That A Renewed Focus On Sports, Instead Of Politics, Has Led To A Resurgence In Growth.
ESPN’s Norby Williamson has been tasked with following a company-wide mandate from Disney CEO Bob Iger and recently appointed ESPN President Jimmy Pitaro, to steer SportsCenter away from the left-wing abyss into which former hosts Hill and Michael Smith sent the show plummeting in 2017. Williamson is working to pull SportsCenter back to sports and away from politics.
But, after five years of ESPN executives insisting that the cable sports network had not drifted too far into leftist political waters, in a new interview published at the Hartford Courant, Williamson reveals that the political nature of SportsCenter did significant damage to the flagship show’s ratings.
“I think we miscalculated a little bit,” Williamson told the paper. “The perception became that you could just roll a talent out there and it doesn’t matter what he or she is saying — that the content didn’t matter. I just never believed that.” – READ MORE