What Does the E in ESPN Stand For?

If you are a regular watcher of ESPN, you are probably familiar with the “This is SportsCenter” commercials. They usually portray ESPN employees and professional sports stars working together inside the ESPN HQ in Bristol.

They are often very clever and funny. Below is an example.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13IWM_QGIvw

I used to think these were harmless, entertaining commercials. But now I’m not so sure.

We learn in Media Ethics that journalists should aspire to be completely free of bias and to maintain independence from sources and subjects.

Now, I know these are commercials. But ESPN even pretending to put the people they cover in the same workplace with the anchors and reporters seems kind of strange. Or at least not like something a regular news journalism outlet would do.

Perhaps that’s why they are called the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network.