Ethical Issues in the World of Sports
After attending both a lecture from former ESPN anchor Jay Crawford and a panel headed by John Affleck about sports gambling, there a handful of ethical issues brought up by a variety of people. They all believe that ethical issues are prevalent in our world and no matter how hard you try, it’s impossible to avoid them.
One major takeaway from Jay Crawford’s lecture was the ethical issue of allowing your personal emotions control your decision-making. One of the extended talking points in the sports gambling panel was allowing money to influence how you act or perform.
Let’s talk about Jay Crawford first. Crawford told everyone in attendance about a story as he was still climbing through the ranks of the sports journalism world. He applied for a job and sent his resume in as an application. Once he got it returned, the boss had written, “TBNT” on his application. Crawford was confused as to what that meant so he called in and found out that it meant “thanks, but no thanks.” Crawford was obviously hurt by this as he felt it was disrespectful, but he moved on.
A couple years later he had secured a job, and landed a big interview with Lou Holtz who sang the Notre Dame alma mater. Crawford then received a request from a man to use his story for his outlet. The man was the same person who wrote “TBNT” on Crawford’s application. He highlighted that he wanted to tell the man to go to hell and to keep his story for himself.
Even though “emotionality may be an increasingly recognized and accepted part of journalistic practice,” (Chong) Crawford realized it isn’t a good thing to act emotionally and even though he had a distaste for this man, he allowed him to use the story. While Crawford made good decisions on his rise to the top, not everyone is like him.
During the gambling panel there was a lot of talk about how gambling has compromised the integrity of some sporting events. Multiple members of the panel all acknowledged that while it may not be too prevalent in professional sports, in amateur sports point-shaving and other rigging of games by players happens all too often.
One expert on the topic said, “Professional gamblers would become friendly with college players, often softening them up with a fifty- or hundred-dollar-bill.” (Figone) This relates to class as we’ve learned that as journalists you can not accept gifts that may influence your writing. These players should act ethically and not accept the money and play the game the right way.
One thing I learned while listening to Jay Crawford was that he had incredible strength to not express his emotions toward the man that had disrespected him. I’ll be sure to remember that story if I’m ever placed in a similar situation. Another thing I learned is just how important it is to not let any alternative motives influence your work. It is never okay to let any gifts or donations dictate how you act or perform in a professional setting when you have a job to do.
Bibliography
Chong, P. (2017). Valuing subjectivity in journalism: Bias, emotions, and self-interest as tools in arts reporting. doi:10.31235/osf.io/z6fht.
Figone, A. J. (2012). Cheating the Spread: Gamblers, Point Shavers, and Game Fixers in College Football and Basketball. University of Illinois Press.