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ESPN's John Walsh Holds First Of Regular Chats With Network's Editorial Decision Makers

By Marcus Vanderberg 

It’s already in progress, but ESPN.com is hosting a chat with John Walsh, executive vice president and executive editor of ESPN.

According to the chat description,this is the first of regular ESPN.com chats with the editorial decision-makers at the network, and coincides with the introduction of formalized Editorial Guidelines for Standards and Practices at ESPN.

The chatters, who have have likely been chomping at the bit to communicate directly with ESPN management, aren’t shying away from Walsh.

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Timothy Jones (Chicago, IL)

While I appreciate the unique knowledge that a former professional athlete can bring to a discussion, I feel ESPN has gone a little overboard in this respect. Is there an equal desire/commitment to nurturing true journalists?

John Walsh

(1:36 PM)
In a multi-platform universe, we have many diverse goals. We factor into our hiring achieving all of those goals, to the best of our ability. We have a large mass of people who are gathering news, writing features, entertaining with humor and insightful essays and opinions, along with former coaches coaches, GMs, scouts and athletes who tell us about strategies, X and O analysis and the mindsets of people who play and coach the games. The mixture is a tricky one to balance, but we are always conscious that we must serve all of these goals in order to maximize our audience and our own reputation.
Scott Larson (Seattle)

Can you state officially for the record that ESPN has a East Coast bias? The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem.

John Walsh

(1:38 PM)

I can state officially that the Yankees-Red Sox games rate higher in the state of California than when two California teams play each other. (Unofficially, I spent a portion of my alleged adult life in the state of California and have many leanings toward some West Coast teams and players).

Kyle (NY)

Any concerns about the upcoming ESPN book?

John Walsh

(1:56 PM)
Sometime this spring there will be an independent book about the history of ESPN. The authors have spent 2 years interviewing more than 500 people, and they are also the authors of the book “Live from New York” published years ago on the 25th anniversary of Saturday Night Live (that book had rave reviews, a large circulation and almost all of the people interviewed thought the history was as accurate and fair as possible). So we’re optimistic that this book will achieve those same goals.

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