ESPN viewers criticized television personality Stephen A Smith for criticizing the sports media landscape that fans believe he played a major role in creating.
The former newspaper columnist is unhappy that “everyone has the freedom to have a voice” now that anyone can start a podcast or offer their opinion on social media.
Smith, who produced the new ESPN+ series Up for Debate, also appeared to take issue with athletes taking high-paying media jobs that previously would have been offered to traditional journalists.
“If you look at the whole stratosphere of podcasting, a lot of people think it’s not policed enough,” Smith said during a discussion on First Take last week.
‘Everyone has the freedom to have a voice, but you can say anything; You can almost get away with anything. The world wasn’t like that,’ she continued.
ESPN viewers criticized TV personality Stephen A Smith for criticizing the media landscape
In the early days of his career, he stated that not “everyone had the freedom to have a voice.”
Smith explained that in the early days of his career, sports reporters had to obtain their “license” to offer an opinion.
“In 2003, when I was named general sports columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, I was the 21st African American in the history of this nation to become a general sports columnist,” he said.
‘Now anyone can have an opinion. I came at a time when you had to earn your stripes and earn the right to simply express yourself.’
Elsewhere in the discussion, he referenced personalities who have become “incredibly popular” and mentioned former NFL player Shannon Sharpe, who is “making more money” as a commentator than as an athlete.
Smith was promoting the new ESPN+ series Up for Debate, which he produced.
Smith said he had to “earn his stripes” to achieve his level of professional success.
“The level of discourse that we’re seeing right now, a lot of times you don’t know where it’s coming from,” he said.
‘No one knows where the hell (the sports media industry) is going.’ Nobody is watching anything. You went out there, you have a voice, it resonates. What is this industry becoming? What has it transformed into?
Fans were quick to criticize the NBA pundit for apparent hypocrisy.
‘SAS is what’s wrong with sports media. Any idiot can shout his opinion,’ one person commented. the ESPN clip.
“The pot calls the kettle black,” a second person wrote, while another echoed the sentiment and wrote, “YOU ARE THE PROBLEM WITH THE SPORTS MEDIA.”
A fourth fan commented: ‘Stephen A is indicative of the problem with sports media. People just love to hear the sound of their own voice… and rarely say anything of value,” while another theorized, “The mainstream media is jealous that retired athletes and rappers are more entertaining talking about sports than themselves.