Has Fox Sports gone woke? Is ESPN too conservative?
The balance of political power in the United States shifted Tuesday, when Donald Trump was elected president and Republicans flipped the Senate.
A far less consequential political change might be afoot — in sports media.
In a new appearance on The Varsity podcast with John Ourand, sports media reporter Ben Strauss of the Washington Post took the recent political temperatures at Fox Sports and ESPN. While less scientific than an actual thermometer, Strauss came back with an interesting reading.
Fox Sports appears to be the more left-leaning of the two most prominent sports media outlets on television, while ESPN seems to have shifted right, Strauss said.
The small-sample conclusion was based on a handful of anecdotal observations involving the two networks' most prominent personalities:
• Pat McAfee (whose eponymous show is simulcast on ESPN's platforms) has in the recent past spoken out about controversial Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, and platformed Aaron Rodgers' thoughts on vaccinations.
• Stephen A. Smith, ESPN's highest-paid on-air talent, "is a regular on Sean Hannity's show," Strauss said, "and I guess he espouses this very, very aggressive centrism, where if he says one thing about Republicans he'll say something else about Democrats he doesn't like. It's a very much scaled algorithmic centrism, almost, that he delivers."
Stephen A. Smith to Hannity: "I know you're not talking about someone being lucid and cogent and enunciating their thoughts with clarity and you're bragging about Donald Trump. We can't be watching the same stuff if that's what you're doing!" pic.twitter.com/PY0MfjJTs5
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 25, 2024
• Colin Cowherd "has spent the summer undressing Donald Trump as this charlatan, and terrible leader, and he did it a few times."
• Fox Sport's Nick Wright expressed strong feelings about gun violence on-air (without calling for specific legislation) after gunfire interrupted the Chiefs' Super Bowl parade earlier this year.
The sweeping generalizations about the two networks' political stances are just that. It's impossible to comment on the networks' viewpoints writ large, or even the political philosophies of the individuals involved, based on a tiny sample of comments.
That hasn't stopped critics from calling ESPN "woke" in the past. Nor would anyone mistake Smith for a conservative, or confusecalling for gun control a "left-leaning" policy stance. Maybe it's notable that Fox Sports is comfortable allowing for opinions that contrast with their conservative infotainment cousins. Or maybe it's just refreshing.
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