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ESPN explains why it dumped LeBron James story

Jul 29, 2010, 6:45 PM EDT

29 Comments

Once upon a time (this past Tuesday, to be exact), ESPN Los Angeles sports reporter Arash Markazi wrote a piece on a LeBron James party in Vegas. Markazi embedded himself at the party and revealed a lot of the crazy happenings, and submitted it to ESPN. Although never actually appearing as a link on its site, the story was on the ESPN server, and available to those who searched for LeBron James, Miami Heat, etc. Then, after only minutes of life, the story was pulled.
Two days later, ESPN tells us why.
Rob King, Vice President and Editor-in-Chief, ESPN Digital Media:

“ESPN.com will not be posting the story in any form. We looked into the situation thoroughly and found that Arash did not properly identify himself as a reporter or clearly state his intentions to write a story. As a result, we are not comfortable with the content, even in an edited version, because of the manner in which the story was reported. We’ve been discussing the situation with Arash and he completely understands. To be clear, the decisions to pull the prematurely published story and then not to run it were made completely by ESPN editorial staff without influence from any outside party.”

Markazi also makes a statement:

“I have been in conversations with ESPN.com’s editors and, upon their complete review, understand their decision not to run the story. It is important to note that I stand by the accuracy of the story in its entirety, but should have been clearer in representing my intent to write about the events I observed.”


As you can see, ESPN is particularly prickly about the notion that the story was spiked on orders from factions outside the organization. The WWL bristles at the notion that James or his minions had the story killed, and they should; it speaks directly to its legitimacy as a news organization. Like it or not, however, ESPN IS in bed with James, so that perception is always going to be there when incidents like this turn up. People are going to say, “ESPN doesn’t want to embarrass LeBron, or they might not get the rights to The Decision II when his Heat contract runs out.”
I still have questions, if it matters. How does a story get on your servers, but is not considered on your site? Just because there’s no link doesn’t mean you can totally disown it. That’s like the child the family doesn’t want to talk about. He’s not in the family photo in the den, but he’s back there in his room, smoking weed. When you look at the cached version of the James story, it still has the ESPN logo, etc. Some editor(s) went to a lot of trouble to write headlines, think of a catchy logo (Behind The Velvet Rope), write photo captions … and Markazi’s ESPN Los Angeles byline is right there. Doesn’t sound like a rogue operation to me.
Whatever King’s explanation, this still kind of stinks. The facts are these: An athlete who has a close business relationship with ESPN was involved in a fairly wild Vegas party, and the ESPN reporter who wrote about it got his story yanked. I have to think that if the subject was Michael Vick or Mike Tyson, ESPN would have run it.
And the party wasn’t even that crazy, by Vegas standards. The story ESPN should have pulled was Rick Reilly’s cliched clusterfluff on running with the bulls in Pamplona. I doubt Reilly introduced himself to the cattle. At least Markazi’s piece had some journalistic worth.
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ESPN abruptly dumps salacious LeBron James party story (UPDATED with ESPN response) [Out of Bounds]

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  1. Not a big fan - Jul 29, 2010 at 11:47 PM

    I think ESPN has to cover itself from a potential libel lawsuit. Lawyers would love to argue this was a private party (in public) and because the reporter did not properly say he was a reporter writing a piece, LeBron James and his posse didn’t know their shenanigans were going to go public. I liken it to a bachelor party. It’s a hush-hush affair and some guy walks up or is observing and makes a few notes, and you find out later he’s a PI working on behalf of your in-laws.
    LeBron’s judgment is questionable and he has a huge ego and I don’t think he’s a role model by any means. However he is a talented basketball player, and the media will place him in the spotlight and help promote his ego (kind of like it does for people like Ann Coulter) and make him rich in the process.
    STILL. He’s entitled to some privacy and chances to enjoy himself. (Would be nice if he behaved in a respectable fashion, but what do you expect.)

  2. POLO from Florida - Jul 30, 2010 at 12:08 AM

    What the heck you are talking about man . Did the Lebron Shoot somebody with a shotgun? Shoot! the man can do whatever he wants. First Lebron was great role model when he was playing for the Cavs,now no longer a Cav he is not a role model. Give F..ing break.Stop crying acting like a jalouse husband”not a big fan”

  3. Ken - Jul 30, 2010 at 12:37 AM

    ESPN has become Big Brother….a blog writer got canned for writing negatively about Bud Selig getting a statue…Ben Rothlesberger has a civil case that ESPN originally ordered a do not report (prior to his most recent one) and now a story about Lebron’s wild party suddenly gets yanked…hmmm….wasn’t it Nike on behalf of Lebron that confiscated the dunk on him video tape…what’s next?

  4. d stern - Jul 30, 2010 at 2:08 AM

    F LeBron….what a pu$$y I would hate to be raised during this sad time…..Michael Jordan, larry Bird, Isiah Thomas, Patrick (my draft card was bent) Ewing, Charles Barkley….THOSE WERE THE FREAKING TIMES!!!! All you have today is Tim Donaghy….and freaking weird ass man crushes…James, Bosh and Wade????? Gimme the real men….what a fake a$$ league!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! David Stern sucks these women’s peni

  5. beantown - Jul 30, 2010 at 7:18 AM

    o.m.g seriously. kobe has a marital issue and espn all but jams there reporters in his face and destroys what should be personal inthe biggest way, between him and his wife. but they dont feel comfortable with running a lebron party story. what the hell is espn doing over there? most would wonder, why worry about what he does at a party, but im wondering what did he do at this party to make one of this biggest sports reporting entitys on the planet pull their pants up and walk out of that bathroom. im so sick of these big cry babies getting their heads and egos stuck so far up the moons a$$ that reality truly escapes them. i truly hope the next time some one has dirt on lebron(the poser)james its so devistating that no one can deny that it happened because some twenty-something kid got it recorded on his unlocked iphone. as a closing note i completely agree with d stern. these players , for the most part, are hacks. with there spinning dunks and fancy lay-ups. old school players knew a point was a point and one takin from the paint stood as a slap in the face to the other team, not a james spinning, pumping, through the legs one handed, over your head dunk. thats selfish, not team work. come on people the guy is called the king and doesnt even have a ring. if he truly wanted a ring he would have went to orlando or boston. but that would have ment he would have to learn how to be a average guy. and espn showed us with their (lebron paid) attitude is is not.

  6. beantown - Jul 30, 2010 at 7:20 AM

    o.m.g seriously. kobe has a marital issue and espn all but jams there reporters in his face and destroys what should be personal inthe biggest way, between him and his wife. but they dont feel comfortable with running a lebron party story. what the hell is espn doing over there? most would wonder, why worry about what he does at a party, but im wondering what did he do at this party to make one of this biggest sports reporting entitys on the planet pull their pants up and walk out of that bathroom. im so sick of these big cry babies getting their heads and egos stuck so far up the moons a$$ that reality truly escapes them. i truly hope the next time some one has dirt on lebron(the poser)james its so devistating that no one can deny that it happened because some twenty-something kid got it recorded on his unlocked iphone. as a closing note i completely agree with d stern. these players , for the most part, are hacks. with there spinning dunks and fancy lay-ups. old school players knew a point was a point and one takin from the paint stood as a slap in the face to the other team, not a james spinning, pumping, through the legs one handed, over your head dunk. thats selfish, not team work. come on people the guy is called the king and doesnt even have a ring. if he truly wanted a ring he would have went to orlando or boston. but that would have ment he would have to learn how to be a average guy. and espn showed us with their (lebron paid) attitude is is not.

  7. smokehouse - Jul 30, 2010 at 7:46 AM

    (kind of like it does for people like Ann Coulter) What the hell does that mean?

  8. Kingsley Ikolo - Jul 30, 2010 at 7:47 AM

    leave the man alone

  9. Dave - Jul 30, 2010 at 7:48 AM

    ESPN:
    Ego-driven
    Sporststars
    Pay off
    Newscasters

  10. Dave - Jul 30, 2010 at 7:50 AM

    ESPN
    Ego-driven
    Sportstar
    Pay off
    Newsreporters

  11. LePain - Jul 30, 2010 at 8:51 AM

    Look at the gag order put on Dan Gilbert by David Stern. Imagine what we are missing because of that $100,000 fine levied after his little rant.
    I was looking forward to so much more from Gilbert, Mike Brown and Danny Ferry but the fine shut Gilbert up, Brown is still without a job so he isn’t going to talk and Ferry is one of the better professionals in the NBA and probably wouldn’t say anything negative. This leaves us to wait for the book to come out some time down the road when LePrimaDonna is all washed up.
    The Cavaliers have one title they can do without, biggest ass kissing organization in the league. They coddled this kid like an infant baby. Anything he wanted he got and the negative press was for a speeding ticket in his seven years in Cleveland. I was waiting for when he would walk across Lake Erie to Toronto for charity. He can walk on water, right?
    There is only one person in Cleveland that had the balls to say anything negative about this kid. Mike Trivasanno on WTAM 1100— which is the station that carries the Cavs games— had nothing but negative comments ever since LeBoob wore the NY hat to the Indians playoff game and then fraternized with the Dallas Cowboys at a Browns home game. We found out after LeTurd was gone that the Cavs wanted Triv fired from the station. The problem is, Triv has the number one afternoon drive show in Cleveland and has for quite a few years. He is the stations cash cow so firing him wasn’t an option. You can go to their website and type in Keyword Triv to see what he had to say in the past. He has seen this kid in person for charity functions and has a lot more to say about his public persona than I have time to write here.
    The city of Cleveland, the Cavaliers, ESPN, TNT, NBC….etc. created this monster and (excluding Cleveland and the Cavs) they don’t want this monster to be seen in a bad light. They made him The Chosen One, King James, Nike had us all pegged as Witnesses. He has never been criticized for having children out of wedlock. His excessive speeding violation was swept under the rug. He’s squeaky clean to the point that they are afraid to report on something that a lot of men do without much fanfare, party in Vegas.
    This kid is a great regular season basketball player and ESPN’s focus should be on the basketball player, after all, they are a sports network. Reps from Nike, Vitamin Water and all the other sponsors, they are the ones that need to keep a lid on the negative but most of all the image that is being ruined more than anything…….Vegas.
    You don’t run a multi-million dollar advertising campaign stating “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” and then have some reporter from ESPN ruin that image.

  12. Regis - Jul 30, 2010 at 9:04 AM

    You clearly do not understand the editorial process, nor the definition of libel.

  13. Bucknut - Jul 30, 2010 at 9:17 AM

    POLO from Florida – why don’t you get off of Not a big fan’s back and your mouth off of LaQuitter’s junk. LeTurd is no longer considered a role model because of all the crap that has come out sine that abortion of a propgram called “The Decision”. It’s not that he left Cleveland, it’s because of who he really is.

  14. Chan - Jul 30, 2010 at 9:30 AM

    Libel, anything that is defamatory or that maliciously or damagingly misrepresents. The key is maliciously misrepresents. Nothing in the ESPN article reached that point and therefore is not libel.

  15. willmose - Jul 30, 2010 at 9:31 AM

    Tell me again why ESPN thinks it is in the news business and not the entertainment business. Just another example of ESPN news chops.

  16. Tony - Jul 30, 2010 at 10:15 AM

    Is this clown Rick Chandler from Cleveland? A lot of people have wild party s in Vegas,that’s why they go there! Did he kill or injure anyone? Are you so hard up for a story,all you do is follow LeBron around to see if he farts? You are pathetic!

  17. Joker34 - Jul 30, 2010 at 10:33 AM

    Believe it or not Tony, this story is not about LeBron specifically. This story is about ESPN and them trying to cover up the pulling of a story about LeBron. I think that Rick Chandler has done an excellent job covering this issue, although I do think that the reference to Rick Reilly was again unneccessary. This is an ongoing issue that I think needs to be looked into and so far Chandler is the only one willing to dig for that information that I have seen. Kudos Mr. Chandler. I applaud your efforts. This is something that needs to be placed out in the open for the public to see.

  18. You All Are Sad - Jul 30, 2010 at 10:45 AM

    It’s so ridiculous that you people continue to comment about Lebron James. He is a basketball player and that’s it, take responsibility for your own kids and be a roll model for them. Geez. It was his right to stay in Cleveland or go to another team, that’s what “FREE AGENCY” is and why you all are sitting in front of a computer making $10/hr and wishing you were in his shoes, Lebron is out there enjoying his life and all those MILLIONS you don’t have. I’m a woman and I’m sure you all are men, so grow so balls and stop hating. Who cares what he was doing in Vegas, he don’t us anything, that’s his life and his privacy. It’s just a sport(entertainment), you really shouldn’t get your blood pressure up over this. This young man deserves a championship just like the rest of them, had he stayed in Cleveland with no help he would of never won, he gave them 7 years what do you want him to do give his blood as well? Jordan had Pippen, Magic had Kareem and so on. So he deserves some help as well and I commend him for making the decision he dead. I hope the HEAT kick some A** this season!

  19. You All Are Sad - Jul 30, 2010 at 10:53 AM

    You would hate to be raised in this sad time? Sooo what your parents raised you and taught you values based on what athletes did? Wow! You have to be kidding me, this is a sport. These athletes are on tv, I have a young son and I don’t have him tuned on to a basketball game every night or ESPN to look up to any of these guys. It’s pathetic how people think.

  20. You All are Sad - Jul 30, 2010 at 10:59 AM

    Lebron isn’t a roll model since everything came out about his decision? Uhh what came out? LMAO! The decision to go to the HEAT. And who is he really a 20 something making a ton of money that I’m sure you wish you had because you’re still counting pennies to put gas in your tank and you’re judging that young man. You’ve never met him just watch him shoot and dunk a ball and you talk about this mans character. He hasn’t killed anyone, he’s not a pedophile, dude plays basketball for a living. LOL! A little advice for you, STOP HATING and watch them HEAT roll this season. Hahaha…

  21. BC - Jul 30, 2010 at 11:01 AM

    ESPN/ABC has to COVER this guy. Think they’d get any sound bites from Bron Bron if they ran a story like this? They’re covering their own a$$ by pulling the story and issuing the statement. They’re not dumb, they don’t dare bite the hand that feeds them.
    Same reason no one really ran with the Michael Jordan gambling or womanizing stories – total suicide if you PO the guy.

  22. doyourhomework,America - Jul 30, 2010 at 12:13 PM

    damn- hate to meet your in-laws!

  23. Joseph - Jul 30, 2010 at 12:51 PM

    LeBron can be considered a role model. Unfortunately not one to be emulated. I’m of the school the media, co-operate America, Nike and ESPN have created a monster,one now out of control. James has had limited tutelage. He went from high school, where he was king, to the NBA where he was crowned. His essence is promoted for the good of business entities who’s sole intention is the use his image to make money. He now feels entitled and is making decisions that could be damaging to that image. Damage control is becoming more and more a effort. Someone has to cause him to understand his entourage is damaging. Much has been invested in LeBron and those investors have much to lose if he continues on the path he now traverses. I place some onus at his feet but too feel media, co-operate America, Nike, ESPN and other investors are culprit. I’ll add what some say, he’s young and has time to adjust. Let’s hope he does.

  24. hmm - Jul 30, 2010 at 2:54 PM

    I fail to see how libel would be an issue, since libel involves the dissemination of damaging and false info. There is no denial that James and his camp did the things in the article, so I fail to see how libel is an issue. They squashed it because it was damaging to Lebron, the NBA, and they were protecting their financial interests. After the debacle of the decision, it should be clear to all and sundry that ESPN has ceased being a credible sports news organization.

  25. Wow Really??? - Jul 30, 2010 at 3:02 PM

    Damn, I like seeing naked women, and I’m broke, if I had Bron’s money I’d go CRAZY in Vegas. And if that makes me a degenerate then so be it. But I’m also a grown ass man who can do what I want. The guy is an adult, so he had a party wit topless waitresses and lots of booze, big deal. I think alot of people are way too sensitive and thats the reason the story had to be pulled because apparently Lebron isn’t allowed to enjoy titties and ass and a lil bit of alcohol. He’s a star so his decisions are put out there for everyone to see. I know a few average people who wouldn’t want their business put out in a public forum. Give the guy a break. Side note though, did anyone else think it was funny when that guy got thrown out the Indians game lol???

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