Mavs revoke media credentials from ESPN's Tim MacMahon & Marc Stein

So we're just going to ignore that Cuban said it wasn't because of less coverage? i think Cuban knows he'll look like a hypocrite, if he's lying because of what he's said about Trump....is it possible this has more to do with them leaking info to other teams through their "sources" within the team or something like that? the CP comment is just bizarre...even he knows better than to laugh at journalists losing access.

 

When ESPN is paying a bil you better suck up to them. Hope the NBA comes down hard on him.

 

Couldnt have happened to a better TV organization... but yea...its expected by Mark.
It would be nice if more NBA teams did the same to ESPN...

 

Via KESN:

I asked him for his POV.

First explanation: It's a bigger NBA issue. We want more humans & less automation covering our games. There were too many games where our fans went to ESPN Dallas for game coverage, expecting to see something written by Tim MacMahon and there was basically nothing there. After our opening night, before our losing streak he points out, there was nothing except one first quarter highlight, a Memphis highlight & tweets from Tim about Memphis.

His POV is we're headed towards automation. He thinks ESPN is taking a big step towards automation & no longer having reporters at the games. He goes on to tell me there have been 24-60 games, I don't know what that example was, he says both teams playing, about 750 of them right now are done by automation & that number will grow.

He said this all started when I was pissed they didn't cover our opening night. I did a little research to find out & have been working on it since then. I want to read the last statement he made here. I've been discussing this for 2 weeks with the NBA. He's talked to the NBA, he's talked to Tim MacMahon, he laid it out to both(I mean ESPN), he said ESPN basically agrees with him but they said we can do whatever we want. He goes yes you can. This is his answer to it: he wants reporters covering his team. He doesn't want automation.

He does call it bot. I want to stop the slippery slope of bot coverage I believe is coming. We saw it in business reporting & we're seeing it in sports. I want to stop bots replacing reporters as much as possible. He then sent me a bunch of links where all minor league baseball is covered this way.

Three more sentences: The bigger picture is we want to support the publications that cover the Mavs full time so our fans know when they go to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Dallas Morning News or Mavs.com, they know they'll get full coverage of a game. When they went to ESPN Dallas, that was not the case. I knew I would get **** on this, that's fine but I believe I'm doing what's right for the Mavs, our fans, the NBA & sports journalism in general.

He says I'm not trying to control the message at all. He's really talking about bot reporting & sent me all kinds of links. ... He said it all started when I was upset opening night which led to my finding...

Cowlishaw: He was upset opening night, Tim MacMahon was in Memphis. Tim MacMahon is tight with Chandler Parsons. Cuban now doesn't like Chandler Parsons anymore & have this ongoing rivalry & that's what set him off.

He says there are 19 teams in the same situation, where they did not have a ESPN reporter opening night. If I don't do it now, it'll only get harder & harder the longer I wait. I went through all this with ESPN. They didn't deny it. They said it was their decision to make, which is true. For a Mavs & NBA perspective, if our biggest partner sends the message to our fans that a NBA game isn't worth covering, what message does it send if NBA fans go to ESPN.com looking for coverage of our last game & nothing's there, what message does that send & what does that do to fan interest?

I asked him, what does your stand, how will it help?

He says hopefully ESPN will respond. What will it accomplish? Hopefully it'll get fans saying they want their team games covered by the WWL & hopefully ESPN will respond.

Cuban is worried about the future & his team being ignored by ESPN.

 

Cuban is on point. Sounds like a lot of the criticism around these parts regarding Watkins' empty pieces

Still no need to be a fascist, lol

 

Lol what a hypocritical, transparent stance by Cuban. Nineteen other teams is the majority of the league.

If he really cared about the future of sports journalism he would have already made this point. He hasn't.

The only reason he's upset about this is because it's his team. Look at the Mavs home games, empty seats everywhere. Cuban is mad that his team is (rightfully in my opinion) finally receiving coverage commensurate with the level of talent and popularity the Mavs have at this point, which is in the bottom half of the league.

This isn't some noble fight to ensure that bots don't take over NBA reporting, it's quite the opposite - a naked power play to get ESPN to cover the mavs as if they're nationally relevant, as well as a way to get his name in the news.

Easy peezy for a master media manipulator like Cuban...

 

He's got everyone here in this thread talking about it, and previously I didn't know there even WAS an issue with automated reports. So I'd say his drawing attention to the issue is a good thing, overall, and it will be easy enough for him to reinstate the ESPN media credentials in a couple of days/weeks.

NY Daily News is covering it:

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/b...test-automated-game-reports-article-1.2864202

 

Looks like Cuban is sad that he's not getting a full-time ESPN reporter for his Mavs. ESPN's stance is understandable. Cuban's is salty. If he wants a full-time reporter, he can pay for one.

 

Cuban is like, I gotta SHARE an ESPN reporter with Utah, Minnesota and Memphis? And the Rockets get Calvin Watkins all to themselves?

 

Funny that he picks this season to make an issue about coverage. At 1-5, what more could the coverage be other than how badly they are playing? Is Cuban serious that he doesn't think the word is getting out? Or is it all a setup, whereby he wants them to report something bad so he can slam or sue them?

 

Cuban is always hypocritically transparent. It's just about what's good for the mavs

 

He might be delusional, a douche bag, a manipulator, a hypocrite and combination of all, but i still like that his passionate about his team, regardless how bad it is.

 

I disagree with both of you in this sense. Cuban is the Mavs (in Cuban's mind). The Mavs are Cuban. So what he appears to do for them, he is really doing for himself. At the end of the day, its all about Cuban.

 

Quoted for anyone still surprised at how Tuesday night turned out.

 

Is this better?

Ramona Shelburne is an ESPN shill that doesn't care about objectivity, facts or the ramifications of what she reports.

She seldom discusses sports outside of Los Angeles, even on her national radio show.

She goes out of her way to defend ESPN and everything surrounding it.

Better?


Ohhh and she also just so happens to be a fat slob with an overblown sense of importance.

 

You must link to Mavs.com in all of your game recaps!

Mark Cuban: "We are appreciative that ESPN will now commit to Mavs fans and all NBA fans with links to local and team provided coverage of every NBA game. I am very appreciative for all the support, help and consideration that John Skipper of ESPN and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver provided towards this agreement."

ESPN President John Skipper: "Mark and I both agree that content written by individuals on site is much better. To be clear, ESPN has never contemplated automated reporting for our NBA coverage. We remain committed to first-person reporting on the NBA. As we did last year, we plan to continue to be present at most Dallas Mavericks home games. When we are not in the building, our game recaps going forward will continue to utilize AP first-person reports. In all cases, in order for fans to be able to access more game coverage of their favorite team, we will now link to team sites, such as Mavs.com, in our game recaps."

________________

http://awfulannouncing.com/2016/espn-ends-credential-fight-with-mark-cuban-with-mavs-com-links.html
​

Why does ESPN have a responsibility to promote Cuban’s team’s site? And is he going to try to impose these conditions on other media outlets that cover his games? Cuban may not be thrilled that ESPN isn’t personally covering every game his irrelevant team plays, but his war over this was extremely petty and misguided, and it’s unclear why ESPN had to give him any concessions in order to get their credentials back. It’s also unclear what good this will actually do: if people wanted to read what Cuban’s organization had to say about itself on Mavs.com, wouldn’t they be starting there instead of at ESPN.com?

In the end, while this may be a smart deal for ESPN to get out of this without further problems, saying they’ll link to team sites going forward thanks to Cuban’s demand doesn’t make them look great. There’s no added value for readers from those links (if they’re general rather than specific; if they’re to specific content, they may be more useful), and throwing them in to settle an access dispute doesn’t necessarily seem like the greatest plan. It’s good to see this resolved, and at least it’s not resolved in a victory for Cuban’s pithy protest, but the resolution isn’t optimal.
​

 

Isnt what Cuban says about the Mav's automated content?