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Leave Chris Berman Alone!!!

Tuesday, February 26, 2008 , Posted by Christopher Byrne at 7:42 PM, under ,

Athens, GA (Feb 26, 2008) - When I was in San Antonio a couple of weeks back, I had dinner with an account executive I work with quite a bit. We were talking about this site and he told me he went to grade school with Chris Berman. I asked him if he had seen the now infamous Chris Berman videos that have been making the rounds. "I don't watch TV and don't come across things like that online," he said.

And that is really how I wish it was for all of the people running sports blogs out there that felt compelled to post these videos or comment on them. People felt it was their duty to post them because they have heard that Berman is difficult to work with or is a . The bottom line is that I have no first hand knowledge of this as I have never worked for or with him, and have never encountered him. If people have, and have a negative opinion about how he is in the workplace, then they are entitled to their opinion. Otherwise, people have no right to offer their opinions just because they do not like his broadcasting style.

I have never been a big fan of his, and that is the only opinion I have on him. What I saw in those videos is so mild and g-rated compared to real-life experiences I (and I am sure others) have had with television and radio talent. Not to excuse bad behavior, but it is A PRESSURE FILLED BUSINESS. Things happen. Tempers rise.

Did AMPEX2000 have the right to take those tapes and post them? I do not know the answer to that from a legal perspective. Ethically and morally, I would argue that he did not. It is one thing for the paparazzi to stalk people like Spears, Hilton and Princess Diana in public. It is quite another to take workplace tapes that are the property of a network and put them on YouTube eight years after the fact, and totally out of context.

There is a reason that you will not find the link to a prominent sports blog on this site. The owner of that site probably does not care because he gets enough traffic and people are engrossed by all the photos of him with his babes. The problem is that he deals in gossip and innuendo. If that is how he wants to present his site and himself, power to him. But, and this is a big but, he (and other sites/blogs) should think long and hard when choosing to post content like the Berman videos. If he chooses to file a defamation lawsuit, he may not win. But he and his lawyers could make their lives miserable.

People scream that their privacy is being eroded and they have no control. If they want to scream like this (and I do not know if any of the offending bloggers have this opinion), then they need to step up and exercise some judgment about what they choose to post.

Leave Chris Berman alone!!!

Currently have 1 comments:

  1. Chuck says:

    "Ethically and morally, I would argue that he did not. It is one thing for the paparazzi to stalk people like Spears, Hilton and Princess Diana in public. It is quite another to take workplace tapes that are the property of a network and put them on YouTube eight years after the fact, and totally out of context."

    On the one hand, I agree. That said, the paparazzi is a much, much worse phenomenon than the posting of a single embarrassing clip like this.

    Stalking people who are in rehab does not compare to posting a video of how someone chose to act in front of many coworkers while the camera is running. Furthermore, he was clearly so indignant this situation as to want to draw everyone on set's attention to the matter. Mission accomplished and then some.

    ESPN and Berman are a part of the paparazzi. Same thing with the Oklahoma State reporter who sparred with Gundy. The press seems to get uncomfortable when the tables are turned.

    By the way, I'm generally more with you than against you. I would just rather we raise the bar across the board and not just for media members.

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