Tagged: ‘Mark Fainaru-W…’

posted by on January 10, 2013 4:44 PM

Updated list of ESPN’s commitment to journalism

EDITOR’S NOTE: As the calendar turns to a new year, Front Row wanted to update an important post we orginally shared in April of 2012. (UPDATED: March 5, 2013) UPDATED: May 2, 2013

Since that posting, ESPN’s commitment to journalism has continued to display itself across all platforms. Below is an updated list including some of the more recent examples added to what was originally published in April, 2012.

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Outside The Lines:
• Several research groups competed to study Junior Seau’s brain after he died. Did the NFL help pick the winner? – Steve Fainaru and Mark Fainaru-Wada

• First public airings of now-former Rutgers coach Mike Rice’s practice tapes. – Don Van Natta Jr. and John Barr

• NCAA President mark Emmert faces scrutiny over handling of Miami case – Tom Farrey

• A in-depth look at how Roger Goodell made the NFL bigger, richer, more powerful — and now more divided — than ever before. — Don Van Natta Jr.

• Behind the scenes of Auburn’s 2010 championship season which uncovered its hidden problem with synthetic marijuana, and the downfall of 4 players charged with armed robbery. – Shaun Assael

• As part of the ongoing collaboration with PBS’s Frontline, OTL looks at the Boston University study on Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) and how the research is being viewed by the medical community. — Steve Fainaru and Mark Fainaru-Wada

• Doctors discover Junior Seau’s brain had CTE – Steve Fainaru, Mark Fainaru-Wada and ABC’s Jim Avila

• Youth coaches face gambling charges (a follow-up to earlier reporting on gambling on youth sports in Florida) — Paula Lavigne

• NFL Fan Violence — John Barr

• Bounties in Pop Warner — Tom Farrey

• “Football at a Crossroads” series

• The Dallas Cowboys’ dip into the apparel business comes with allegations of sweatshop labor. — Mark Fainaru-Wada and Justine Gubar

• Mike Webster’s brain injury history. — Mark Fainaru-Wada

• Fight on State: In wake of scandal, power struggle spread from Penn State campus to state capital. — Don Van Natta

• UFC Fighter Pay: An investigation into fighter pay in the popular Ultimate Fighting Championship — John Barr

• Bobby Dodd: An investigation of the CEO and president of AAU Basketball, accused of molesting two former players from his youth basketball team in Memphis — Tom Farrey

• Cleve Bryant was fired for harassment after a university investigation determined he made repeated unwanted sexual advances toward a female administrative assistant over a two-year period. – Steve Delsohn

• Bernie Fine: ESPN broke the story that two former Syracuse ball boys were accusing assistant coach Bernie Fine of molesting them. — Mark Schwarz

• The money that moves college sports, in 2010, looked at several hot-button issues facing the NCAA. The topics included Rutgers and the athletic arms race; the role of TV money in college sports; controversy over the use of an athlete’s likeness; renewable scholarships; endowed scholarships and more. — Paula Lavigne

ESPN.com: continue reading…

Filed in: Behind The Scenes, Journalism

posted by on December 13, 2012 9:21 AM

Outside the Lines and FRONTLINE launch #ConcussionWatch website

Today’s launch of the Concussion Watch website offers fans an interactive tool to monitor concussions.

Continuing with a collaboration announced last month, ESPN’s Outside the Lines and PBS’ FRONTLINE today launched an interactive website to track NFL concussions.

“Concussion Watch” is a public website and database that will document every confirmed concussion identified by this season’s NFL injury reports.

In addition to the site’s debut, both Frontline.org and ESPN.com feature a story by OTL’s Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru that examines the NFL injury reports and looks at how head injuries are being handled by the NFL and its clubs.

From the story:

“Three years after Congress pressured the NFL to overhaul its concussion program, the league effort remains marked by inconsistencies in how it tracks, manages and even describes serious head injuries, making it difficult to assess the league’s progress on the issue, an analysis by ESPN’s Outside the Lines and PBS FRONTLINE shows.

“The analysis found that NFL officials this season have released conflicting data about head injuries, and medical personnel have sent some injured players back into games — possibly in violation of new league guidelines. . .”

continue reading…

Filed in: Announcements

posted by on November 17, 2012 10:00 AM

ICYMI: The week on Front Row

ESPN’s Trey Wingo (Joe Faraoni / ESPN Images)

Last Friday’s telecast of NFL Kickoff has generated some buzz on the internet for reasons beyond its usual astute and informative analysis and information.

Fans of the movie, Princess Bride, picked up on a recurring theme throughout the show.

“Tedy (Bruschi), Mark (Schlereth) and I really like the movie,” said host Trey Wingo. “We used a few lines on previous NFL Live shows.

“On NFL Kickoff last Friday, it sort of started and just kept going,” he said. “At some point it becomes a challenge to see if you can keep it going. . . without forcing it. There was no agenda, no pre-planning, no forethought. We simply did it to amuse ourselves. It’s fun that people who are fans of the movie picked up on it, but we never did it to attract attention to ourselves.”

ICYMI: Highlights from the past week on Front Row

• NFL analyst and ESPN Radio host Mark Schlereth has a wide range of interests beyond football and sports. One of his recent projects was a role in the upcoming movie Red Dawn which arrives in theaters Wednesday, Nov. 21. We have a video of his performance and he talked with us about his experience.

• This past weekend College GameDay visited the USS San Diego, stationed at San Diego Naval Base, in support of Veterans Day. An ESPN Images photographer captured some great behind-the-scenes shots of the crew as well as a time lapse video of the set up for GameDay on the ship.

• Front Row spoke with Dick Shafter, MNF’s timeout producer. You may have seen Schafter on the sidelines wearing bright orange sleeves which he uses to signal the referees when commercial breaks are requested. Read more about his job on the sidelines here.

• Yesterday’s Outside the Lines feature marked the start of a collaboration between OTL and PBS’s FRONTLINE. Front Row spoke with brothers, Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru, who are investigating the ongoing story of concussions in the National Football League.

Row of Four
Our favorites from across ESPN over the past week continue reading…

Filed in: ICYMI Highlights, Week In Review

posted by on November 16, 2012 10:00 AM

Front & Center: Outside the Lines and FRONTLINE partner to investigate NFL concussions

Click HERE to listen or visit iTunes to download the podcast and be sure to SUBSCRIBE to the Front & Center podcast. Also, make sure to check out the all new ESPN Radio app, available for the iPad.

This afternoon’s Outside the Lines (ESPN, 3 p.m. ET) hosted by Bob Ley represents the start of a collaboration between two of journalism’s most recognizable and respected brands.

In a piece reported by brothers, Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru, OTL and PBS’s FRONTLINE launch a joint project to investigate the ongoing story of concussions in the National Football League. (ESPN.com has posted accompanying stories from the duo here and from ESPN’s Senior Writer and Legal Analyst Lester Munson here.)

The year-long effort will examine the latest research on brain injuries and football, the impact on players and the NFL’s effort to deal with a crisis that threatens the long-term health and popularity of the sport.

“ESPN is a terrific partner for this investigation,” said FRONTLINE Deputy Executive Producer Raney Aronson. “They bring unmatched knowledge and experience examining the defining questions in American sports.”

Today’s OTL segment focuses on late Hall of Famer, Mike Webster, the former Pittsburgh Steelers center who was the first NFL player officially diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy — or “football brain disease.”

For years, the NFL repeatedly denied any link between head injuries in football and brain damage in players. But while its medical experts issued the denials, the NFL disability and pension board acknowledged that at least three players, including Webster, had cognitive impairment as a result of head injuries suffered in football and awarded the players benefits based on its findings. continue reading…

Filed in: Front & Center, Podcast

posted by on January 6, 2012 1:00 PM

Front & Center: Mark Fainaru-Wada

Outside the Lines‘ Mark Fainaru-Wada joined the Front & Center podcast in advance of his Sunday investigative piece on the Dallas Cowboys’ apparel business (OTL, 10:00 a.m. ET ESPN 2).

Mark Fainaru-Wada

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN.

As the OTL piece depicts, Cowboys merchandise is produced all over the world, in some cases in factories that are considered sweatshops.

Fainaru-Wada, his producer Justine Gubar and a crew traveled to Cambodia to visit two of those factories and talk to workers — who make 29 cents per hour — about their working and living conditions.

OTL also sat down with the COO of Cowboys Merchandising Bill Priakos, who admits these are issues that the organization must be more cognizant of.

The 25-minute podcast hosted by David Scott includes discussion of: Fainaru-Wada’s extraordinary career and that of his Pulitzer prize-winning brother Steve (at approx. 1:00 – 4:00); the difficult art of TV production (6:00); background on the reporting of the Cowboys story (7:00); the bleak conditions Cambodian workers live in (13:00); his hopes for affecting change (19:00) and ESPN’s unyielding commitment to journalism (21:00).

Filed in: Front & Center, Podcast