Continuing his trend of ignoring facts he doesn’t like so he can push an extreme liberal narrative, AwfulAnnouncing.com’s Andrew Bucholtz is now making pronouncements for which he presents no solid proof, while standing up for left-wing ESPN to help them deny the factual evidence that the network is losing fans because it is too liberal.
In his June 7 op-ed, Bucholtz is also seen attacking Jason Whitlock and claiming his “new role” is to be Fox Sports 1’s “ambassador to conservatives.”
After spending a paragraph denigrating Whitlock’s body of work, Bucholtz goes on to complain that, “Fox has seemingly found a use for Whitlock, tabbing him as an FS1 brand ambassador to conservative viewers.”
What does Bucholtz present as “proof” for this wild supposition? He notes that Whitlock has appeared on Fox News and other Murdoch-owned properties.
That’s it? That’s all ya got, Mr. Bucholtz? Apparently, it didn’t occur to him that Whitlock works for Murdoch’s network. It forces us to wonder why should it be such a big shock that Whitlock might appear on several of Murdoch’s networks since he works for Murdoch?
After all, don’t people who work at MSNBC also appear on NBC and vice versa?
As for Bucholtz’s other blather on Whitlock, the Awful writer seems to claim that Whitlock has suddenly sold out to become a conservative. While it is true that Whitlock sometimes has ideas that converge nicely with a conservative political viewpoint, it is also true that he is generally of a center-left point of view, and he always has been. To say he has somehow changed of late is absurd.
Of course, there’s the other point that even if Whitlock’s “new role” is to be the “ambassador to conservatives” to grab up those center-right sports fans who have abandoned ESPN, what exactly is wrong with that? Isn’t that just good business?
What likely rankles Bucholtz is that conservatives might just find another outlet for their sports-o-tainment besides his beloved, liberal ESPN.
Bucholtz needs to attack Whitlock because he is desperate for a nemesis to do his rear-end-covering for ESPN, which in this case is egregious. He goes on for paragraph after paragraph claiming that conservatives and Whitlock attack ESPN as too liberal “without proof.”
At one point he even accuses Whitlock of “advancing the ‘ESPN’s dying because they’ve become so liberal’ narrative without any proof.”
Bucholtz has stuck his fingers in his ears while yelling, “la,la,la,la” at the top of his lungs to ward off any of that proof. He must be doing so, because at least three recent surveys by two different groups found that center-right viewers have abandoned ESPN in droves.
Last month, three surveys came out showing that ESPN really is losing fans. A YouGov poll emerged showing that Republicans had begun turning away from ESPN, but since it was a mere opinion poll, not hard data, many liberals dismissed it
A week later a separate survey of ESPN viewers in the Cincinnati, Ohio, market by a TV research group named Deep Root, found that viewers who call themselves Republicans and conservatives had abandoned ESPN in significant numbers.
Deep Root made news again in reply to claims that its Cincinnati survey might not be representative of the country as a whole. In its second report, Deep Root reviewed data in 43 major TV markets across the nation and found that its Cincinnati results were reflected everywhere. According to Deep Root, ESPN has lost millions of viewers who consider themselves center right. Why would these viewers have quit watching the network if they weren’t sick and tired of the constant liberal bias?
Unfortunately, Bucholtz doesn’t just refuse to accept these surveys, he completely ignores them to claim there is “no proof” that ESPN is losing customers over its liberal bias.
Sorry, Mr. Bucholtz, but while the world of sports media just might need an “ambassador to conservatives,” it doesn’t need yet another sold out liberal in sports media. That kind is a dime a dozen.
With the hate Bucholtz obviously has for conservatives, one has to wonder why he’d want conservative sports fans watching his ESPN or visiting his website in the first place. Furthermore, why should he care, he’s getting rid of them?
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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