Firstly I’d like to make the ethics of journalism very clear. Journalism is guided by five values, honesty, independence/objectivity, fairness, diligence and accountability. Now keeping that in mind, let’s run through the core values of journalism and see if ESPN’s reporting really sticks true to them, or whether alternatives like PointsBet Review, a prominent Australian alternative, are worth a look. This time they’re looking at their annual top 100 NBA players, focusing on the top 10.
At the top we have Honesty, how honest is this article? This may seem like a small caveat, but this point is genuinely truthful: despite this article clearly stating the list was compiled with fan’s votes, many readers will certainly neglect to read the small print and trusting ESPN’s integrity as a major sports publication, will take the list as something that’s been compiled by a team of veterans and seasoned analysts. It’s not the case, and I’m willing to bet ESPN are well aware.
Second, independence and objectivity. The first point made shatters the objectivity of this article. But that aside, they use Real Plus MinusRating to further justify the player’s positioning. Needless to be said, it’s a fake statistics created by people pretending to do their jobs. I don’t know how the fact that the Houston Rockets had more points than their opponents when James Harden was in the game Golden State did when Steph Curry was in the game, somehow means that James Harden is a better basketball player than Steph Curry. It simply makes no sense. And let’s not even mention Player Efficiency Rating!
Thirdly, we have fairness as in impartiality or neutrality. Grilling Anthony Davis because he’s only made it past the first playoff round twice when Lebron missed the finals once in the same time frame? This is completely petty. Really scraping the bottom of the barrel there. Their situations are very different. Two different players in very different eras. Pretty unfair. Four, Diligence or pertinence. Read all of the above.
Fifth, we have accountability. Well are least the writer’s name is at the bottom of the article, so here they are. Being held accountable. Just don’t read these articles, you’d be better off watching the game and trying an alternative!