*Stephen A. Smith says he has personally seen professional athletes attempt to get a journalist fired for asking tough questions, and that it happens to Black beat writers more than non-Black writers.
Appearing on “Podcast P with Paul George,” the host of ESPN’s “First Take” was addressing George’s comment about podcasts leveling the playing field when it comes to putting out information that would not get filtered or chopped into out-of-context click bait by reporters. Smith agreed with George, but offered a flip side. Tough questions are a necessary evil in journalism to hold people accountable, and in most cases, the questions are coming from editors and newsrooms that will fire the journalist if those queries are not asked.
“You got to understand that everybody has a job to do,” Smith said. “The last thing they want to do is come up to you and ask you that question. They have no choice because their job is on the line, and no matter how bad your game was that day, your contract guaranteed, and it’s for a gazillion times more than that journalist made.”
He continued: “You know, you got cats that, and they’re gonna remain nameless as players because I’m not going to do that to them, […] But when I went hard on a couple of superstar players, I happen to know for a fact they tried to get a couple of journalists fired, and it’s because the journalists asked them about something that they were hearing. And they brought up the brother.”
Suggesting a racial double standard, Smith added that when the same question is asked by a non-Black veteran beat reporter like ESPN’s Gene Wojciechowski, who is white, or The Athletic’s NBA reporter Shams Charania, who is of Pakistani descent, the athlete “ain’t say s**t.”
“Now see that’s when Stephen A .. that Bronx, that Queens dude comes out. ‘Ohhh, so we gon’ call the brother out, making $75, $85, maybe $100,000 (per year) that they could wipe off the map in a heartbeat, and you f**king know it. You would do that to him. But the white dude – Woj, Shams, whatever … you said nothing.”
Watch below:
Good convo between Paul George and Stephen A Smith about the relationship between the Media and Athletes pic.twitter.com/0zzDwPwFW7
— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod ???????? (@big_business_) August 15, 2023
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