EDITOR’S NOTE: ESPN is celebrating the 45th anniversary of Title IX with cross-platform content across television, digital and radio, including a 24-hour marathon of live and classic women’s sports programming, as well as dedicated features and stories on espnW.com. Jenn Holmes, deputy editor, espnW, explained to Front Row how espnW strategized its editorial focus around the anniversary of this landmark event.
Being a site focused on women in sports, there are year-round opportunities to talk about Title IX and its influence. In the last year or so, a lot of those stories have focused on campus sexual assault and whether universities are or are not compliant. But as this is the 45th anniversary of this groundbreaking piece of legislation, we really wanted to show through a variety of stories how many touch points it has.
With espnW’s features editor Laura Marcinek at the helm, we started planning at the beginning of the year, brainstorming within our own espnW editorial team, and also working with the SC Featured team to give it a 360-degree examination. We planned our features to complement the best women’s games curated for TV, along with our Nine for IX films. We also collaborated on a Whiteboard project, “Nine Things You Didn’t Know about Title IX,” voiced by espnW’s Kate Fagan, that explains some little-known facts about Title IX and debunks some myths around the law. Even we learned some things while putting together the script for it!
To kick off our week-long digital run, we slated a feature on legendary coach Carol Hutchins and how her lawsuit in the 1970s as a freshman basketball player at Michigan State changed the landscape for Title IX. We followed that with a look at how women having more sports options has actually hurt American golf. Mid-week, Mechelle Voepel examined the challenges still faced by women in college athletic departments, and Thursday we promoted a Q&A with Tina Sloan Greene, the first black head coach in women’s college lacrosse, who explained Title IX’s impact on women of color. And we capped the week with a video featuring Julie Foudy and her visit with the San Diego Splash — a basketball team of women aged 85-91, who share stories of struggling for equality in athletics before Title IX came to be.
ESPN’s E:60 has received two top honors in the 2017 National Edward R. Murrow Awards, the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) has announced. E:60 has now won the prestigious journalism awards for the fourth consecutive year and the ninth time in the 10 years since the series’ inception.
In the network television division, E:60 won Edward R. Murrow honors in the Feature Reporting and Sports Reporting categories.
Feature Reporting: “The Last Round” The story behind the caretakers of Muhammad Ali’s final resting place was written and produced by Mike Johns and edited by Cathy Honeywell.
Sports Reporting: “The Number” Tom Rinaldi tells the powerful story of 10-year-old Logan Schoenhardt and why Tom Brady’s No. 12 meant so much to him. Logan died in February 2017. The piece was written by Rinaldi, produced by Dan Lindberg and Ben Houser and edited by Matt McCormick.
The awards will be presented in October. ESPN has won 26 of the awards, the first in 2001.
E:60 airs Sunday mornings at 9 a.m. ET on ESPN.
– By Andy Hall
- Sunday morning’s edition of E:60 (9 a.m. ET, ESPN) will feature host Jeremy Schaap with an in-depth profile of New York Knicks’ 7 foot, 3-inch forward Kristaps Porzingis, including a visit with the NBA star’s family in his home country of Latvia. The one-hour show also includes a feature on a Wisconsin wrestler who was born without full arms or legs, a preview of the upcoming ESPN the Magazine Body Issue and a sneak peek at New England Patriots QB Tom Brady’s visit to Asia.
- Two members of the United States Senate, Cory Booker (D-NJ) and James Lankford (R-OK), joined Bob Ley on Outside the Lines this week to discuss a bill they’re co-sponsoring that aims to stop the use of municipal funds to finance stadium construction. According to one study, the financing of stadiums and arenas have cost federal taxpayers over $3 billion since the turn of the century.
- Sunday’s SportsCenter SC Featured segment goes all-access during the NBA Draft with Finnish-born Lauri Markkanen of the University of Arizona, who was selected No. 7 in the draft by Minnesota then dealt to Chicago in a trade. SC Featured was with Markkanen as he awaited the draft and afterward when he learned where he was picked and that he would be traded. The feature will debut in the 10 a.m. ET SportsCenter on Sunday, June 25, and will re-air in other editions throughout the day.
- Baseball fans know David Ortiz for his MLB heroics and home runs, but a new generation of stars from his homeland in the Dominican Republic will make sure Big Papi’s legacy lasts. Scott Lauber writes about Ortiz for ESPN’s Beisbol Experience, a season-long project that celebrates Latino players in the game.
