ESPN’s most prominent voices are deprioritizing the platform formerly known as Twitterâat least for the next month. On the Wednesday, January 29 episode of the Talkin’ Baseball podcast, ESPN MLB reporter Jeff Passan revealed to host Jake Storiale that he, NBA insider Shams Charania, veteran NFL reporter Adam Schefter, and College Football Senior Writer Pete Thamel are now announcing breaking stories on their employer’s flagship app before posting them on Twitter/X.
“If [a story] comes to fruitionâif it actually is trueâyou will see it on the ESPN app first, where I am breaking all my news now, before X. So if you want it first, sign up for alerts there and you’ll get them before they appear on X,” said Passan.
How much of a scoop will ESPN app users have over those following breaking news on X? Apparently, it will only be a matter of minutesâa gap that raises questions about the motivation behind the change. “I usually just put [stories] on [X] right after,” the longtime MLB writer said. Passan was mum on the motivation or source behind the shift.
Twitter/X Under Fire
The owner of the popular social media platform has come under widespread scrutiny for making what appeared to be an offensive hand gesture at an event in Washington, D.C., on Monday, January 20.
The gesture “is costing Twitter/X a good bit of traffic,” wrote Chris Morris in Fortune last week, reporting that over 50 communities on Reddit had banned linking to X in protest. Since it changed hands in October of 2022, Twitter/X has been mired in controversy over policy changes, layoffs, and platform stability. Spambots now run essentially unchecked on the platform, further degrading user experience.
ESPN Has Not Formally Announced Any Changes
Passan did not directly correlate the change in ESPN’s breaking news strategy to the most recent Twitter/X controversy. In addition, the network, which has been without an ombudsman since 2018, has not publicly commented on the change in its social media approach as of Friday.
“This is a new thing. We just started this last week,” Passan explained. “I think in about a month I’m probably going to get together with [Adam] Schefter, Thamel, and Shams, and we’re going to go over what’s worked and what hasn’t, and see what’s best for fans. Because that’s what we’re here forâthat’s who we’re here for.”
“The sports news Avengers,” quipped Storiale.
Passan’s revelation came as part of a wider explanation of his cautious vetting of sources in a chaotic media climate. It begins around minute 39:00 in the Talkin’ Baseball episode.
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