ESPN and the Jacobson suspension

ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz, in response to today's Daily News media column on how the network handled Dana Jacobson's week-long suspension, would like it to be known:

"In no way did we take action in this matter as a response to public or media reaction as Friday's LA Daily News column suggested. In fact, just the opposite. We had already taken action BEFORE there was any media or public reaction related to her comments."

The implication from Friday's column was that ESPN reacted to the Catholic League's response, which came out Tuesday. That would have been obviously impossible, since a week-long suspension had already started Monday.

But there was almost immediate Internet writer reaction, and the Press of Atlantic City (N.J.) responded with an account. Today, it posted this account of the whole episode as it was unfolding and explains:
"The review was discovered by sports bloggers soon after it was posted on pressofatlanticcity.com. They began linking their readers to the story."

The problem, as it stems from any time ESPN reprimands or suspends an on-air employee, is often it takes days, even weeks, before the media is informed about it. It often comes as second-hand information from a source, and then contact is made with ESPN's media relations department, and a standard response is that there is neither a confirmation or a denial, because it is an internal matter, or, in Krulewitz's case here, a quote that appeared in several publications where he said: "‘Her actions and comments were inappropriate and we’ve dealt with it."

There would seem to have been a delay in any sort of action, considering ESPN people would have been at the event, if a suspension wasn't made immediately if it was so offensive.