Kyle Shanahan's Car Crash Stirs Media Ethics Debate
Kyle Shanahan was involved in a severe car accident weeks ago, a story initially hidden, raising serious questions about journalism and NFL-ESPN ties.
Video Transcript
You know, I wanna take you back a little bit to last weekend when I had my producer, Robert, give me some information that Kyle Shanahan was in a car accident, and I was like, "Wow!
Kyle Shanahan was in a car accident.
Breaking news."
He's like, "No, no, no.
This is when we went to time out.
No, no, no, this happened three weeks ago."
What?
The head football coach of the San Francisco 49ers was in a severe car accident and nobody knew anything about it?
This is more of an indictment on journalism today than it is about the actual incident, and it also questions the relationship between ESPN and the National Football League.
So let me give you context of what I'm saying here on this.
So when I got told the story that Kyle Shanahan was in a car accident, I had no understanding that it was a month ago almost.
So I went back and looked at the timelines for Adam Schefter, ESPN, and how they posted it.
So the story broke, and within a minute, ESPN had a full story on what had happened to Kyle Shanahan in this car accident.
He had broken his nose, lacerations to the face, he had broken ribs, numerous other injuries, and he is going to miss training camp, and there was a conversation that he could potentially miss the opener against the Rams in Melbourne, Australia.
Then you take a look at Adam Schefter.
Another minute after that, he puts out a complete dossier of what happened.
This questions the journalism.
We just went through Diana Russini and her practices on how she went and got information.
So let me get this right.
The National Football League, who owns 10% of ESPN, is embargoing stories and letting us know when certain guys are injured and what have you so that they can get ahead of stories?
How do you trust the journalists that are covering the sport that you love, or any sport, when these people have a working relationship with the National Football League?
How can you believe anything that comes out of the league when you've got a relationship with a place that has 10% ownership in ESPN?
When the NFL Network was sold, ESPN gave the NFL 10% of the network.
How do you trust anything that comes out of the journalists that are covering the sport when you're embargoing stories?
Look, my job is not to be in bed with an NFL team or a league.
My job is to give my viewers and my listeners storylines, and I wanna talk about things that they haven't been able to cover yet.
I wanna give you intel on why this happened.
How can you call yourself a journalist when you're holding stories?
How do you know you're not being fed poor information to put stories out?
We just got through going through Diana Russini.
Now we're watching this.
Go look at the timelines.
ESPN, Adam Schefter, the whole thing with gambling, Schefter in bed with Bob Kraft and those betting apps that they're having partnership with.
He's-- And, and also with a relationship with DraftKings.
Don't tell me that journalism is alive when you're seeing stories like this.
Kyle Shanahan is considered, The Athletic just put it out this last week, as the best coordinator in pro football.
So the best guy and the best play caller in pro football was in a severe car accident, and the National Football League didn't think that that was a story?
I heard Dan Patrick all week talking, going, "This, there's something wrong with this here."
And totally something wrong with it.
You talk about not covering the sport, and you work with the NFL?
If you're not putting stories out, you are an employee of a National Football League team.
Your job is to go out and serve your viewers, not serve the team that you're covering.
You've lost me.
I mean, we just went through, like I said, the Diana Russini, people throwing shade on her and how she got her information, and rightfully so.
But at the end of the day, what's the difference here when you've got ESPN and all the rest of these guys And again, there's a collection and a group of guys that get these text messages all the time on storylines.
That Jalen Carter deal, once it got done, the defensive tackle for the Philadelphia Eagles, Adam Schefter had all the particulars on everything inside that contract, including a weight loss clause that was in the contract.
How can you be that detailed on a story on a contract, but then be three weeks late on the head football coach of the San Francisco 49ers being in a severe car wreck?
Was there alcohol related?
Is there an issue with the police?
This is a f- this is a shaky story, to say the least.
And the lines went up and down, just to keep that in context.
