By Daniel Paulling
Sports Editor, Hanover (Pa.) Evening Sun
Patrick Stiegman is adamant when describing ESPN's plans for its new NFL beat writers.
“To be 100 percent clear on this: We did not put in place 32 ESPN bloggers,” said Stiegman, ESPN.com's Editor-in-Chief. “We hired 32 NFL reporters for ESPN.”
The difference is important as ESPN — which is expected to announce its final five hires within the next two weeks — moves to a local level in each NFL market. The company previously had eight divisional bloggers, but their success, along with that of specific city sites, persuaded it to expand.
The new hires will contribute to team blogs but also appear on radio and television broadcasts and write for ESPN's magazine. That multiplatform work, Stiegman said, will draw readers to their site longer.
“The number we're focused on — and it's been tremendous — is engagement,” Stiegman said. “It's not just page views, it's not just visits, it's not unique visitors. It's the amounting of time folks are spending with it. They're consuming video and audio files. They're certainly reading content.”
This appealed to at least one writer who joined ESPN.
“It's an opportunity to work for one of the great giants in the media business and a chance to expand my horizons as a writer and reporter,” said ESPN's Green Bay Packers beat writer Rob Demovsky, who had covered the team for the Green Bay Press Gazette, to Ed Sherman.
With its multiple platforms, ESPN appears to have an advantage in producing multimedia content. The question for sports editors is how they respond to ESPN, which hired nine newspaper beat reporters who were previously covering that team, including Jeff Legwold from the Denver Post.
“We've got to do our thing, and constantly look at what we're doing, and try to improve vs. reacting to ESPN or anyone else,” Post sports editor Scott Monserud said in an email. “We're not expanding any more because of ESPN. We've got a set number of positions and need to use them wisely.”
Here's the list of hires ESPN has made and where they previously worked.
Arizona Cardinals: No hire announced
Atlanta Falcons: No hire announced
Baltimore Ravens: Jamison Hensley (ESPN AFC North blogger)
Buffalo Bills: Mike Rodak (ESPN Boston)
Carolina Panthers: David Newton (ESPN NASCAR writer)
Chicago Bears: Michael C. Wright (ESPN Chicago)
Cincinnati Bengals: Coley Harvey (Orlando Sentinel)
Cleveland Browns: No hire announced
Dallas Cowboys: Todd Archer (ESPN Dallas)
Denver Broncos: Jeff Legwold (Denver Post)
Detroit Lions: Mike Rothstein (ESPN University of Michigan reporter)
Green Bay Packers: Rob Demovsky (Green Bay Press Gazette)
Houston Texans: Tania Ganguli (Houston Chronicle)
Indianapolis Colts: Mike Wells (Indianapolis Star)
Jacksonville Jaguars: Michael DiRocco (ESPN University of Florida reporter)
Kansas City Chiefs: Adam Teicher (Kansas City Star)
Miami Dolphins: James Walker (ESPN AFC East blogger)
Minnesota Vikings: Ben Goessling (St. Paul Pioneer Press)
New England Patriots: Mike Reiss (ESPN Boston)
New Orleans Saints: No hire announced
New York Giants: Dan Graziano (ESPN NFC East blogger)
New York Jets: Rich Cimini (ESPN New York)
Oakland Raiders: Paul Gutierrez (CSNBayArea.com)
Philadelphia Eagles: Phil Sheridan (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Pittsburgh Steelers: Scott Brown (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)
St. Louis Rams: Nick Wagoner (StLouisRams.com)
San Diego Chargers: No hire announced
San Francisco 49ers: Bill Williamson (ESPN AFC West blogger)
Seattle Seahawks: Terry Blount (ESPN NASCAR writer)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Pat Yasinskas (ESPN NFC South blogger)
Tennessee Titans: Paul Kuharsky (ESPN AFC South blogger)
Washington Redskins: John Keim (Washington Post)
Other personel moves across the nation:
GREAT LAKES
Chicago Sun-Times: Hired former Arizona Daily Star Arizona writer Patrick Finley for Bears beat
Chicago Tribune: Hired former Washington Times Redskins reporter Rich Campbell to cover Bears…Hired former Minneapolis Star Tribune Vikings reporter Dan Wiederer to cover Bears…Moved Mark Gonzales to Cubs, Colleen Kane to White Sox, Paul Sullivan to baseball beat writer
Indianapolis Star: Hired The Columbian Trail Blazers beat writer Candace Buckner for Pacers beat… Hired Stephen Holder, formerly of the Tampa Bay Times, to cover the Colts….Hired Zach Osterman, formerly of 247Sports.com, to cover Indiana University.
Michigan Live: Moved Nick Baumgardner from Michigan basketball beat to Michigan football…moved Kyle Meinke from Michigan beat to Lions
Northeast Ohio Media Group: Hired Zack Meisel and Ari Wasserman for Ohio State beat…hired Bill Landis for preps
GREAT PLAINS
Kansas City Star: Moved Terez Paylor from Missouri beat to Chiefs…moved Tod Palmer from preps to Missouri beat
Lincoln Journal Star: Hired former Casper Star Tribune high school coordinator Clint Robus as digital sports editor
MID-ATLANTIC
Baltimore Sun: Lost columnist Kevin Cowherd to retirement
Philadelphia Inquirer: Hired former Wall Street Journal writer Mike Sielski to be columnist
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Hired Chris Adamski as Penn State beat writer
Washington Times: Hired columnist Thom Loverro…hired Brian McNally to cover Redskins
NORTHEAST
New York Times: Hired Tim Rohan as sports reporter
Newark Star-Ledger: Hired former Post and Courier South Carolina beat writer Darryl Slater as Jets writer
NORTHWEST
Register-Guard: Hired Ryan Thorburn to cover University of Oregon
Seattle Times: Hired Kaelyn Sayles as preps reporter
SOUTHEAST
Advocate: Hired Ramon Antonio Vargas as Saints reporter, Rod Walker to cover preps
Alabama Media Group: Hired former Sun Sentinel Hurricanes reporter Michael Casagrande to cover Alabama…lost former Alabama reporter Don Kausler, who became regional editor at Florence (SC) Morning News
Associated Press: Hired Kareem Copeland as news/sports reporter in Tallahassee
Athens Banner-Herald: Hired former APSE student member Nicole Saavedra as preps reporter
Clarion-Ledger: Hired Nick Talbot as online sports producer from Killeen (Texas) Daily Herald…promoted Chris Thomas to preps editor…hired former Casper Star Tribune sports editor Zack Creglow to same position
NOLA Media Group: Hired LSU/SEC writer Ron Higgins from Memphis Commercial Appeal
Post and Courier: Hired former O-A News Auburn writer Ryan Wood as South Carolina beat writer
Palm Beach Post: Moved Matt Porter from preps to Hurricanes beat…hired Anthony Chiang as preps writer
Pensacola News Journal: Lost sports editor Bob Heist, who became managing editor at Baxter Bulletin
Opelika-Auburn News: Hired Alex Byington for Auburn beat, Tom Green for preps
Sun Sentinel: Moved Christy C. Chirinos from preps to Hurricanes
Tuscaloosa News: Hired former Warchant managing editor D.C. Reeves as producer/reporter
SOUTHWEST
Beaumont Enterprise: Hired Raymond Partsch III as new sports editor
Dallas Morning News: Hired Marcus Murphree as high school sports digital editor
Denver Post: Moved John Henderson to Colorado beat, Tom Kensler to Colorado State, Chris Dempsey to Nuggets, Benjamin Hochman to columnist
Houston Chronicle: Moved Jenny Dial Creech from covering preps and college to Rockets
Kerrville Daily Times: Lost sports editor Kenny Ryan, who became preps writer at Corpus Christi Caller-Times
WESTERN
Arizona Daily Star: Moved Daniel Berk from high school coordinator to Arizona beat
Long Beach Register: Hired former Long Beach Press-Telegram reporter/columnist Bob Keisser as sports editor
San Francisco Chronicle: Hired Hunter Hewitt to cover Cal football
