Helping women and minorities into newsrooms since 1993
Helping women and minorities into newsrooms since 1993
After The Washington Post announced the elimination of its sports department in early February, multiple local media outlets began expanding into the region to fill a growing void of coverage in one of the largest sports markets in America.
Washington, D.C, has seven professional sports teams. The abrupt end to the main producer of coverage opened opportunities for other local outlets.
“Once it became a reality that they were actually going to cut the coverage almost entirely … we said ‘okay, now it’s time to actually swoop in and try to cover the Nationals and the Commanders,’” said Chris Korman, the sports editor of The Baltimore Banner.
The Baltimore Banner launched in June 2022, with sports coverage starting by the end of the same year, Korman said. As a relatively young paper in a landscape where legacy outlets are having a tough time growing readership, the Banner’s plan to expand to DC was uncertain, especially with the Post having such a stronghold in the region.
Korman said he started hearing rumblings late last year of potential staff cuts from the Post. However, when whispers grew in January to encompass the Post cutting its entire sports staff, he did not believe it.
But Korman prepared behind the scenes anyway in case the rumors turned out to be true.
“I was preparing my bosses and saying, ‘hey, something’s happening here; let’s be ready (and) let’s think about what we’re going to do,’” Korman said. “I wrote some proposals and met with them and talked to them about ways that we could capitalize on this happening.”
The Banner released a statement on Feb. 12, eight days after the announcement by the Post, providing a plan to hire beat writers to cover the Nationals and Commanders, two of the biggest teams in the region, while also looking to produce “enterprise reporting” on the Capitals, Wizards and Terps.
Having 45 sports reporters released from their positions at the Post created not only a gap in coverage but also a mass influx of experienced writers entering the job market. As a result, many outlets, including both newer ones like The Banner and legacy papers, expanded their staffs.
Korman initially looked to hire former Washington Post sports reporters to begin The Banner’s coverage. In the end, he brought on former Post reporter Andrew Golden and Kyle Williams from the Chicago Sun-Times.
As well, The Athletic announced it was hiring six former Post sports journalists with the intention of broadening their own horizons.
“The Athletic expands its coverage of the Commanders, launches a new Nationals beat and adds to its growing roster of tennis, opinion and investigative reporters,” The Athletic said in a public statement on Feb. 26.
ESPN also hired six former Post journalists for its “investigative, enterprise and digital journalism unit.”
“We are proud to advance our robust commitment to journalism, which is core to our mission of serving sports fans,” ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in a March 3 statement. “Today’s news strengthens our position as the place to turn for the latest and most in-depth sports news, reporting and feature stories across every platform.”