It is sad that the first publicly gay player to be drafted into the NFL will most likely be remembered for this ESPN piece on his showering habits with the Rams. Michael Sam made a commendable move by coming out as gay because of how much more magnified his responsibility becomes being in the public eye. Sam was a consensus All – American and SEC Defensive Player of the Year as a senior at Missouri trying to make an NFL team as a rookie drafted in the seventh round. As the largest sports media outlet in the United States, it was ESPN’s duty to treat his story in a professional manner that would potentially lead to other gay athletes coming out. ESPN did not cover Michael Sam like a seventh round pick. He became oversaturated in the sports news and used for click – bait articles …show more content…
The problem with that is Josina Anderson does not work for Jeff Fisher. Anderson wanted to do a piece on the impact of Sam’s sexuality on the dynamic of an NFL locker room. She was well within her right to interview and report what she gathered from the players she spoke too. “In the right hands and with the right reporting, it can be a story,” said Jim Buzinski, the co – founder of Outsports.com, the country’s leading gay sports publication (Deitsch 2014). With serious reporting and sources this could have been a legitimate story. This is where Anderson really went wrong and created an unethical piece. She instead threw out one anonymous player who said that Sam appeared to be holding back on showering with his teammates. Another player was quoted saying there could be million reasons for that. It was unethical reporting by Anderson that insinuated Sam was not showering with his teammates out of lack of comfort without any real proof to show that. Michael Sam went from a seventh round pick trying to make the team to being a distraction in the