ESPN Needs To Diversify Its Coverage Of Caitlin Clark And WNBA | Bobby Burack

ESPN needs to diversify its coverage of Caitlin Clark. 

We don't mean diversity of skin color, although nearly every pundit commentating on Clark at the network is black. Far more crucial to the conversation is diversity of thought.

Caitlin Clark – specifically, the drama surrounding her  – is the most contentious story in sports, often crossing over into the rundown on cable news. 

ESPN, as it should, covers Clark nearly every day. Its main commentators are Elle Duncan, Chiney Ogwumike, Monica McNutt, and Andraya Carter (each of whom did not provide a comment to OutKick).

And they all sound the same, regurgitating different variations of the following talking points:

"The players in the WNBA have no issue with CC."

"The women aren't hard-fouling her. These are accidents." 

"Caitlin Clark receives coverage because she's white and the black women deserve more attention."

"Accusing the players of targeting Clark is an insult to black and brown women."

Rinse and repeat.

ESPN is the main broadcast partner of the WNBA, airing its most-viewed matchups. Unlike, say, MSNBC – ESPN's business model is not contingent upon appeasing one side of the political aisle, but sports fans at large. 

Therefore, ESPN's objective should be to serve all sports fans in its coverage, with different voices and perspectives.

CLEVELAND, OHIO - APRIL 07: TV personalities Elle Duncan, Andraya Carter, Chiney Ogwumik, Carolyn Peck and Aliyah Boston , from left, speak before the 2024 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament National Championship game between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the South Carolina Gamecocks at Rocket Mortgage 2FieldHouse on April 07, 2024 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

Women in the WNBA, most of whom are black, and many of whom are lesbians, have picked a fight with Clark since her WNBA debut in May. There are many examples.

As a result, two sides to the saga exist: the side noticing the disdain the players have toward Clark, and the side committed to defending the black women at all costs.

ESPN only provides the latter side of the equation.

Stephen A. Smith tried to offer a voice of opposition (or reason) earlier this month, admitting that black players are jealous of Clark because of her race.

"There are girls – young ladies – in the WNBA who are jealous of Caitlin Clark. She is a white girl that has come into the league," Smith said while discussing Chennedy Carter shoving Clark to the floor.

"One would think that folks would be smart enough to recognize and appreciate that about Caitlin Clark – piggyback off of that to their benefit and praise her and support her for it while competing on the court against her."

Unfortunately, per usual, Smith caved after notable members of the black community accused him of "selling out."

In return, Smith attempted to liken Clark's popularity to white supremacy, the same type of white supremacy he claims elected Donald Trump:

Smith should have at least made sure his point was eloquent, no?

There are trends that no honest person can deny: WNBA players have smeared Clark on social media, shared posts encouraging players to injure her, tried to injure her, taken cheap shots at her, bullied her, undermined her success as a result of "white privilege," and unjustly accused her of racism.

Yet, the main pundits at ESPN refuse to acknowledge any of that, as if they exist in an alternate universe and cannot see what's in front of them. 

The network even enabled the son of a civil rights activist, a character named David Dennis, to pressure Clark into defending the women who bully her.

"Any person in privilege has a moral obligation to speak up against racism, homophobia, transphobia, and all those things," Dennis said last Friday. "I hope Caitlin Clark will use this moment to speak out more."

White derangement syndrome (WDS) is real. The network's more featured WNBA talents each appear to suffer from a variant of WDS.

Now, we acknowledge ESPN's partial coverage of Caitlin Clark is more of a macro issue: the network lacks the bodies that a) think differently, and b) have the backbone to withstand the wrath of Black Twitter and rabble-rousers.

Will Cain frequently provided a counter perspective to ESPN's otherwise harmonious programming from 2017 to 2020. However, he eventually outgrew that role and departed for Fox News.

Thus, in-house options are limited.

In the short term, longtime columnist Frank Isola might be the best answer. Isola, who has a part-time contract with ESPN, provided some diversity to the conversation over the weekend, in response to a reporter pressuring Clark to condemn racism against black women (even though no player faces more racism than Clark):

If ESPN could get over that Isola is white, straight, and male – he could immediately strengthen its coverage of Caitlin Clark, the WNBA, and other issues related to race.

After Isola, ESPN may need to look to the outside. 

Michele Tafoya, color commentator Julianne Viani Braen, Doug Gottlieb, New York Post reporter Kirsten Fleming, and Candice Wiggins (who alleges black lesbians bullied her in the WNBA) are potential options that'd offer contrasting and credible opinions on the topic.

If other names come to mind, contact us @burackbobby_.

You might figure that ESPN prefers to keep its coverage status quo, undeniably bent in a direction to satisfy the black community. In some executive offices, that's true. 

However, Dave Roberts is the head of ESPN's WNBA coverage and "First Take," where Clark is most prominently discussed. Talents who requested anonymity say that Roberts is the leading advocate of putting pundits with different perspectives on air, even if they run afoul of overused progressive orthodoxy.

Roberts, a black man, is less concerned with proving he's "woke" than your average frightened white executive, sources inside ESPN explain. 

And we certainly hope Roberts realizes the problem with ESPN's coverage of Caitlin Clark.

As the WNBA grows larger, ESPN owes it to its viewers to do a better job of searching for the truth. 

The truth is most often found in diversity of thought, which ESPN's coverage of Caitlin Clark so vividly lacks.