ESPN ombudsman has a great RSS feed

I've been reading ESPN ombudsman George Solomon's contributions on the network's decision making and programming through his feed a lot recently, which are very, very good. It's an honest, often painful look at the very difficult world of international sports broadcasting and the personalities within them. One thing I'm often asked as a professional broadcaster, since I do news and sports, is which is more difficult. I always say sports.

More people are more intimately familiar with the subject matter, and are thus more passionate about it. So they catch more of your mistakes and get more riled up over them. That's not typically the case with hard news during live shows.

I go through a lot of what Solomon (on-air snafus, quality control issues, viewer relations). While I retain a handful of concerns about ESPN, I'm less critical than most about their format because I go through the same thing. I watch their casts and appreciate a clever transition between one highlight and another, a well-asked question during an interview, or a slick stand-up live in the field. It's support for my colleagues.

Good show, George.