Wide World of Women

In her Instagram Stories account on Friday, she said this:

“I have a responsibility to myself and my employers to clarify what is being reported...I have never lied about anything or been unethical during my time as a sports broadcaster.”

Several sideline reporters past and present, plus some major members of the sports media--not just only in football, but baseball as well have been fully explained, mostly in The Athletic by Richard Deitsch on Thursday and Friday, and Washington correspondent David Aldrige on Saturday.

https://awfulannouncing.com/nfl/charissa-thompson-sideline-reporting-women-black-made-up.html

https://awfulannouncing.com/nfl/charissa-thompson-responds-backlash-sideline-reporting-comments.html

https://awfulannouncing.com/nfl/andrea-kremer-charissa-thompson-sideline-reporting.html

Even the Society for Professional Journalists, the highest group in America, similar to that of other esteemed organizations blasted her comments as "a violation of SPJ's Code of Ethics and a dangerous practice."

https://www.spj.org/news.asp?REF=2983

Bottom line, Charissa should have been fired. Full stop.

I will be very curious to see if SNL will mock her tonight. Plus, I smell a future segment on 60 Minutes coming.
Then and only then, I hope she admits it one-on-one that what she said was not only wrong, but lying about her past circumstances is even worse to the profession.

As David Alridge said in The Athletic:
"There is an assault on journalism. It is ongoing and unceasing. It is an extension of the assault on truth by powerful people — in autocratic governments, in multinational corporations, garden-variety jerks — who don’t want to be regulated or challenged or criticized. It is a sign of journalism’s ongoing power that it is under such relentless attack by so many.

It is working: Journalism is now regularly among the least trusted professions, and misinformation thrives. A lie on X/Twitter or IG or TikTok metastasizes in the collective social bloodstream, swallowed whole by many who don’t know better — and, sadly, promoted by many who do.

The best journalism provides a necessary counterweight to that fiction. It is the seeking of truth, and the conveying of actual events – how they happened, and why they matter.

There are those who will never think of sideline reporting as serious work.

Most of those who do it, and who did it, take the craft very seriously.

Not ourselves. The work.

But Thompson provided ammunition to those who already believe that all journalists lie, or that we all write or report things just for clicks and ratings.

The vast majority of people in journalism love telling stories — ones that inspire, that inform, that enrage. We love being the griot, the town crier, the tribal elder. Occasionally, our jobs require us to speak truth to power, ask hard questions and demand answers — on your behalf, not ours. It may be hard for some of you to see those qualities, especially those entrenched in the “I never learn anything from a sideline reporter/I always mute them” camp.

Every game, whether for a championship like the World Series or Stanley Cup Final, or for a meaningless game between two .500 teams in a middling conference, has a storyline. Sideline reporters help flesh those storylines out.

You have the information, or you don’t, and if you don’t, you say so. If the head coach isn’t available, then get an assistant. Or a player. Or a trainer. Get somebody. It’s always on you.

The reaction from journalists to this has been so strong, because all that any of us who do this for a living have is our reputation. It takes a career to build. And it’s a bear to change once it’s lost."

To pretend that Charissa Thompson is even on the same planet as anything resembling “journalism” is a joke.
She is there to be hot and to kiss players asses.
More than once I’ve seen her (and Erin Andrews too) actually HUG a player on camera before or after the “interview.”

It is all about her.
That’s why she would make things up when she had nothing to report, because the last thing in the world she EVER wants to do is give up the airtime.
She could’ve easily told the producer off air: “I don’t really have anything, don’t come to me.”
But because she desperately craves the face time, she would do (obviously) anything to keep it.

I certainly don’t seek her out and I don’t even know when she’s on, but I do know whenever I see her from now on I will always be wondering if she’s making up whatever she’s saying NOW as well.

But I wouldn’t hold your breath waiting for an SNL segment, I bet 95% of America has no idea who she is

Before all this happened Today did a segment with Kaylee Hartung about her sideline role on Amazon Prime
One thing Kaylee has in common with Charissa and Erin is she was bitching about all the pregame preparation she does is seldom used because of game events
Welcome to journalism, ladies

That’s why Fox and Amazon won’t do anything to her

There have to be women who cover sports who are free agents or work at local stations who should be considered to replace CT and Erin. Will anything happen to them? More than likely not but they should tread lightly.

Didn't even know she was a sideline reporter until she started trending for her comments on the podcast.

Charissa was a sideline reporter in the late 2000's, then later would host Fox NFL Kickoff--or as I usually refer to this show as simply, "The pregame before the Pregame."

Along with Erin, they both do a podcast together called "Calm Down with Erin and Charissa."

Here's where you can see their podcasts--where they talk about a whole bunch of subjects, some directed to the female audience, and they do bring on a few guests from time to time.
Above all, especially in the earlier episodes--they really laugh a lot. Great weekend watching if you have nothing better to do.

https://www.youtube.com/@calmdown/videos