The ESPN producer who quit over gambling – and the stories she says went untold

Nicole Noren says ESPN sidelined investigations into sports betting companies as gambling partnerships reshaped the network’s priorities Earlier this week, investigative journalist Nicole Noren did something almost impossible for someone who has spent her career behind the scenes. The longtime producer for ESPN’s Outside the Lines used her own experience to shed light on the way sports betting partnerships are warping sports media coverage. The issue wasn’t how ESPN was covering sports gambling, but that it was doing so less and less. Noren was used to pitching hard-hitting stories around leagues, owners and athletes. As a producer for the investigative reporting arm of the sports network, her team had traditionally been insulated from the business concerns at ESPN, but she started to notice a change about seven years ago.

“What was telling to me was that I had pitched numerous stories that would take a harder look at some of the gambling companies and addiction, and none of those stories was greenlit,” Noren told the Columbia Journalism Review in an interview with journalist Danny Funt. “They ended up doing a show on it around that time, but it became very neutered. Some of the people involved intended to make it much more hard-hitting and hold the gambling companies accountable. Let’s just say the final product