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http://deadspin.com/blackballed-mma-reporter-admits-he-was-ufcs-paid-shill-1780851837
Today, though, on his own popular weekly broadcast The MMA Hour, Helwani went well past admitting to being a less than objective MMA journalist. In a surreal two-hour broadcast that ended with him crying while talking about his family fleeing to Canada from the Middle East under threat of persecution, Helwani admitted to having done things while covering the UFC for Fox Sports and Vox Media that would have gotten his ass thrown to the curb by any respectable media operation.
The biggest of these was admitting that his checks for appearing on Fox’s pre- and post-fight shows—checks which have since been cut off after Fox fired him at, he says, the UFC’s behest—were signed by Zuffa, UFC’s parent company. As Helwani explained it, his checks went from Fox to Zuffa to Helwani, and he accepted this, despite extensively describing how he learned in journalism school that this was absolutely something he shouldn’t have done:
There’s no reason to pretend that pre- and post-game shows are bastions of journalism righteousness, but this is categorically different than the tangled relationships broadcasters have with rights-holders. The NFL, for instance, severely influences how ESPN reports on concussions, and ESPN has a distinct interest in buffering the NFL’s reputation, but the NFL doesn’t directly cut checks to NFL reporters who appear on ESPN.
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Props to @Strange Shadows
Today, though, on his own popular weekly broadcast The MMA Hour, Helwani went well past admitting to being a less than objective MMA journalist. In a surreal two-hour broadcast that ended with him crying while talking about his family fleeing to Canada from the Middle East under threat of persecution, Helwani admitted to having done things while covering the UFC for Fox Sports and Vox Media that would have gotten his ass thrown to the curb by any respectable media operation.
The biggest of these was admitting that his checks for appearing on Fox’s pre- and post-fight shows—checks which have since been cut off after Fox fired him at, he says, the UFC’s behest—were signed by Zuffa, UFC’s parent company. As Helwani explained it, his checks went from Fox to Zuffa to Helwani, and he accepted this, despite extensively describing how he learned in journalism school that this was absolutely something he shouldn’t have done:
There’s no reason to pretend that pre- and post-game shows are bastions of journalism righteousness, but this is categorically different than the tangled relationships broadcasters have with rights-holders. The NFL, for instance, severely influences how ESPN reports on concussions, and ESPN has a distinct interest in buffering the NFL’s reputation, but the NFL doesn’t directly cut checks to NFL reporters who appear on ESPN.
-
Props to @Strange Shadows
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