When it comes to kneeling for the national anthem and other player protests, broadcast networks seem pretty unified in their approach. All of them will treat the protests as newsworthy events and cover them as they happen. For CBS, it will be description and nothing more.
Sean McManus, the chairman of CBS Sports, said on a conference call last week that his broadcasters will tell the entire story of the game without their own opinions interjected.
“They’re certainly allowed to talk about what is happening on the field, whether it’s the National Anthem or something else with a name or a phrase on a player’s jersey or on his shoes,” McManus said. “They’re free to talk about that, but we’re gonna do so objectively. They’re not going to interject their opinion or their philosophy. They’re there to cover the game. But if something else happens to be part of the story, they’re going to tell that story.”
The network’s pregame show, The NFL Today, debuted a series of conversations about social injustice and the work being done by NFL players, coaches, and teams to address those matters. McManus says those aren’t conversations he expects to hear from the men and women broadcasting the games.
“Our announcers on site at the games are not gonna condone, they’re not gonna condemn what’s going on. They’re going to report it and they’re going to move on.”
