Information is the most valuable thing in sports media. Everyone from the top CEO to the part-time producer benefits from gathering information and applying it. The insider role for networks has taken the local beat reporter position and amplified it on steroids. Instead of covering the day-to-day operations of a given team, personalities earn these roles through relationships with agents, franchises, and trusted sources built over the years.
Shams Charania is one of the best in the business. He has taken the mantle from what Adrian Wojnarowski helped build at ESPN and made it his own. The job itself is simple; in fact, it’s journalism. That’s something many in sports media claim is dead or dying a death of ten thousand paper cuts. Regardless of the timing, sport, player, executive, or team, Charania’s success is built on the information he gathers and disseminates to the ESPN audience.
This Sunday, Charania did his job. Early Sunday morning, he reported that the NBA Most Valuable Player Award would be handed to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for a second consecutive year. Was the news stunning? Not really, especially if you have watched the NBA this season.
However, once the report surfaced, the information itself was no longer the story. Instead of celebrating the moment for the first back-to-back winner since Nikola Jokić in 2022, many people became outraged that the information was “leaked” ahead of the official announcement.
Oh no, a spoiler for an annual end-of-season award.
“Embarrassing,” said Draymond Green.
“It’s Sunday, Shams. Go to brunch, you nerd,” said Blake Griffin.
Social media, of course, quickly judged the heralded NBA insider for “leaking” the information hours before the official announcement scheduled on Prime Video. Truthfully, this is not the first time an NBA MVP winner has been reported before the official announcement. Charania’s mentor, Wojnarowski, did the same thing in 2020 when Giannis Antetokounmpo won the award.
It’s ‘Lacking’ Not ‘Leaking’
Information is the most valuable currency in sports media. Charania’s job is to gather and report it. What’s lacking, however, is consistency in the outrage expressed across sports media.
Far too often, people in sports media search for anything that generates clout and clicks through hot takes about journalism dying. Others simply react to the reactions. It becomes less about being first and more about being the loudest. Ironically, those who are not first are often the loudest voices in the conversation.
Yet, when Charania delivers quality journalism, it goes unrecognized and instead receives unwarranted criticism rooted in a double standard.
For instance, when Adam Schefter is first to report the signing of a major free agent, people celebrate the value of being first. Why? Because it’s information. What follows is immediate reaction to that news. It may be praise or outrage, but every piece of information generates conversation.
When Ken Rosenthal reports a trade before the MLB deadline announcement becomes official, it is praised as an insider scoop that sparks discussion.
When Pierre LeBrun releases information about a suspension following a controversial penalty the night before, that information immediately fuels reaction as well.
In none of those instances are insiders chastised for providing information. Yet what Charania did Sunday morning was simply his job. It was no different from Schefter, Rosenthal, LeBrun, or any other peer in the business. There was no “leak,” despite what critics claimed. He obtained information through sourcing and reported it accordingly.
“My job is to report the news. When I get it, and I’ve vetted it — no matter how big, no matter how small — my job is to report the news,” said Charania on The Pat McAfee Show Monday. “That’s what I wake up thinking about. That’s what I go to sleep thinking about. This isn’t the first time, and it’s not going to be the last time.”
The Double Standard
It’s frustrating that sports media still cannot decide what it actually wants. Do audiences want information or not? The same information that fuels reactions is the foundation of the entire content business model. Without sports, there are no insiders. Without insiders, there is no news. In turn, without news, there is no content because there is no information to react to.
Now, would Charania have done the same thing if ESPN carried the NBA MVP announcement on its own network? Probably not, but someone else likely would have. That’s the job of an insider: a reporter who gains information through trusted sources and delivers it to an audience demanding immediacy.
It’s a role that is not disappearing, regardless of how heavily scrutinized it becomes. Insider reporting drives value, interest, engagement, and, most importantly, attention. If any network or content platform wants attention, one of the fastest ways to gain it is by playing the insider game.
At some point, sports media must decide what it actually wants from insiders. You cannot celebrate the race to be first when it benefits your favorite team, league, or storyline, then suddenly clutch your pearls when information arrives a few hours earlier than expected during an awards show.
The outrage over Charania reporting the NBA MVP winner was never truly about journalism ethics. Instead, it was about personal preference masquerading as moral outrage.
It’s What You Know
The reality is simple: information is the business. It always has been. Networks invest millions into insider talent because audiences crave immediacy. Fans refresh timelines during free agency, trade deadlines, coaching searches, suspensions, and award season because they want to know now, not later.
The same people criticizing Charania Sunday morning are often the first ones sharing insider reports when those reports benefit the conversations they want to have.
That’s the double standard.
You either value information or you don’t. You either respect journalism and reporting, or you prefer curated corporate reveals packaged for television.
Sports media cannot continue pretending to champion breaking news while selectively condemning it whenever the timing becomes inconvenient. The double standard surrounding outrage over information needs to end because insiders are not ruining sports.
They are doing exactly what the industry has trained audiences to demand.
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John Mamola is Barrett Media’s sports editor and daily sports columnist. He brings over two decades of experience (Chicago, Tampa/St Petersburg) in the broadcast industry with expertise in brand management, sales, promotions, producing, imaging, hosting, talent coaching, talent development, web development, social media strategy and design, video production, creative writing, partnership building, communication/networking with a long track record of growth and success. He is a five-time recognized top 20 program director in a major market via Barrett Medi’s Top 20 series and has been honored internally multiple times as station/brand of the year (Tampa, FL) and employee of the month (Tampa, FL) by iHeartMedia. Connect with John by email at John@BarrettMedia.com.
