‘Natural Hypocrisy’: The Atlantic’s Jemele Hill Argues Media Orgs Being in Bed With Betting Apps Compromises NBA Gambling Scandal Coverage

The Atlantic’s Jemele Hill argued the suddenly cozy relationship between sports media companies and betting apps led to a “natural hypocrisy” that compromised the coverage of the NBA gambling scandal this week.

Hill shared her thoughts on the scandal while appearing on MSNBC’s The Weekend: Primetime on Sunday evening. The veteran sports and political commentator started off by saying “extreme capitalism” forced the NBA to be greedy and strike business deals with betting apps, like official partners like FanDuel and DraftKings.

She then said media companies have followed the same unholy playbook, with even Disney-owned ESPN pitching betting apps during its coverage of the NFL and other sports. Fox Sports, NBC Sports, and other major channels have gambling deals too, as well as popular shows like Bill Simmons’ podcast.

“There used to be distance between the media and gambling — and it was kind of a ‘no, no,’ actually, for the media to be involved in that kind of stuff. And now you have media members who regularly discuss gambling on television and it’s not a big deal anymore,” Hill said.

She continued: “The hard part about this is that there’s a natural hypocrisy that we all can see. Because on the one hand, [media companies] are deeply involved in gambling and feeding gambling culture, because frankly it helps them make more money.”

That is not stopping anytime soon, Hill said, because the media companies need to pay for sports rights, which keep going up in value.

Hill, who also hosts the Spolitics podcast, added media companies now “have to dance with the devil and look the other way at the same time.”

Co-host Catherine Rampell, a moment earlier, made a similar point regarding sports leagues, saying they were “talking out of both sides of their mouths,” where they were championing legal gambling but acting shocked when players are caught betting.

Her commentary comes a few days after few days after hoops hall-of-famer Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier were among dozens arrested as part of multiple FBI investigations into illegal gambling.

Billups, who is now the head coach of the Portland Trailblazers, was charged for his alleged role in a Mafia-backed illegal poker operation; Rozier was charged for faking an injury that allowed his associates to bet the “under” on his game totals for points and other stats. And ex-NBA player Damon Jones was charged for supplying information on key players, like LeBron James, sitting out games before it became public.

Watch Hill discuss the scandal — and the relationship between media companies and gambling apps — above.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!