MLB Network Forces Its Reporters Into Choice, With Disturbing Dismissal of Ken Rosenthal: Quit, or Give Up Your Journalistic Credibility

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Ken Rosenthal is parting ways with MLB Network. But if the reasoning for Rosenthal’s exit is correct, it sets a dangerous precedent that pins the network’s current reporters between a rock and a hard place.

According to Andrew Marchand of the New York Post, Rosenthal’s contract with MLB Network expired at the end of 2021. If Rosenthal’s departure was just the end result of a botched contract negotiation, then no big deal, it happens all the time.

But Marchand further reports Rosenthal’s exit “is believed to be the end result of acrimony that peaked in the summer of 2020 after Rosenthal criticized commissioner Rob Manfred.”

To exacerbate the infraction, Rosenthal’s criticisms that allegedly irked Manfred were not made on MLB Network or an MLB affiliated platform — they were written by Rosenthal for The Athletic. MLB is not just controlling editorial content on their own platforms, they’re now manipulating the reporting on other outlets.

Thankfully, Rosenthal will continue to cover MLB for Fox Sports and The Athletic and he’ll get to do so without any forced biases.

MLB and Rosenthal have not confirmed the departure stemmed from his mild criticism of Manfred in 2020. But if this damning accusation is even just partially true, then every reporter who remains with MLB Network should be outraged and every baseball fan is just to question the source of their information.

“Can confirm MLB Network has decided not to bring me back,” Rosenthal wrote on Twitter after the news of his departure broke. “I’m grateful for the more than 12 years I spent there, and my enduring friendships with on-air personalities, producers and staff. I always strove to maintain my journalistic integrity, and my work reflects that.”

If Rosenthal’s journalistic integrity forced him to exit MLB Network, what does that mean for the reporters who are still there? How can fans trust that MLB isn’t going to similarly police the work of its other journalists who report for multiple outlets?

This is not a knock on Joel Sherman, Jon Heyman, Tom Verducci and others who report for MLB Network. This is a knock on the cloud of doubt MLB just placed over the reporters they employ and the decision the league will now force some of its top journalists to make: Quit MLB Network, or surrender journalistic credibility.

Speaking specifically to Rosenthal, baseball fans should take solace in his departure, knowing Manfred and MLB cannot censor one of the sport’s top insiders. But in terms of every other reporter that works for MLB Network, how much of their journalism is filtered through Manfred? Especially as the league battles its players in a lockout and MLB desperately attempts to save face as greedy billionaires nickel and dime with gifted millionaires.

According to the New York Post, Rosenthal’s strongest criticism of Manfred came in June 2020 for The Athletic at the height of negotiations to start games during the pandemic. “As if the perception that Manfred is beholden to owners and out of touch with players was not bad enough, he was trending on Twitter on Monday after performing a massive flip-flop,” Rosenthal wrote.

Hardly a criticism worthy of a fireable offense. But it’s the criticism that allegedly caused Rosenthal to have a three-month absence from MLB Network in 2020 and now exit the outlet more than a year later.

Rosenthal even seemed to protect himself from any backlash by commenting on the “perception” of Manfred, rather than the commissioner directly. This being the “perception” of a commissioner who has been almost universally slammed by baseball fans for being at the helm during one of the worst cheating scandals in sports history, referring to the World Series trophy as a “piece of metal,” and admitting he doesn’t market the game nationally.

MLB’s ratings are spiraling, their core fanbase is aging and Manfred continues to display a lack of polish and genuineness every time he addresses any sort of controversy.

Should MLB Network reporters be forced to avoid every one of those hot button topics Manfred has stepped in during his tenure as commissioner?

Rosenthal’s story demonstrates that MLB Network should be treated as a PR firm, not a news outlet. Reporters who work for league networks can break news that is favorable to the sport they cover, but anything remotely negative must be avoided.

What does that mean for the reporters who still work for league networks in addition to unaffiliated outlets like Rosenthal did with Fox and The Athletic? If MLB is going to monitor those independent publications, it puts the multi-outlet journalists in a murky gray area.

Maybe the answer is that it’s impossible for league networks to employ unbiased journalists. If that’s the case, then it needs to be placed in their bylines for MLB Network and any other outlet where the league is examining their work. Put your biases on the table – or better yet – eliminate them like Rosenthal just did.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.