Sports Illustrated's future depends on upholding the editorial and ethical standards that have guided us for decades. Monday, a Daily Beast article described Maven’s troubling decision to hire and retain a contractor as one of its NFL team reporters despite his record of criminal sexual misconduct. This incident follows multiple instances of plagiarism, unprofessional behavior and inaccurate reporting across the Maven network of contractor-operated team sites, which are published and promoted on SI.com. All of these episodes are embarrassing to the brand and inconsistent with a reputation built over decades, and they undercut the credibility of SI staff journalists.
Over the past year, Maven has cut vital personnel and resources from our full-time staff, while expanding a contractor model that is exploitative and antithetical to the principles of sound journalism. It incentivizes high-churn clickbait, and we have repeatedly raised concerns to management about the insufficient vetting and oversight of these contributors. We continue to believe SI’s coverage should be provided by full-time journalists. So long as this contributor network exists, though, we call on Maven to provide fair compensation and establish uniform standards and best practices.
We want to continue producing the work that has long distinguished SI. But we cannot excel if the work published under the SI name and those hired to produce that work are not held to the standards expected by our audience and the athletes and teams we cover. To do so, we call upon Maven to:
Provide a transparent account of Maven’s vetting of the contractor referenced in the Daily Beast story and the process that management followed when alerted to his record of sexual misconduct. If such protocols are not in place or were not followed, Maven should explain why and work with the Guild to negotiate them. Maven must also provide an explanation of his current employment status.
Hold the team-site network to the following standards:
All new team-site hires should undergo the same vetting process as regular SI staff;
Team-site operators should not be authorized to publish stories that have not been reviewed and edited, mirroring the editorial standards in SI’s newsroom;
Team-site operators should be paid enough to make a living primarily off their journalism, without compensation being tied to traffic metrics or site revenue.
If these basic thresholds cannot be met, Maven should take the team-site network off the SI.com platform.
Designate a seat for the SI Union, to be filled by a representative of our choosing, on the new editorial board that was created as part of a recent agreement between Maven and ABG, the owner of the Sports Illustrated brand.
We are asking our owners and operators at ABG and Maven to respond to these requests by Aug. 24. The last several months have shown the vital, and complicated, role sports play in our society. Sports Illustrated's unbiased, independent and rigorous journalism has never been more needed, and we must act now to ensure we can continue producing this work.