There is a universal rule which every employee has to follow when they get hired by a sports league. A reporter cannot be too aggressive while covering the league. This is something one of the most respected and thorough journalists did not do. Jim Trotter’s time at NFL Network is ending soon. That is because he was too committed to journalism.
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Trotter did not stop asking NFL commissioner Roger Goodell about the lack of diversity in the league’s head-coaching and front-office ranks. He raised questions within NFL Media’s newsroom as well. The consequences were grave.
NFL Network took a serious step against Trotter
The NFL Media took the decision to end Trotter’s contract on Monday. He was also one of the few non-athlete Black analysts. He announced that his tenure with the network was ending.
Some personal news: This will be my final week with the NFL Media Group. I was informed over the weekend that my contract is not being renewed. I thank NFL Network and https://t.co/CrvPSHPLsn for the lessons learned and affirmed over the last five years.
— Jim Trotter (@JimTrotter_NFL) March 27, 2023
This might have happened because the league had not appreciated his efforts to get an answer to an important question out of Goodell. Trotter asked the commissioner about the lack of diversity in the league. He asked the same question in 2022 with James Baldwin’s quote, “I can’t believe what you say because I see what you do.”
This is what Roger Goodell came up with after having 80 seconds to think through his response to @JimTrotter_NFL's question about diversity issues at NFL Media (which Trotter also asked him about last year) pic.twitter.com/EQlbrsI0hg
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 8, 2023
Trotter asked such a question in a public setting: “They don’t let you get close to the Commissioner often enough to actually have these dialogues,” Trotter told Deitsch. “So, I knew that I had asked him about it the year before, and I knew that there had been no progress. No real progress as it related to the areas that I asked him about a year earlier. And so I felt that it was important to ask him in that situation because it’s not something that I haven’t brought up internally over the course of the last year with the powers that be at the media group.”
NFL Media did not comment on the matter. But when fans got the update that the league let go of their reporter who possibly crossed a line, they did not hold back from expressing their own opinions.
Fans are angry over the league’s decision
A fan wrote, “BUT THEY PUT ‘END RACISM’ IN THE END ZONES!”
BUT THEY PUT ‘END RACISM’ IN THE END ZONES!
— Ricky Smith (@Rickonia) March 27, 2023
https://twitter.com/Quis_stay_fresh/status/1640382041194676226?s=20
Trotter may be 100% correct on the issue he’s bringing up. But if one has an issue at work that’s been brought to management and didn’t get satisfactory action, embarrassing the “CEO” while the world is watching on the company’s biggest day of the year should result in firing.
— Masky Davidson (@MaskyDavidson) March 27, 2023
Ha ha. Well that’s one way to fix the diversity issue in the room. Get rid of the guy asking about. Good ol’ Roger!!!! 😂
— The Full Nelson 🇨🇦 (@n_santos25) March 27, 2023
I think Trotter’s question was a fair one in a fair setting (press conf).
Goodell could have answered that they currently have 37 white on-air media personalities listed and 24 media personalities of color, which is a ratio many other outlets can’t match.
Instead, he fumbles.
— Stef Fanski (@Oh__Cleveland) March 27, 2023
