The Death of Sports Media: Hot Take Culture Replaces Integrity in the Sports Journalism World
Stephen A Smith and Lebron James beef is evidence of how the Art of sports media has been lost to a new hot take form of journalism. Photo by Pixabay from Pexels
On March 6, 2025, Stephen A. Smith signed a whopping 5-year $100 million deal with ESPN. This contract solidified Smith as the face of the sports media world.
Smith, who is known for his palpable energy and scorching hot takes, is not afraid to flaunt his opinions, giving the internet countless viral videos such as his Kwame Brown rant, his debates with Lavar Ball and his popular saying, “STAY OFF THE WEEEEEEEEEEDUHHHH.”
Throughout his highly successful career, Smith has gained the privilege to discuss sports at the highest level for the whole world to see. However, as Smith’s popularity begins to rise, it seems he has lost sight of the core values in sports journalism.
In recent weeks, Smith has engaged in a war of words with arguably the greatest basketball player of all time, LeBron James.
The animosity began after the Lakers lost on January 28, 2025, when Smith pleaded with James as a father to stop “exposing his son to the NBA” on an episode of First Take.
This ignited a very uncharacteristic reaction from James, who decided to confront Smith during a Lakers game. The video of James confronting Smith sent shockwaves through sports media with many internet lipreaders speculating that James said “Keep my son out of this shit bro," before walking away.
In the following weeks, Smith went on First Take and addressed the confrontation, saying, “That was LeBron James coming up to me, unexpectedly, I might add, to confront me about making sure I mind what I say about his son.”
Things appeared to be cooling down until March 26, when LeBron did an impromptu interview on former NFL punter and current sports analyst Pat McAfee’s podcast, The Pat McAfee Show.. In the interview, which was over an hour long, LeBron made some bold claims about Smith, saying, "I know he's gonna be happy as hell — he's gonna be smiling from ear to ear when he hears me talking about him," James said. "Oh my God, he's gonna get home, grab some ice cream out of the f—ing freezer and sit in a chair, in his tighty whities on the couch. Relax, bro, like, relax. Like, seriously."
Smith took that interview as a green light to say whatever he wanted about LeBron and has since been on a generational crashout, going at James, questioning his character by asking why he was not present at Dwayne Wade's statue unveiling in Miami or at Kobe Bryant’s funeral. This was an outright embarrassing look for Smith, who used the tragic death of a basketball legend and an attempt to stir drama between two friends as a way to get back at LeBron.
Smith's contract signing has taught the media industry one thing. If you use your platform to get people riled up, then you will be greatly financially compensated. ESPN has shown in recent years that it cares more about clicks than quality journalism. They have continued to push shows like the Pat McAfee show, which is run by someone with no journalism background and has a very fun and loose, almost comedic show. Meanwhile, shows like Around The Horn, which has been an ESPN staple for 23 years, are getting canceled. According to sources, ESPN is interested in a “more modern concept” and “something different.”
Sports communication students across the world are taught to avoid bias, be respectful towards the people they interview, and always fact-check. How can students expect to make a living doing those things when the face of the industry follows none of those principles?
“He’s not a journalist anymore,” said longtime sports reporter and professional lecturer of sports communication Leander Schaerlaeckens. “He used to be one, but really what he is now is a performer.”
In recent years, networks such as ESPN have found the most success with shows that have a debate format. This could work very well, except for the fact that the two parties continue to stand on their beliefs even when they are very clearly wrong. This is great for money as these types of “hot takes” generate millions of views, but it turns the stars of these shows into more actors than journalists.
“For guys like him, attention is oxygen,” said Schaerlaeckens. “So guys like him don’t necessarily buy into everything they’re saying.”
With the line between reporting and performing becoming blurry, journalism students are left with a dangerous dilemma between professional academia and the bombastic nature at the top of their profession.