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ESPN reporter Holly Rowe is among the best reporters on the WNBA beat in the country. As the longtime sideline reporter for the WNBA Finals and the NCAA women’s Final Four, Rowe is plugged in across the sport and respected throughout the industry.
With negotiations over a new collective bargaining agreement between the WNBA and the players’ union dragging into a second day after a supposed hard deadline on Tuesday, Rowe took to X to give an update on the talks.
Very few leaks have come out about the substance of the half-dozen-plus offers exchanged between the league and the WNBPA this week, but Rowe had details on the latest salary figures being discussed at meetings in New York City.
According to Rowe, the two sides are settling on a salary cap of $6.2 million and an average player salary of $570,000.
The only problem? Rowe seemingly forgot to delete a key line in the post: “Just so you have on background – no attribution to me or the league…”
More than an hour after the post, Rowe took it down.
Receiving sensitive information is commonplace among journalists, regardless of industry. Especially if the first line of Rowe’s post is accurate and we are close to a CBA, it makes sense that the league side might want to let fans know — through Rowe — that an agreement is likely coming soon.
But by agreeing to report news on “background” and not to attribute it to a particular source, reporters like Rowe gain access to key information without it being colored by the source’s identity. In this case, with the league and the players on opposite sides of an intense negotiation, the league likely would not want it known that they were the ones leaking to Rowe.
Some would argue that audiences deserve to know where the information is coming from. The reality is that Rowe likely would not get information at all if she did not agree to leave it anonymous.
Unfortunately for Rowe, regardless of these ethical debates, she made the mistake of seemingly copying and pasting the full text of a message from a source. Now, the information is somewhat tainted, and Rowe has egg on her face in a big moment.
