has added six veteran reporters to its Investigative, Enterprise and Digital Journalism Unit, a move that the company frames as strengthening its journalism operation even as the wider industry has endured widespread newsroom layoffs. The hires include Kent Babb, Kareem Copeland, Chuck Culpepper, Robert Klemko, Tom Schad and Ben Strauss.
: Why recruit six veteran reporters now?
Verified facts: said the six new journalists bring a combined 100-plus years of experience. Most of the hires had been cut loose after their employer eliminated its sports section during a companywide restructuring that affected roughly one-third of that organization’s workforce. Robert Klemko was not affected by those cuts and had been covering criminal justice as a national news reporter. Chairman Jimmy Pitaro described the additions as enhancing a team that is already strong and strengthening ’s commitment to journalism.
- Kent Babb — will cover a range of sports across platforms.
- Kareem Copeland — will cover women’s college hoops and the WNBA, remaining based in the Midwest.
- Chuck Culpepper — will cover multiple sports across platforms.
- Robert Klemko — will focus on sports-related crimes, investigations and major scandals, working mainly in the investigative wing.
- Tom Schad — will serve as a general assignment reporter focused on enterprise, quick-turn, investigative and data journalism.
- Ben Strauss — will focus on sports business enterprise and investigative journalism.
Analysis: The hires reunite institutional experience with newsroom priorities anchored in investigations and enterprise reporting. Recruiting reporters with deep beats and investigative skills signals a deliberate pivot toward long-form and accountability journalism inside a major sports operation. The choice to place these journalists in a unit explicitly labeled Investigative, Enterprise and Digital Journalism suggests an intent to centralize resources for higher-impact projects rather than rely solely on immediate game coverage.
What will the six reporters do inside the investigative and enterprise unit?
Verified facts: said the new staffers will contribute to its Investigative, Enterprise and Digital Journalism Unit and that their work will appear across ’s platforms. The company outlined plans for their reporting to be used in enterprise coverage and investigative projects alongside existing news-breaking talent retained and hired by the organization.
Analysis: Assigning specific beats—women’s college hoops and the WNBA, sports business and investigations, crime and scandal reporting, enterprise data work and general assignment investigative tasks—creates complementary capacities within the unit. That configuration can increase the newsroom’s ability to pursue cross-cutting investigations that intersect legal, financial and competitive aspects of sports. The presence of a reporter with a criminal-justice beat background inside the investigative wing strengthens the newsroom’s capacity to handle complex, legally sensitive inquiries.
Who benefits and who is implicated (verified): benefits publicly by expanding investigative and enterprise capacity, and the hires individually gain new institutional platforms for their work. The employer that eliminated its sports section is implicated indirectly; staff reductions there contributed to the availability of experienced journalists now moving to other organizations.
Assessment and uncertainties (analysis): This recruitment drive represents a visible reinvestment in journalism at a time when other organizations have pared news operations. The long-term impact on audience trust, the depth of investigative output, and resource allocation behind day-to-day coverage will depend on how the new hires are supported structurally—budget, editorial time, and legal resources—details that have not been disclosed publicly.
Accountability conclusion (call for transparency, verified basis): Given the facts that these six journalists bring significant experience, that most were released following a major restructuring at their prior employer, and that positions them inside a named investigative and enterprise unit, clarity is warranted on how editorial priorities will be set, how investigative work will be funded, and how conflicts of interest will be managed. Public oversight through transparent editorial policies and regular disclosure of investigative methodologies would allow readers to assess whether this investment translates into stronger, independent journalism rather than a reallocation of talent without commensurate structural support.
These hires mark a consequential shift in sports journalism personnel; whether they amount to a durable strengthening of investigative coverage or a short-term assemblage of talent depends on decisions yet to be detailed by.
