by Ethan Tussey
about Ethan Tussey
Ethan Tussey is Associate Professor of Moving Image Studies in the School of Film, Media and Theatre at Georgia State University. His work explores the relationship between the entertainment industry and the digitally empowered public. His book The Procrastination Economy: The Big Business of Downtime details the economic and social value of mobile device use in the contexts of the workplace, the commute, the waiting room, and the living room.
Pardon the Interruption
Abstract: ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption represents a turning point in sports programming, the beginning of a shift away from game recaps and highlights and toward the sports debate format. The success of PTI inspired twenty-four-hour sports networks to embrace debate as a strategy for maintaining relevance in a digital age. Ethan Tussey argues that the ubiquity of the sports debate format has effectively pushed the politics of sports out from the margins and into mainstream conversation.