UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A television executive who has shaped how ESPN’s cornerstone program “SportsCenter” presents the news will be featured during a free public session addressing “The Future of Sports Television” on the University Park campus in mid-October.
Rob King, senior vice president of “SportsCenter” and news for ESPN, will be featured at 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 17, in Founder’s Lounge at the Bryce Jordan Center.
The event is part of the ongoing Conversation Series presented by the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism. John Affleck, the Knight Chair in Sports Journalism and Society and director of the Curley Center, will serve as moderator.
“I’m excited to welcome Rob King to campus and thrilled that our students are getting the chance to engage with him,” Affleck said. “Rob is a thoughtful, dynamic, interesting — and not least of all, busy — man. We’re grateful for his time.”
Earlier this year, Forbes Magazine recognized King as one of the top 25 most influential minorities in sports. He was named senior vice president, “SportsCenter” and news in 2014, transitioning from the digital and print arena to oversee all of “SportsCenter” and ESPN’s newsgathering operations, and to lead the future efforts of the company’s biggest sub-brand. Just five months into his current position, King was named by Fast Company among its “Most Creative People 2014.”
Along with the free public session, King will visit students in the award-winning College of Communications course that produces a twice-a-week TV newscast. He’ll also meet with members of the Association for Women in Sports Media chapter on campus as well as several administrators and faculty members.
A past Pulitzer Prize judge, King is a member of The Associated Press board of directors and the Poynter Institute’s National Advisory Board, where he serves as the chairman. In 2016, he was named to the board of The Center for Investigative Reporting.
Previously, as senior vice president, content, ESPN digital and print media, King was responsible for all content and the overall editorial direction of ESPN’s leading portfolio of digital and print sports properties, including text, audio, video and multimedia content. He also oversaw management of the award-winning team of more than 200 editors, writers and designers across ESPN.com and its network of related sites, ESPN The Magazine and espnW. King worked with ESPN’s many news, information and programming units to develop greater cross-platform integration and development of cross-media franchises.
In June 2007 he was named vice president and editor-in-chief of ESPN.com, before adding oversight of digital video and audio content as well as all editorial content on ESPN’s local sites. In 2004 he joined ESPN as a senior coordinating producer in the studio production unit, responsible for (at various times): ESPN’s award-winning NBA studio programming; the award-winning “Outside the Lines;” ESPN’s on-location coverage of major golf events, including the Masters and the U.S. Open; and ESPNEWS, the nation’s only 24-hour sports news television network.
King began his career in the newspaper business. From 1997 to 2004, he was at The Philadelphia Inquirer, serving as graphic artist, deputy sports editor, assistant managing editor and deputy managing editor. Prior to that, he worked at the Louisville Courier-Journal and the Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. His first job was with the Commercial-News in Danville, Illinois, as a general assignment reporter and graphic artist.
King earned a bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University in 1984. In 1986, he attended Penn State, studying journalism as part of the inaugural graduate communications class.
The John Curley Center for Sports Journalism explores issues and trends in sports journalism through instruction, outreach, programming and research. Along with core courses in sports writing, sports broadcasting and sports information, the Curley Center places an emphasis on internships and hands-on experience with broadcast, multimedia and print outlets as well as with league, sport and team publicity and sports information operations.
The Curley Center complements its courses with an emphasis on internships and hands-on experience with broadcast, multimedia and print outlets as well as with league, sport and team publicity and sports information operations. In September 2005, the Center was awarded a $1.5 million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to establish the Knight Chair in Sports Journalism and Society.
The Center was established in 2003. It is named for John Curley, whose more than five decades of newspaper experience included work as a reporter, editor, publisher and, ultimately, president, CEO and chairman of the Gannet Co. He was the first editor of USA Today.