You no doubt by now have read at least one of the accounts of why ESPN didn't report the story of Brett Favre allegedly passing secrets to the Detroit Lions. 

It is a very curious thing coming from the worldwide leader.  In the past, ESPN had no fear of reporting anything, whether it be Michael Jordan's gambling, Barry Bonds adventures with needles or Bill Belichick's home movies.  Suddenly, a story about a former teammate calling opposing teams and passing along secrets got lost on the cutting room floor?

Now, the story is why did this happen?

It can only be surmised that ESPN, weary of being repeatedly scooped by Fox's Jay Glazer, decided to ignore the story.  In addition, whatever Favre was alleged to have done is not (though it should be) a violation of league rules. 

This is clearly a case where a story is out about a player ESPN has a solid relationship with that may or may not have done something that the NFL would just assume see go away.  So, ESPN, wanting to protect it's relationship with Favre and be a hero to the NFL brass all in one shot, decided to make it go away.

Except, thanks to Glazer, the world all knew about it.  And now, people wonder why the organization that a majority of people depend on most for sports news hasn't lifted a finger to report the story when it's obvious that there is something out there.

You'd think ESPN would jump at an opportunity to discredit Glazer, who most days is hours ahead of ESPN's stable of high profile, highly paid journalists.  And if Glazer reports it, puts his name on it, doesn't it mean that there must be something to it? Even a Bob Lea OTL report would have been sufficient, if only to say "Yeah, we know it's out there and it's not true." 

I'm sure someone told Chris Mortensen to call Brett Favre.  He most likely did, Favre said it was BS and that was that.  It would have been nice to have Mortensen on camera saying that, but for that to happen, he would have had to admit that Glazer scooped him (again.)  Paying homage to your competitors is eventually bad for business.
So, ESPN decided to stay completely off it, hoping the outcry would make Glazer look like Chicken Little.  It has not, and now ESPN is under fire for sticking their head in the sand. In this case, ESPN the source outweighed the story.

At very least, this whole episode has contributed to the discussion of news organizations and their agendas.  We know this to be true in politics and now, sadly, it has seeped into sports.