Verizon Media Group CEO Praises Yahoo Sports' Important Coverage, Like This Syndicated Wire Story

Verizon Media Group CEO K. Guru Gowrappan began his memo to staff today by praising Yahoo Sports for writing a story on the theme of the Women’s World Cup: equity. It was a nice thought, but Yahoo Sports didn’t even write that story.

The blog praised by Gowrappan was actually shared over from Yahoo’s content partner NBC Sports, which in turn syndicated the story from the Associated Press. According to the memo obtained by Deadspin, the CEO wrote (emphasis mine):

Yesterday the US soccer team improved its World Cup record to 3-0. This team is awesome, and not just because they’re performing so well in the tournament. They are amazing because of the way they fight for their rights, fight for equality and fight for what’s right. Before the start of the tournament, Yahoo Sports wrote a piece on how the “ quest for equity” would be the theme of this year’s World Cup. We have the ability to use our editorial coverage to spark meaningful conversations. And if you look at how all great movements begin—our coverage and conversations can generate empathy, and with empathy we can drive change.

Setting aside Gowrappan’s frothy rambling about “meaningful conversations,” “empathy,” and “great movements,” it’s confusing that he’d choose to highlight a wire article instead of naming any one of the many actual  Women’s World Cup stories that have been written by journalists at both Yahoo Sports and the Huffington Post, both of which are owned by Verizon Media Group. (He also praised the Yahoo Sports team for its “well-rounded coverage” of last night’s NBA draft, though he did not link to any specific articles.)

Still, that’s high praise for the Associated Press from the CEO of Verizon Media Group. Keep up the great work, everyone!