ESPN Clamps Down On Twitter

Ah, the struggles with new media. ESPN has instituted a new policy in which their employees may not tweet about sports-related topics that are not approved by the network. The Web site Mediaite stoked a bit of controversy by calling the new policy a "Twitter ban." ESPN responded, explaining that it was important that ESPN provide "guidelines for how a company and its public (sometimes very public) employees are going to play into this space and use these tools." Though the policy is evolving, it raises interesting questions. Recently, ESPN ignored the allegations of sexual assault against Ben Roethlisberger. Do the new rules mean that ESPN employees would not be able to tweet about such a major sports story?