ESPN To Hosts: Stick to Sports

ESPN is asking its on-air personalities to stick to sports and avoid airing out their political views on social media, bringing up the topic this week during a wide-ranging meeting of more than 450 employees about the sports network and its future.

The reminder came after ESPN revised its social media policy last month following controversial tweets by SportsCenter anchor Jemele Hill calling President Trump a "white supremacist" and a "bigot," and suggesting a boycott of NFL advertisers during the height of the controversy over the national anthem protests, which led to her being suspended for two weeks.

Some critics accuse ESPN of having a liberal bias, which it denies. In the meeting, ESPN asked personalities not to post things that show, quote, "overt political or other biases."

Senior VP Kevin Merida said, "ESPN is a journalistic organization -- not a political organization. We should do nothing to undermine that position. ESPN's focus is sports. By-and-large we are not experts on politics, healthcare policies, terrorism, commerce -- that's not what we do."

He added, "Our audience is not looking for our opinions on the general news of the day."