If you asked me to name the national broadcast news outlets, ESPN would not be on the list.

I believe all the hand-wringing over the fact that ESPN gave away its editorial control to land the LeBron James interview is misplaced at best.

It’s a great business move by the sports network and an even better publicity stunt. For the past two days, think of all the exposure this network has gotten. Last I checked, there were more than 7,800 online news stories that mention the ESPN LeBron James interview.

ESPN’s bold move has its competitors – other talk radio networks, for example – fixated on the subject. Of course the view of competing networks is that ESPN is ruining its credibility by donating air time to LeBron and allowing him to select the interviewer.

If I considered ESPN to be a news outlet, I might be offended, but I don’t. To me it’s an entertainment network, much more similar to E! than CNN. This is about attracting eyeballs to the screen; it’s not about objectivity or balance. Nor does it need to be. This man puts a ball in a hoop for a living.

Advertising Age worries that this move by ESPN may be setting a bad precedent. What’s so bad about a sports network donating time so one of its biggest stars can announce the next city where he will be entertaining the fans, and at the same time the broadcast is raising money for the Boys & Girls Club of America?

Yes, broadcasting a one-hour special for a five-minute announcement is over-the-top. But my guess is that ESPN is enjoying the heat, and now, so too is LeBron.