Poaching The Papers

Here: Long the home of razzle-dazzle TV highlights, ESPN has been stocking up on reporters' notebooks and ballpoint pens.

For more than a year now, the Walt Disney Co.-controlled enterprise has been raiding news organizations for sports journalists, from big-name players like columnist Rick Reilly of Sports Illustrated to behind-the-scenes talent like Kristin Huckshorn, former deputy sports editor at the New York Times and now a senior news editor overseeing ESPN's new newsmagazine show "E:60."

It has been a good time for poaching. As newspapers and magazines struggle with declining revenue and cutbacks, ESPN is still awash in TV money. But this is more than a competitive shopping spree — it is a step toward reinventing the franchise.