By RONALD BLUM
AP Sports Writer

NEW YORK (AP) --  ESPN.com removed an article chronicling Lebron
James' activities during a weekend in Las Vegas.

ESPN said the article, by ESPNLosAngeles.com reporter Arash
Markazi, was available for about 9 1/2 hours on its server
Wednesday. It described the new Miami Heat star drinking at
nightclubs and receiving a cake from go-go dancers in a VIP
section.

Rob King, editor in chief of ESPN Digital Media, said in a
telephone interview with The Associated Press on Thursday that
the story was posted before it had been cleared by senior
editors and that Markazi didn't identify himself as a reporter
in gathering the information used to report the story.

"I made the call," King said. "I just plainly felt it was wrong
to gather information in this way, so we would not publish the
information in any fashion."

ESPN has been criticized by some for turning over air time to
James for his July 8 announcement that he was leaving Cleveland
to sign with Miami.

The network issued a statement from Markazi saying he understood
the decision not to run his story.

"It is important to note that I stand by the accuracy of the
story in its entirety, but should have been clearer in
representing my intent to write about the events I observed," he
said.

Vince Doria, ESPN's senior vice president and director of news,
was quoted by ESPN.com on July 21 as saying the network's
newsgathering operation was not part of the decision to air
James' show and that the decision by the company's business
department "ultimately had a damaging impact on our reputation
as journalists."

"You can't justify paying for news. There are no excuses here,"
Doria said. "The hope is that we learned something from this,
that we won't repeat the error, and that we can restore any lost
confidence in our ability to objectively report and present the
news."