Being a worldwide leader can be a drag. (See America, United States of.)

But when you actually refer to yourself as the “Worldwide Leader,” as a certain central Connecticut-based sports empire does, you in effect are setting up the board and handing your critics the darts.

So it long has gone for ESPN — a rich, influential, endlessly complicated journalistic entity whose power attracts the notice of other journalists in a way unique in the world of sports media covering sports media.

Rarely, though, has that reality caused ESPN as much grief as this week, as it struggled with troubling news involving first its own reporter, Erin Andrews, then Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

Even if you accept at face value ESPN’s rationale for not initially reporting allegations of sexual assault against Roethlisberger, its let’s-be-careful-out-there approach at best was naive and impractical.

Best evidence: The fact that ESPN barred its outlets from reporting on or talking about the story only served to bring more attention to it and its pal from Pittsburgh — who like many top athletes appears to have a cozy relationship with the network.

Given the nature of modern sports media and ESPN’s status as its most powerful purveyor, ignoring a story in most cases won’t work. The company would be better served using its influence and resources to confirm, clarify or counter reports than to squelch them.

Not every allegation against a public figure deserves mass distribution, certainly, but this one was far enough along to demand a contribution from Bristol before Wednesday night.

It is part of ESPN’s burden and responsibility as the WWL. John Walsh, ESPN’s executive editor, said on WFAN on Thursday that given the realities of 21st-century media, the network might re-examine its policy generally not to report on civil suits. Good.

There has been far less criticism of ESPN’s decision not to report on the notorious video of Andrews nude in a hotel room.

Officially, the reason is the network did not deem it newsworthy. Unofficially, personal sensitivity to one of its own also is a factor. Fair enough.

But ESPN being ESPN, it found itself talking to reporters all week about the Andrews story even as it did not talk about it on its own platforms.

The strange thing was there was not much to talk about. Since the story broke eight days ago, pretty much the thing new about it has related to the coverage and commentary surrounding it.

The episode turned from a self-contained blogosphere phenomenon during the weekend into a mainstream media spectacle only after the New York Post, CBS and Fox showed images from the video Tuesday — demonstrating less restraint than most bloggers.

Shockingly, Fox News still was running a snippet of the video Thursday night, while speculation about the origin of the mysterious video continued to swirl.

Eventually the truth will come out, as it will about the allegation against Roethlisberger. By then, there likely will be something new confronting ESPN, an empire on which the sun never sets.