Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/11/18

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Subject: [Leica] Media criticized for biased Hometown sports reporting
From: Tim Atherton <tim@KairosPhoto.com>
Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2003 17:01:29 -0700

As we were considering the state of the freedom of the press recently, this
seemed of interest....

"ALBANY, NY-Members of the national media watchdog group Fairness and
Accuracy In Reporting released a 255-page report Monday criticizing the
American media for severely biased local sports coverage.

"In our extensive study of the nation's sports sections and broadcasts, we
documented countless examples of shamelessly one-sided reporting, obvious
speculation, and bald editorializing masquerading as journalism," FAIR
spokesman Scott Wilborough said. "Coverage was heavily, sometimes brazenly,
weighted toward the teams from a media source's own area. To look at the
data, you would almost think that sports journalists aren't held to the same
standards as other reporters."...

..."Photos almost always featured the home team, usually in a moment of
victory," Wilborough said. "When the players and coaches of the opposing
team were discussed, it was usually in the context of how they were
'destroyed' or 'stomped.'"...

..."It's frankly baffling how widespread the bias is," Wilborough said.
"Journalists seem to lose their composure altogether when reporting on their
local sports teams."

The FAIR report, which characterized the bias as "irresponsible and
pervasive," stated that "the blatant slanting of local sports coverage goes
against the ethics of balanced journalism and contributes to a public
perception that the local team in a particular area is the absolute best.
This does a disservice to the very audience that the media claim to
serve."...

Wilborough said the problem may be larger than many realize.

.."Let's face it, sports news is the only news most people read," Wilborough
said.
"That's reason enough to clean it up. Otherwise, the media may start seeing
bias and sensationalism as a formula for success. I don't think anyone wants
to live in a country where that happens.".. more at:


http://theonion.com/3945/news1.html


tim a

:-)


(who is very proud to have been published in The Onion...)

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Replies: Reply from "Eric" <ericm@pobox.com> ([Leica] Re: Media criticized for biased Hometown sports reporting)
Reply from Eric Welch <eric@jphotog.com> (Re: [Leica] Media criticized for biased Hometown sports reporting)
Reply from Jerry Lehrer <jerryleh@pacbell.net> (Re: [Leica] Media criticized for biased Hometown sports reporting)