Wednesday, April 11, 2007

College Sports and the Media

Recent events cause me to publish this Blog. The recent Talk Radio Show Commentator’s remarks about the National Championship Girls Basketball Team and the situation at Duke University are both causes for great concern.

We are all told that Bad News Sells. That appears to be the mantra for both Print and Electronic Media. We must sell our product.

One of the basic concepts of our Justice System has always been “Innocent Until Proven Guilty,” appears to be pushed aside in the rush to beat a deadline or to be the first to feature a news article or picture.

It is sad when this happens. May I suggest that our Nation’s College Students who are engaged in Sport continue to conduct themselves in an orderly and correct manner. It is a fact of life that someone, somewhere will make a bad choice and then become the focal point of the news organizations in our Country.

Unfortunately, adults, from Talk Show Commentators to the members of our Nation’s Law Enforcement Establishment also make bad choices. In the end, Justice and Honor will win out, but at what cost. In some cases the damage done can not be undone.

May the Flower Child suggest today that each reporter, each photographer, each program editor, producer and media organization adopt this policy:

Each news event will be covered, but it will be covered accurately. If each reporter, each photographer, editor and/or producer handled every event as if his or her own Son or Daughter was the principle in the story.

I am confident that this era of incorrect coverage would soon be a thing of the past.

In fact, if our Nation’s Law Enforcement Establishment adopted this same mantra I would suspect that the events we have all watched play out over the past eighteen months at Duke University would never have happened.

In the meantime, I appreciate each Young Person who is participating in Youth Sport, High School Sport and College Sport in an effort to have a better life. I also appreciate those who are Scholars and also Athletes who are chasing their dreams.

It is so sad that we have thrown caution aside to have sensational news. I guess that is also why we have people slowing down while on the roads when there is an accident. We just have to see the blood and guts of a fellow human being.

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