On Tue, Mar 19, 2013 at 1:51 PM, Joe Hass <[email protected]> wrote:
> A brief background on how we got here on this, because while the crime > itself is heinous, it's worth noting the circuitous route that was taken to > get here. > > The incident occurred in August, but it exploded in December, when the New > York Times wrote an article detailing how much of what happened was > distributed via social networks. The cone of silence around the football > team was so great that it was widely expected that the accused teens would > either have the charges dismissed or reduced significantly. As a local > blogger started digging into the situation more and more, that cone grew > heavier and heavier. Keep in mind that while the accused teens were removed > from the football team, a significant number of other players who were > aware of the situation via said social media were not suspended until late > in the season when the aforementioned blogger started getting really nosy. > And all during the while, the head football coach ran interference for > everyone, including testifying as a character witness for the accused, > keeping the story out of the local press, and using his connections to do > everything he could to basically make this go away, which he could've done > because he's (of course) a hero in this town. > > This story had every evil stereotype you could possibly image when it > comes to jocks overtaking a town completely. I mean this reads like bad > fiction if it weren't so damn true (trust me: when it comes to football, > Ohio is on par with every stereotypical southern state when it comes to > unhealthy local obsession). So when this decision came down on Sunday > (which I'm still trying to figure out why the judge ran this thing through > the weekend), the fact that reporters seemed to suddenly be unable to act > like professionals on a case that was so insanely horrible on so many > levels, it just blew everyone out of the water. It validated every > horrible, insane, dead-wrong feeling about rape and rape culture that > exists. The "good guys" won, and yet we're focusing on how the "bad guys" > aren't really so bad? Add to that the fact that the two reporters are both > female (which should be irrelevant, but isn't), and you've got a good ol' > fashioned media inferno. > Thanks for that background Joe, it does help. I read somewhere that the judge ran it through the weekend because they had to bring him in from out of town (I guess because, as you say here, the locals were too biased to be trusted). I would only add again that if CNN (and other cable news outlets) were professional all the time they would not get busted when occasionally the emotions of the moment make their unprofessionalism harder to ignore. -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
