There is a reason I call sports the funhouse mirror of society.
The reason for that is that sports has a way of putting a spotlight on issues that otherwise would be minimized or ignored by the general public. The main way this is shown is by the manner journalists cover sports. Sometimes journalists & broadcasters become the story themselves.
The current fascination with New York Knicks guard Jeremy Lin, dubbed Lin-Sanity, is a perfect example of how sports media has become the story.
During the Lin-Sanity craze there have been three incidents of note that show the difficulty that sports media is having while covering a great story. These incidents are:
1.) A now-infamous tweet from Fox Sports columnist Jason Whitlock made during the Knicks' 92-85 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on February 10 elaborating about Lin's sexual prowess.
2.) An instance when MSG Network, the television home of the Knicks, highlighted a fan-made sign showing Lin's head coming out of a fortune cookie while a caption underneath read "The Knicks Good Fortune" on the air during The Knicks' 100-85 victory over the Sacramento Kings.
3.) ESPN Networks using the phrase 'Chink in The Armor' as the headline to their online story covering the Knicks' 89-85 loss to the New Orleans Hornets and using it on the air covering the same story.
Each of these instances got push back for their racial insensitivity towards Lin and the Asian community at large and each party involved reacted in their own ways.
In Whitlock's case he received a virtual pummeling on Twitter and from the Asian American Journalists Association before he issued a public apology.
In MSG's case the network stressed the fact that they didn't create the image themselves after the incident was picked by news outlets including MSNBC television show host Ed Schultz.
In ESPN's case the network deleted the headline from its' online story shortly after posting and released a statement saying it was looking into the matter.
These events highlight the raw moments in which sports media, in this case basketball media, deals with an unusual story in their genre. The difference between them is how these incidents came to fruition.
When it comes to Whitlock one has to know that he uses his Twitter account both personally and professionally. This fact blurs a line that most journalists hold firm for ethical reasons. Whitlock's profiency to say outlandish things doesn't help matters for him. While he did apologize the incident put Fox Sports in a bad light since, as Whitlock's employer, were inadvertenly put in the crossfire.
When it comes to MSG, it was a consequence of live television. During timeouts local sports networks fill time with trivia, video highlights, and shots of the arena crowd. Event directors have the task of putting these things together while not missing any of the game action. That leaves very little room for mistakes, but they do happen. MSG has no control of the signs that fans bring into Madison Square Garden. They do however have the control of choosing what signs to show on air, even if it's a split second decision.
When it comes to ESPN, it's a lapse in the editorial process. In the modern media world where information is instantaneous there is always a competition to see who gets their story up first. Even with this rush there is a ladder that articles have to go through before they're published. One of the steps in that ladder is the copy editor. Copy editors serve as the last grmmatical gatekeepers that an article has to pass by. Another duty that copy editors have is thinking of headlines for articles. Headlines have to be short but catchy enough for the reader to be lured into looking at the article. In this case the copy editor chose a cliche line for the article in 'Chink in The Armor' but not realizing that the word 'chink' is also used as a racial slur towards Asians, particularly the Chinese. The same can be said of the person that wrote the television script which the SportsCenter anchor used.
All of this can be put into perspective in something that New York Times columnist William Rhoden pointed out on MSNBC Friday night with Schultz. He pointed out that the NBA has been dominated by Black players for over that last three decades. That means that the media covering the league has been exposed to all steps it has to take to best avoid incidents of racial insensitivity towards Black players. Do they get it 100% right all the time? No, but awareness has been ingrained into the culture of NBA media when it comes to Black players.
This hasn't been the case with Asian players. Even with as much anticipation as the debut of Yao Ming got in 2002 there wasn't as much awareness in the media to racial sensitivity in the NBA media because Yao went to a medium league market in Houston and there was no major wave of other Asian players following Yao. Lin's sudden success coupled with the fact that he's doing it in New York City, the biggest media market in the country, has caught everyone by surprise.
The NBA, a league well versed in trying to control its' image, now sees a reinvigorated Asian fan base both here and abroad that may be paying attention to how the media is covering Lin. While worried about these incidents, they were beyond the league's control. The reaction to the incidents bring something good though.
The fact that we're talking about these incidents openly rather than sweeping them under the rug shows progress. While Whitlock's incident was brought to light by social media the MSG & ESPN incidents were spotted by other media outlets very quickly. It shows that as this story is developing before our eyes people are paying attention. It also opens up the discourse about racial stereotypes.
Could we have been talking about this story if it wasn't happening in New York City? Probably not.
Are there other compelling stories similar to Lin's in the NBA? Yes, a good example is Atlanta Hawks rookie forward Ivan Johnson.
All of that aside, this saga shows how media deals with an unexpected story. It's a raw, messy proccess where mistakes are often made, especially in this underdog-type story.
No one said that this was easy.
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