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Duke Rape Hoax : The Washup

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by ZoeB, Apr 28, 2007.

  1. ZoeB

    ZoeB Member

    In light of the North Carolina Attorney General's Report on the Duke Rape Hoax, what follow-up is being done?
    There were plenty of condemnations of the players by sports journalists - how many of them now have the honesty to eat humble pie? The women's lacrosse team were damned with faint praise for their support if their male counterparts. They were "naive" according to some. Will they get an apology from all those who castigated them? I'm not holding my breath. And what about the coach who got fired - how has he fared? Will he be "rehabilitated" now for something that never actually happened?

    I'll quote from the Duke Chronicle. Yes, a campus paper, but would the New York Times had had such an article!
    And the media went along for the ride. Even now some journalists condemn these athletes for being in what was a slightly rowdy party - as if that were a crime of such heiniousness that they deserved public execration.

    But what do I know. I'm just an amateur, a blogger, and in Australia yet.

    BTW has your paper reported on the North Carolina AG's revelations yet? It makes quite a story. One flavoured heavily with Crow.
     
  2. To answer the question in the article, I don't have to imagine those events.
    Given the author's hypothetical, this is likely what would have happened, and did:
    http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-exonerate9apr09,0,3969347.story?coll=la-home-headlines
    My sympathy for the Duke players extends as far as does my sympathy for anyone railroaded by out-of-control proseuctors, law-enforcement and, increasingly, the federal government. Look to yourselves, and see how often you cheer for tactics like the ones Nifong used every day.
     
  3. ZoeB

    ZoeB Member

    Yes, I'm aware of the kind of injustice a Feral Prosecutor can cause. I've seen it happen. There's still some minority groups it's socially permissible to persecute.
     
  4. This will be fun.
    And what "minority groups" would those be.
     
  5. ZoeB

    ZoeB Member

    This is getting rapidly off-topic. I was interested in how sports journalists have reported the Duke Hoax and any retractions.

    However, if you insist... from the Washington Blade
    Remember, that's not Savage's description of the Murderer, it's his description of the victim.
    CNN...MSNBC... And a Shock Jock with an Audience of 8 million. Meanwhile Jerry Springer does shows reminiscent of Steppin Fetchit, Amos n'Andy, and other shows of 75 years ago. Now the Human Performing Seals, the Clownish Freaks are Transgender not Black. But the show's the same.
    And the City of Progress, Largo, fires its City Manager simply because she stopped "Passing as White Male".

    But hey, it could be worse. Transgendered people are no longer lynched in the US. Unlike say, Jamaica. From the Jamaica Observer
    [​IMG]
    In the USA, TS women such as the LA Times' Christine Daniels, those who are "out" and not "stealth" only have 17 times the normal chance of being murder victims. That's 5 times the next highest minority group, young urban black males.

    Well, you did ask ::)
     
  6. Babs

    Babs Member

    I think what this case underlines again for those in the media, is to always remember that the accused are innocent until proven guilty, and that we should always refer to them in those terms. Our work shouldn't imply anything about guilt until the process is over.
     
  7. OK, zoe, how does this tie into the Duke case?
    Lawless prosecution=hate crimes/hate radio?
    I'm not seeing the connection.
     
  8. heyabbott

    heyabbott Well-Known Member

    Yes there are, and it's interesting that some minority groups get very defensive when other minority groups attempt to insure that civil rights are afforded to all, not just those that whine the loadest.
    Isaiah Washington still has a job after his disgusting and hateful outbursts and Tony Dungy doesn't understand why he's insensitive.
     
  9. ZoeB

    ZoeB Member

    That's so gay.

    But seriously... Tony Dungy's son committed suicide. Mr Dungy has endured a far worse agony than any punishment appropriate to his "insensitivity". From what I can see, he means well, if he just knew more about the situation, he'd be on the side of the angels - so to speak.

    I have no problems standing up for GLB rights, and never did. Even when I was doing the boy act, and homophobic to boot, I admitted my homophobia but said that gay marriage was a Human Rights issue, nothing to do with encouraging "alternate lifestyles". Preventing same-sex partnerships the legal equivalent of marriage, whether called that or not is manifestly unjust and immoral, even if homosexuality is something you disapprove of.

    My change has been educational, and my previous tolerance has been replaced by non-judgmental acceptance to some degree.

    Anyway although I have no difficulty standing up for Human Rights (that happen to be GLB rights), I have difficulty hating people just because they'd prefer to see people like me shot. Often they are just afraid, ignorant, and trying to protect the things I believe in too. Family. Human Decency. Rationality.

    Getting back to the Duke Case... it appears to me that it was a product of the racial divide being exploited by the unscrupulous, but that's not the Lede I want to follow.

    What I'm more interested in is the ability of what we bloggers call MSM to admit error and correct it, in public, with the same emphasis as in the original story - on page 1 if the mistake was on page 1, on page 50 if the story was on page 50.

    I see little evidence of that. I'm interested in the experience of sports journalists, do they think there's a significant problem, and if so, is there a solution?
     
  10. Ashy Larry

    Ashy Larry Active Member

    Good post.....lets hope people adhere to those terms going forward. Unfortunately in sexual assault cases there is an assumption of guilt., The onus is on the defendant to prove his innocence, not on the prosecution to prove guilt...
     
  11. slappy4428

    slappy4428 Active Member

    Zoe, if you have learned anything about us in your short time here, you will learn it doesn't take much to get us off-topic.
     
  12. ZoeB

    ZoeB Member

    Surely you jest!
    I know, don't call you Shirley.

    And to answer my Irish Friends query about HateSpeech on Radio/TV and Feral Prosecutors, it's far easier to conduct a lynching, judicial or otherwise, in an atmosphere where it's fashionable to persecute a particular group that is "different" in some way.

    Like Soccer players.
     
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