Social change is slow, and such is the case with the in-bred MEDIA BIAS of the sports media, most notably the Detroit sports media. Have you noticed how much love they have for the University of Michigan? Many of us have seen that syndrome play out for decades, in so many places and in so many ways.
Today we bring you a current example, an article about Suzy Merchant and the Michigan State University Women's Basketball team. The subject of this piece could not be any more clear. The authors and editors would have to know, on a sentence-by-sentence level, that the article is about MSU, not UM.
Here is a screen-shot of the top of the article. Read the first sentence:
 |
| Detroit Free Press calls MSU "Michigan" (again) |
Did you catch the reference to the "Michigan women's basketball team"? Look again below where it is highlighted:
 |
| This Article Came One Day After MSU Beat UM |
The folks behind this article will surely say it was an "error", and that "mistakes" like this are unavoidable, and that I must be "paranoid" to see any men behind the curtain.
I have grown up watching this "mistake" happen, and it shows up about 25 times more often than it's flip-side. How often have you heard or seen UM referred to as MSU?
But I submit that we see this "mistake"
so much more often than it's flip-side,
both in print and on radio and television,
from regional reporters to national coverage.
I have grown up watching this "mistake" happen, and it shows up about 25 times more often than it's flip-side. How often have you heard or seen UM referred to as MSU?
(crickets)
UPDATE TO ORIGINAL STORY: The article shown above still appears on freep.com with the "typo" intact as of 4:00 p.m. on April 8. It's been "wrong" for THIRTY-FOUR DAYS. Here is the link.
---------
Tweet
****** Click on NO COMMENTS (or # comments) below to enter and view reader comments.
----- Remember to check Spartan Headline links, updated real time, in the left column of SpartanResource.com (Web version only).
*****Note: If you are receiving this post via automated email, you need to go to the site to view headline links and embedded videos in this post: http://spartanresource.com/ (Web version only). SIGN UP TO RECEIVE POSTS VIA EMAIL, TWITTER OR FACEBOOK IN THE RIGHT COLUMN.*****
The only known gaffe where the tables were reversed was when President Ford visited China and they played the MSU fight song to honor his time as the UM center.
ReplyDeleteHa ha, that's a funny memory, good one! I guess the Blue Wall Media Bias does not extend all the way to China.
Delete