There is a lot to be said about the bias of the main stream media on notable sports figures accused, but not convicted of crimes. There are two sides to every story, but you wouldn’t know that if you watch the news when they are covering a story involving a sports star that has been accused of a crime. There seems to be only one side to the story then, and it’s always a negative side. It seems the media wants to see our sports stars to fall so they seem more human. They like to hype stories up to make them a lot worse than they really are and want to convict people before they have even seen a courtroom.
Unfortunately there are quite a few stories to use as an example of the bias of main stream media on notable sports figures accused, but not convicted of crimes. There should be emphasis on the phrase “not convicted”. It brings up two very rational thoughts: either our justice system is full of holes and lets people who are famed away with everything or these people really aren’t guilty and the media is blowing it out of proportion. This doesn’t mean that everyone who isn’t convicted of a crime is innocent. It just means that everyone accused isn’t guilty.
One excellent example of the bias of the main stream media on notable sports figures accused, but not convicted of crimes is the Duke University lacrosse team scandal. In 2006, an exotic dancer accused 3 students of raping her at a party. She was black and the three boys were white, which is basically all the media wanted to tell you. These facts alone were stated by the media to such an extent that news outlets started calling the case a “hate crime”. The media started to tuck their tails and run as the case started falling apart because the accuser changed her story time after time. The prosecuting attorney eventually pulled away from the case and was disbarred for dishonesty, fraud, deceit, and misrepresentation. The case was dropped by the judge but the boys who were accused will never be able to erase the case from their image. And you never heard their side of the story on the news.
If the bias of the main stream media on notable sports figures accused, but not convicted of crimes were a little less convicting and actually told all of the story then maybe we wouldn’t lose so much faith in our sports stars or our justice system. The media wants you to think this kind of thing happens all the time when in actuality it’s a rare occurrence. We should just keep in mind that we need to hear all of the story before we decide to condemn someone for something they may not have done.
