Nobody Watches the WNBA

A sports story caught my eye this morning.  The headline read that two women in the WNBA had been given a double-technical for kissing during the game.  Beyond my base voyeuristic urges, I was curious why kissing would warrant technical fouls, if not fouls of any kind.  This is not the first time two payers on opposing teams have kissed.  It’s not even the first time it’s happened in basketball.  I certainly remember, from my childhood, Magic Johnson and Isaiah Thomas kissing before every game of the 1988 NBA finals. 

I clicked the link, read the story, and watched the clip, only to see a retraction at the bottom of the article.  “From the box score,” it read, both were only given fouls on the play, not technical fouls.  I checked another story and another.  Link after link screamed “technical foul!” in the headline only to have the story read, “There were not, in fact, any technical fouls given.”  Why would they do that?

The signal the ref gave was for a double foul.  Now, he would have given that same gesture had he awarded double technical fouls.  Generally, though, if technical fouls are called, the ref will make sure both benches as well as the scorer’s table know that there were technicals called.    If the people who reported this story had actually watched the game, they probably would have known that.  Even without watching the game, if any of them had bothered to check the box score, which is available to everyone, before publishing the story, we wouldn’t’ have so many false headlines or retractions.

These media outlets didn’t lie: they didn’t knowingly spread misinformation.  Instead, they published before they verified.  Someone somewhere saw that headline on someone else’s publication and had to get it out on their site as quickly as possible.  It started a chain reaction.  It wasn’t until after the stories were published that the research was done. 

I thought that journalists researched their stories and verified facts before presenting them: naïve me.  That’s not how things work in the for-profit, market-driven, capitalist world.  Media isn’t about presenting facts: it’s about making money just like every other thing in life.  Do whatever it takes to draw viewers and make money.  That’s the goal.

I find that a very, very sad way to live.  I don’t buy that every aspect of life is best handled as a money making opportunity for someone.  Some of you will disagree with me on this I’m sure.  I hope you enjoy the world which you demanded and for which you have paid. 

Every time you bitch about the bias and inaccuracies in the lamestream media just remember that they are filling a market niche, just like the media outlets you go to, who are making money themselves by selling you what you want to hear.