Why Are Our Filipino Newspapers So Dumb??????

Why Are Our Filipino Newspapers So Dumb??????

Note: this might be posted in Multiply twice because of sync error. Sorry

Face it when our newspapers are dumb, we are dumb. When we are dumb well you can guess the rest. Once you are through reading this hopefully you will at least see that the last thing our newspapers here are giving us is news but just justification for chest beating. Which is not journalism. For the purpose of this piece I won't even talk about sports journalism because once this is headlines stuff it is no longer sports. It is news.


Read that headline from the Philippine Star that I took a picture of :

"The Greatest Fighter Ever".

The problem with that is a lot of low IQ people will believe that. And why are our country's significant newspapers targeting the low IQ? Because they can.


Sorry, as someone who writes this has to be said. You want to flame me then do it based on my premise "Newspapers here are dumb" and my support for the premise.

Question: What context was the 'greatest' line said in ?Let's start off with the text that went with the headline:

Bob Arum of Top Rank said that Pacquiao was getting better. But the boxing champion countered, “Don’t forget God.”

Arum said Pacquiao was the “greatest fighter that ever lived.”


Manny, Greatest, God, all in the same sentence. Excuse me while I clean the wretch that now occupies my previously pristine floor. I worship God and I do not worship Manny Pacquaio. I do not need to expound on that point anymore than I already have.


Question: Who did Manny fight to earn the tag “greatest fighter that ever lived.”?

Answer: Last two fights:
a) Oscar De La Hoya- a man who has been fighting professionally since 1992. Between 2004 to 2007 he had four fights. Manny was his last big ticket fight and his purse was guaranteed. And he fought like it. He retired recently without fighting another fight.
http://boxing.about.com/od/records/a/delahoya.htm

b) Hatton yesterday. Now many are clamoring for his retirement.
http://sports.yahoo.com/box/news;_ylt=AmWfNpl37A_aTZMQIw.iV.uUxLYF?slug=ro-hatton050209&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Two guys who are not exactly in their prime. Sure there are some names on the horizon but this is a watered down talent pool. Many of the great champs from the past were American. But an athlete who might be good in America has many options. The NFL among them. This is a watered down pool with the Americans barely participating. The high rollers will still watch the fight. They just won't step in the ring.

The boxing scene is not what it was in the 60's 70's and 80's . The sport is not as popular as it used to be and that is evident in the ratings and in the popularity of the individual fighters.

I love the NFL , Major League Baseball and the NHL. Boxing is barely on my radar as a sport. Yet I know of boxing's rich history:

• The Brown Bomber Joe Louis
  
• Maximillian Adolph Otto Siegfried Schmeling "Max"
  
• Sonny Liston
  
• Cassius Clay
  
• Ernie Shavers
  
• Smoking Joe Frazier
  
• Rocky Marciano
  
• Sugar Ray Robinson
  
• Sugar Ray Leonard
  
• Marvin Haggler
  
• Thomas Hitman Hearns
  
• Mike Tyson

There was a time boxing was not eclipsed by Mixed Martial Arts. Boxing had a bigger slice of sporting consciousness. Can you honestly respect an institution that tells you Manny Pacquaio is better than any one of those names let alone all of them?





This is a sample of the wide variety of sports shows that I subscribe to and listen to on a daily basis. The first one to mention the May 2nd fight was the Dan Patrick show on April 30th. The second was ESPN Radio Daily the day before the fight. This fight was not hyped by the main stream sports press. Here it is hyped solely on the reason of nationality. Nobody here follows boxing not involving Manny.

If you do not believe me google these three words "boxing popularity waning".



Question: Who proclaimed Pacquaio "The Greatest Fighter Ever". . ?

Answer: Pacquaio's promoter Bob Arum.

A quick look at dictionary.com yields this result:

http://dictionary.reference.com/dic?q=promoter&search=search
Promoter
–noun
1. a person or thing that promotes, furthers, or encourages.
2. a person who initiates or takes part in the organizing of a company, development of a project, etc.
3. a person who organizes and provides financial backing for a sporting event or entertainment.


That is the definition of a promoter. Imagine getting a quote from a sleazy promoter . That Don King Wannabee Bob Arum. What kind of objectivity are you going to get??? You are better off going to a park on a nice sunny day. Pick any woman holding on to a 6 month old baby ask her who the cutest baby in the park is. You will get a more unbiased answer from her than Bob Arum.

Here is what should disturb ALL of YOU. For some stupid reason the two most significant newspapers in this country ( http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Philippine_Daily_Inquirer ) believe that his very biased opinion that he is PAID to have is worthy of a headline. Is anyone's opinion of their meal ticket ever objective?? Yet he is given a headline not by one but two bastions of journalism in this country. Chew on that.


Question: By printing the headline "The Greatest Fighter Ever" from a very biased and paid source, are the newspapers adhering to the ethics of journalism?
Answer: You be the judge


Source:

http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp

Journalists should Seek Truth and Report It.

Journalists should be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information.

Journalists should make certain that headlines, news teases and promotional material, photos, video, audio, graphics, sound bites and quotations do not misrepresent. They should not oversimplify or highlight incidents out of context.

Journalists should avoid misleading re-enactments or staged news events. If re-enactment is necessary to tell a story, label it.

Journalists should distinguish between advocacy and news reporting. Analysis and commentary should be labeled and not misrepresent fact or context.

My Questions to you are , did you get ethical journalism from our newspapers today? In the HEADLINE section? If not now is it possible you were not getting it before?





I am not anti Filipino. But I am anti dumb. Take the emotion out of it and ask yourselves: are the newspapers serving us like they should? I hate that the newspapers and the politicians use one guy's success in the ring to treat us all like idiots. If our newspapers are truly dumb today March 4, 2009. Are we naive to believe they will be smart the other 364 days of the year??

Ed



Related Links:



http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Philippine_Daily_Inquirer Circulation stats



http://sports.yahoo.com/box/news;_ylt=AmWfNpl37A_aTZMQIw.iV.uUxLYF?slug=ro-hatton050209&prov=yhoo&type=lgns (Hatton to retire)

http://inquirer.net/specialfeatures/ThePacquiaoFiles/

http://www.inquirer.net/specialreports/ThePacquiaoFiles/archive.php



http://www.inquirer.net/specialreports/ThePacquiaoFiles/view.php?db=1&article=20090503-202796


http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Newspaper_of_record

Boxing popularity waning

http://assets.espn.go.com/boxing/columns/kellerman_max/1407734.html


http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=12376&more=1

http://ballhype.com/article/superstar_boxers_not_what_they_used_to_be/

http://contextsports.blogspot.com/2009/02/is-boxing-singing-its-swan-song.html

http://boxing.about.com/od/records/a/delahoya.htm


http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/tag/manny%20vegas%20us

http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/tag/manny%20pacquaio

http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/tag/manny%20fight


http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/tag/pacquaio


















Simon & Garfunkel - The Boxer
Uploaded by manon42