Media bias

[DoubleD]

I noticed the BBC headline for the game yesterday was England with a 'hard fought' win. No superlatives. Any more one sided, and they would no doubt have called it a thrashing.

Whereas the adjectives used to describe the dire other code are often 'sensational' or 'thrilling'.

I don't want this to focus on the other code, as there is a forum to discuss that dross, but how do we change the perception of reporters on our game, or is too deep rooted from class bias?

[Barley Mow]

9 minutes ago, DoubleD said:

I noticed the BBC headline for the game yesterday was England with a 'hard fought' win. No superlatives. Any more one sided, and they would no doubt have called it a thrashing.

Whereas the adjectives used to describe the dire other code are often 'sensational' or 'thrilling'.

I don't want this to focus on the other code, as there is a forum to discuss that dross, but how do we change the perception of reporters on our game, or is too deep rooted from class bias?

Are most RL reporters are from the backgrounds that may have class/other bias against the sport or is it that our reporters are like a lot of other followers of the game in this country and seem to have a naturally down beat outlook on it?

[DoubleD]

1 minute ago, Barley Mow said:

Are most RL reporters are from the backgrounds that may have class/other bias against the sport or is it that our reporters are like a lot of other followers of the game in this country and seem to have a naturally down beat outlook on it?

That could be part of it...........Dave Woods being the obvious exception, as he's usually very positive

[WN83]

The Aussie media make me smile with the pre game lines of Samoa being 'undercooked' and then after the game saying Samoa will be better for the run out. 

 

I must've missed all those warm up games England have been playing. 

[Adelaide Tiger]

26 minutes ago, DoubleD said:

 

Whereas the adjectives used to describe the dire other code are often 'sensational' or 'thrilling'.

They also used/use another word used in the Press when describing an RU game.  That word is ‘turgid’.  For many years I always thought the word must mean ‘excellence, thrilling, awe-inspiring etc’ but I was most surprised when I finally looked up the word and found it meant ‘excessively embellished in style; bombastic; overblown’.  Spot on.

[Father Gascoigne]

This is another from the BBC (for rugby union): 

New Zealand run in 10 tries to thrash Japan

They could have gone with 'Sublime All Blacks put 10 tries past brave Blossoms', but I would say it suggests there's no particular hidden agenda at play.  

Right next to the Samoa report is an article on Wane in which the snippet reads: Shaun Wane says his England team 'need to be better' despite opening their two-Test series against Samoa with a 34-18 victory - saying their performance 'would not have troubled Australia'. 

If that's the summation of the coach, I think it's a bit harsh to question the motives of the match report headline. 

If you look through the reports across all sports on the BBC this week, they all follow the same template, and I don't see any striking differences. 

Just be glad the BBC haven't yet started capitalizing words for emphasis in their headlines. 'England claim HARD-FOUGHT win over Samoa in series opener'...

Edited October 28 by Father Gascoigne

[Hanover XIII]

There's not a huge amount of media to be displaying bias this morning. Had a look to see what reports were out there and other than the Guardian and BBC, it's either regional or RL specific like Serious About and Love Rugby League when you do a news search.

[Veridical]

I think the writer was attempting to make the game sound compelling — a close game both sides expended a lot of energy in trying to win — rather than trying to belittle it. 

Some of this “media bias” is projection from RL fans who are insecure about the status and appeal of the sport. Thousands of pages worth of that insecurity are contained in this forum.

There’s also the fact that BBC Sport is uniformly poor in both its analysis and reporting. During the first cricket test against Pakistan one of England’s bowlers name was misspelt twice in headlines. Imagine if that happened in relation to an RL international try scorer…

 

[Dullish Mood]

130 years of class bias unfortunately.  Have a guess which sport the editors of the Telegraph, Times, Mail, Express etc played at their private schools?

[Hopie]

Bias exists, but so do budgets. A lot of media output now is generic and quick because there is huge pressure on the price of journalism, and how many clicks articles generate.

[Eddie]

7 hours ago, DoubleD said:

I noticed the BBC headline for the game yesterday was England with a 'hard fought' win. No superlatives. Any more one sided, and they would no doubt have called it a thrashing.

Whereas the adjectives used to describe the dire other code are often 'sensational' or 'thrilling'.

I don't want this to focus on the other code, as there is a forum to discuss that dross, but how do we change the perception of reporters on our game, or is too deep rooted from class bias?

I assume it’s the BBC’s RL corespondent who wrote it, they won’t have had him write the article and then get some public school Union Tarquin to write the headline. 

[Eddie]

31 minutes ago, Dullish Mood said:

130 years of class bias unfortunately.  Have a guess which sport the editors of the Telegraph, Times, Mail, Express etc played at their private schools?

Plus the Guardian, Observer and Independent. 

[Southport Tiger]

9 minutes ago, Eddie said:

41 minutes ago, Dullish Mood said:

130 years of class bias unfortunately.  Have a guess which sport the editors of the Telegraph, Times, Mail, Express etc played at their private schools?

Plus the Guardian, Observer and Independent. 

Well, on the basis that the editor in chief of the Guardian is Katharine Viner, I would hazard a guess she would have played a different sport to the others.

[gingerjon]

Great thread this, not least because it's an absolute load of balls.

The headlines for rugby union, when I checked, were pretty much the same as for rugby league in terms of matches being close, tense, whatever.

The Guardian went with "George Williams dazzles" in their headline.

Which rather ruins the add on stuff.

We don't get enough exposure but this thread is embarrassing nonsense.

[gingerjon]

5 hours ago, Veridical said:

There’s also the fact that BBC Sport is uniformly poor in both its analysis and reporting. During the first cricket test against Pakistan one of England’s bowlers name was misspelt twice in headlines. Imagine if that happened in relation to an RL international try scorer…

 

Cricket is spectacularly badly covered at the minute. All the complaints (justified) about scores and fixtures, for example, are worse for cricket. It frequently has fixtures for bewilderingly low tier domestic games in other countries (but never then the score) or can't name the competition international sides are playing for.

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

1 hour ago, Dullish Mood said:

130 years of class bias unfortunately.  Have a guess which sport the editors of the Telegraph, Times, Mail, Express etc played at their private schools?

I give up, DM, so give us all some help.  Who are the editors in question and which schools did they attend?  That would make it easier to answer your question.

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

48 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

Great thread this, not least because it's an absolute load of balls.

The headlines for rugby union, when I checked, were pretty much the same as for rugby league in terms of matches being close, tense, whatever.

The Guardian went with "George Williams dazzles" in their headline.

Which rather ruins the add on stuff.

We don't get enough exposure but this thread is embarrassing nonsense.

Oh, come on, GJ.  It's not like you to get in the way of others' prejudices!

[Dullish Mood]

3 hours ago, gingerjon said:

Great thread this, not least because it's an absolute load of balls.

The headlines for rugby union, when I checked, were pretty much the same as for rugby league in terms of matches being close, tense, whatever.

The Guardian went with "George Williams dazzles" in their headline.

Which rather ruins the add on stuff.

We don't get enough exposure but this thread is embarrassing nonsense.

Some might say your post is embarrassing nonsense?

[JohnM]

12 hours ago, WN83 said:

The Aussie media make me smile with the pre game lines of Samoa being 'undercooked' and then after the game saying Samoa will be better for the run out. 

 

I must've missed all those warm up games England have been playing. 

Go and have at the NRL Facebook coverage. It's excellent. "Like" it, share it etc.

Edited October 28 by JohnM

[Adelaide Tiger]

7 hours ago, Dullish Mood said:

130 years of class bias unfortunately.  Have a guess which sport the editors of the Telegraph, Times, Mail, Express etc played at their private schools?

Errrrr …… is it Pig sha$$ing?

[iffleyox]

14 hours ago, gingerjon said:

Cricket is spectacularly badly covered at the minute. All the complaints (justified) about scores and fixtures, for example, are worse for cricket. It frequently has fixtures for bewilderingly low tier domestic games in other countries (but never then the score) or can't name the competition international sides are playing for.

I probably nurse a paranoia… but I’ve long been convinced that Worcestershire are somehow blacklisted in BBC and broadsheet coverage. Almost never leading an article, and sometimes not even covered in county round ups (best one is often not bold font in round ups when all other sides’ names are). I’m not sure why, but trying to be fair-minded I’m convinced that when they were in div 2 other div 2 sides below them got more coverage etc.

weird. Anyway, ‘don’t talk to me about institutional oppression, you know nothing, etc’* 

 

*am I doing this right?

[Father Gascoigne]

6 minutes ago, iffleyox said:

 

weird. Anyway, ‘don’t talk to me about institutional oppression, you know nothing, etc’* 

 

*am I doing this right?

Institutional oppression is a real thing. RL is victim of it. The BBC has been, and probably will continue to be, an agent of such oppression in the future.

Just doesn't seem like this particular instance is worthy of pitchforks. Unless of course the headline was coupled with the article being buried below the main stories on the BBC front page, and then there'd be cause for complaint. 

[gingerjon]

11 hours ago, Dullish Mood said:

Some might say your post is embarrassing nonsense?

They might do. But I'm not the one who picked out a pretty poor example of media bias: the BBC, exclusive broadcaster of the game with live text on the web and TV coverage, alongside radio updates, writing up a report and headline in the same style applied to the other sports it covers.

There are better examples but the reality is that British media is essentially on its knees at the minute. Whereas bias might have been genuine before, quite often these days it's more down to classic incompetence, shallow pockets and a lack of time. Hence why other sports are equally able to point out equivalents.

It has nothing to do with whether the BBC employee is called Tarquin.

[JohnM]

16 hours ago, gingerjon said:

Great thread this, not least because it's an absolute load of balls.

The headlines for rugby union, when I checked, were pretty much the same as for rugby league in terms of matches being close, tense, whatever.

The Guardian went with "George Williams dazzles" in their headline.

Which rather ruins the add on stuff.

We don't get enough exposure but this thread is embarrassing nonsense.

"this thread is embarrassing nonsense.'

So no one would notice if it were seamlessly merged with the IMG and England\GB thread.

[hunsletgreenandgold]

I thought this thread was going to be about RL fans down under massively complaining about how bias the English/Welsh commentary team were at the weekend. Must admit, they do get a bit too 'giddy' for my liking when England do something good. That's not to say you wouldn't want them to be passionate about the game, but commentators like Voss strike the balance better IMO. But yeah, as it wasn't about that....as you were with the drivel about classism in headline or whatever people are looking for issues with.